The Adultery of Oholah and Aholibah
1 The word of the Lord came again to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother. 3 They committed whoredom in Egypt. They committed whoredom in their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their virgin bosoms were caressed there. 4 Their names were Oholah the elder, and Oholibah her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem Oholibah.
5 Oholah committed whoredom when she was mine. She doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbors 6 who were clothed with blue, governors and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. 7 She gave herself as a prostitute to them, all of them the choicest men of Assyria. She defiled herself with the idols of whomever she lusted after. 8 She has not left her prostitution since leaving Egypt, for in her youth they lay with her. They caressed her youthful nipples, and they poured out their lust upon her.
9 Therefore I delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, on whom she doted. 10 They stripped her naked. They took her sons and her daughters, and they killed her with the sword. She became infamous among women, for they executed judgments on her.
11 Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was more corrupt in her lust than she, and in her whoredom in which was more depraved than the whoredom of her sister. 12 She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and rulers, her neighbors, gorgeously clothed horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men. 13 I saw that she was defiled. They both went the same way.
14 She increased her promiscuous behavior when she saw men portrayed on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with red, 15 dressed with belts on their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like princes, in the likeness of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth. 16 As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them into Chaldea. 17 The Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom. She was defiled by them, but afterward she alienated herself from them.
18 So when she revealed her harlotry and exposed her nakedness, then I was alienated from her, just like i was alienated from her sister. 19 Yet she multiplied her promiscuous acts, remembering the days of her youth and her promiscuity in the land of Egypt. 20 She lusted after their lovers whose private parts were like that of donkeys and whose emissions were like that of horses. 21 Thus you called to memory the lewdness of your youth, in the caressing of your nipples by the Egyptians because of your youthful breasts.”
Oholibah to Be Plagued
22 “Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Lord God says: ‘I will raise up your lovers against you, from whom you have alienated yourself, and I will bring them against you on every side: 23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, Shoa, Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, all of them desirable young men, governors and rulers, princes and men of renown, all of them riding on horses.
24 They will come against you with weapons, chariots, and wagons, and with the coalition of nations. They will set themselves against you with buckler, shield, and helmet, all around you. I will delegate judgment to them, and they will judge you according to their own ethics. 25 I will set my jealousy against you, and they will deal with you in fury. They will cut off your noses and your ears. Your remnant will fall by the sword. They will take your sons and your daughters, and the rest of you will be devoured by the fire. 26 They will also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewels. 27 Thus I will put an end to your lewdness and remove your prostitution from the land of Egypt so that you will not raise your eyes to them or remember Egypt any more.’
28 For the Lord God says: ‘I will deliver you into the hand of those whom you hate, into the hand of them from whom you have alienated yourselves. 29 They will deal with you in hatred and will take away everything for which you have labored and will leave you utterly naked. The shame of your whoredom will be exposed, both your lewdness and your promiscuity. 30 These things will be done to you because you have prostituted yourself to the nations, defiling yourself with their idols. 31 You have walked in the way of your sister, therefore I will put her cup in your hand.’
32 This is what the Lord God says:
‘You will drink of your sister’s cup,
which is deep and large.
You will be ridiculed and held in derision.
It contains much.
33 You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow,
with the cup of horror and desolation,
with the cup of your sister Samaria.
34 You will drink deeply, draining every drop.
You will gnaw the broken pieces of it,
and will tear your breasts,
for I have spoken it, says the Lord God.’
35 Therefore the Lord God says, ‘Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, therefore you also bear the consequences of your lewdness and your promiscuity.’ ”
Judgment on Both Sisters
36 The Lord said moreover to me: “Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations. 37 For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols. They have also made their sons, whom they bore to me, pass through the fire, as sacrifice to their idols. 38 They have also done this to me: they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and have profaned my Sabbaths. 39 For when they had sacrificed their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it, and they have done all of this in the center of my house.
40 Furthermore you sisters have sent for men who come from far away, to whom a messenger was sent, and they came, for whom you bathed, painted your eyes, decked yourself in jewelry, 41 and sat on a stately bed, with a table prepared before it, whereupon you set my incense and my oil.
42 The sound of a crowd at leisure came from her. Common men and drunkards were brought from the wilderness, and they put bracelets on the hands of the women, and beautiful crowns on their heads. 43 Then I said, ‘That harlot, worn out from all her adultery, will they continue to fornicate with her and she with them?’ 44 They went in to her, as one goes in to a prostitute. So they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, the lewd women. 45 Righteous men will judge them like one judges an adulteress or a murderer, because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands.
46 For the Lord God says, ‘I will raise up a mob against them and will give them to be tossed back and forth and robbed. 47 The mob will stone them and execute them with their swords. They will kill their sons and their daughters and burn down their houses.
48 Thus I will remove licentiousness from the land, that all women may be taught not to be lewd like you. 49 They will repay you for your licentiousness, and you will bear the sins from your idols. Then you will know that I am the Lord God.’ ”