Oholah and Oholibah

1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 ^h“Son of man, there were ⁱtwo women, the daughters of one mother. 3 ^jThey played the whore in Egypt; ^jthey played the whore ^kin their youth; there their breasts were pressed and their virgin bosoms¹ handled. 4 Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. ^lThey became mine, and they ^mbore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is ⁿSamaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

5 “Oholah played the whore ^owhile she was mine, and ^pshe lusted after her lovers ^qthe Assyrians, warriors 6 clothed in purple, ^rgovernors and commanders, ^sall of them desirable young men, ^thorsemen riding on horses. 7 She bestowed her whoring upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them, and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone after whom she lusted. 8 She did not give up her whoring ^uthat she had begun in Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her and handled her virgin bosom and poured out their whoring lust upon her. 9 Therefore ^vI delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, after whom she lusted. 10 ^wThese uncovered her nakedness; ^xthey seized her sons and her daughters; and as for her, they killed her with the sword; and she became ^ya byword among women, ^zwhen judgment had been executed on her.

11 ^a“Her sister Oholibah saw this, and she became ^bmore corrupt than her sister¹ in her lust and in her whoring, which was worse than that of her sister. 12 She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriors clothed in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, ^sall of them desirable young men. 13 And I saw that she was defiled; they both took the same way. 14 But she carried her whoring further. She saw men ^cportrayed on the wall, the ^dimages of ^ethe Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion, 15 wearing belts on their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them having the appearance of officers, a likeness of Babylonians whose native land was Chaldea. 16 When she saw them, she lusted after them and ^fsent messengers to them ^ein Chaldea. 17 And the Babylonians came to her ^ginto the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoring lust. And after she was defiled by them, ^hshe turned from them in disgust. 18 When she carried on her whoring so openly and flaunted her nakedness, I turned in disgust from her, as I had turned in disgust from her sister. 19 Yet she increased her whoring, ⁱremembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egypt 20 and lusted after her lovers there, whose members were like those of donkeys, and whose issue was like that of horses. 21 Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your bosom and pressed² your young breasts.”

22 Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I will stir up against you your lovers ^hfrom whom you turned in disgust, ^jand I will bring them against you from every side: 23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, ^kPekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, ^ldesirable young men, ^lgovernors and commanders all of them, officers and men of renown, all of them riding on horses. 24 And they shall come against you from the north³ with chariots and wagons and a host of peoples. ^mThey shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield, and helmet; and ⁿI will commit the judgment to them, and ^othey shall judge you according to their judgments. 25 And I will direct my jealousy against you, ^pthat they may deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. ^qThey shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire. 26 ^rThey shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewels. 27 ^sThus I will put an end to your lewdness and ^tyour whoring begun in the land of Egypt, so that you shall not lift up your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.

28 “For thus says the Lord God: ^uBehold, I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, ^vinto the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust, 29 and ^wthey shall deal with you in hatred and take away all the fruit of your labor ^xand leave you naked and bare, and ^ythe nakedness of your whoring shall be uncovered. Your lewdness and your whoring 30 have brought this upon you, because ^zyou played the whore with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols. 31 You have gone the way of your sister; ^atherefore I will give ^bher cup into your hand. 32 Thus says the Lord God:

for I have spoken, declares the Lord God. 35 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because ^fyou have forgotten me and ^gcast me behind your back, you yourself ^hmust bear the consequences of your lewdness and whoring.”

36 The Lord said to me: ⁱ“Son of man, ^jwill you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Declare to them their abominations. 37 For ^kthey have committed adultery, ^land blood is on their hands. With their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even ^moffered up⁴ to them for food the children whom they had borne to me. 38 Moreover, this they have done to me: ⁿthey have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and ^oprofaned my Sabbaths. 39 For when ^pthey had slaughtered their children in sacrifice to their idols, on the same day ^qthey came into my sanctuary to profane it. And behold, ^rthis is what they did in my house. 40 They even sent for men to come from afar, ^sto whom a messenger was sent; and behold, they came. For them you bathed yourself, ^tpainted your eyes, ^uand adorned yourself with ornaments. 41 You sat on ^va stately couch, with a table spread before it ^won which you had placed my incense and ^xmy oil. 42 The ^ysound of a carefree multitude was with her; and with men of the common sort, drunkards⁵ were brought from the wilderness; and they put ^zbracelets on the hands of the women, and ^abeautiful crowns on their heads.

43 “Then I said of her who was worn out by adultery, ‘Now they will continue to use her for a whore, even her!’⁶ 44 For they have gone in to her, as men go in to a prostitute. Thus they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, lewd women! 45 But righteous men ^bshall pass judgment on them with the sentence of adulteresses, and with the sentence of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands.”

46 For thus says the Lord God: ^c“Bring up a vast host against them, and make them ^dan object of terror and ^ea plunder. 47 ^fAnd the host shall stone them and cut them down with their swords. ^gThey shall kill their sons and their daughters, and ^hburn up their houses. 48 ⁱThus will I put an end to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not commit lewdness as you have done. 49 And they shall return your lewdness upon you, and ^jyou shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry, and ^kyou shall know that I am the Lord God.”