Ezekiel 23

1 The word of the Lord came to me again, saying,

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

2 Son of man, there were two women, daughters of one mother:

Son of man, there were two women, daughters of one mother.

3 They were acting like loose women in Egypt; when they were young their behaviour was loose: there their breasts were crushed, even the points of their young breasts were crushed.

And they committed fornication in Egypt, in their youth they committed fornication: there were their breasts pressed down, and the teats of their virginity were bruised.

4 Their names were Oholah, the older, and Oholibah, her sister: and they became mine, and gave birth to sons and daughters. As for their names, Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem, Oholibah.

And their names were Oolla the elder, and Ooliba her younger sister: and I took them, and they bore sons and daughters. Now for their names, Samaria is Oolla, and Jerusalem is Ooliba.

5 And Oholah was untrue to me when she was mine; she was full of desire for her lovers, even for the Assyrians, her neighbours,

And Oolla committed fornication against me, and doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians that came to her,

6 Who were clothed in blue, captains and rulers, all of them young men to be desired, horsemen seated on horses.

Who were clothed with blue, princes, and rulers, beautiful youths, all horsemen, mounted upon horses.

7 And she gave her unclean love to them, all of them the noblest men of Assyria: and she made herself unclean with the images of all who were desired by her.

And she committed her fornications with those chosen men, all sons of the Assyrians: and she defiled herself with the uncleanness of all them on whom she doted.

8 And she has not given up her loose ways from the time when she was in Egypt; for when she was young they were her lovers, and by them her young breasts were crushed, and they let loose on her their unclean desire.

Moreover also she did not forsake her fornications which she had committed in Egypt: for they also lay with her in her youth, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured out their fornication upon her.

9 For this cause I gave her up into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians on whom her desire was fixed.

Therefore have I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the sons of the Assyrians, upon whose lust she doted.

10 By these her shame was uncovered: they took her sons and daughters and put her to death with the sword: and she became a cause of wonder to women; for they gave her the punishment which was right.

They discovered her disgrace, took away her sons and daughters, and slew her with the sword: and they became infamous women, and they executed judgments in her.

11 And her sister Oholibah saw this, but her desire was even more unmeasured, and her loose behaviour was worse than that of her sister.

And when her sister Ooliba saw this, she was mad with lust more than she: and she carried her fornication beyond the fornication of her sister.

12 She was full of desire for the Assyrians, captains and rulers, her neighbours, clothed in blue, horsemen going on horses, all of them young men to be desired.

Impudently prostituting herself to the children of the Assyrians, the princes, and rulers that came to her, clothed with divers colours, to the horsemen that rode upon horses, and to young men all of great beauty.

13 And I saw that she had become unclean; the two of them went the same way.

And I saw that she was defiled, and that they both took one way.

14 And her loose behaviour became worse; for she saw men pictured on a wall, pictures of the Chaldaeans painted in bright red,

And she increased her fornications: and when she had seen men painted on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans set forth in colours,

15 With bands round their bodies and with head-dresses hanging round their heads, all of them looking like rulers, like the Babylonians, the land of whose birth is Chaldaea.

And girded with girdles about their reins, and with dyed turbans on their heads, the resemblance of all the captains, the likeness of the sons of Babylon, and of the land of the Chaldeans wherein they were born,

16 And when she saw them she was full of desire for them, and sent servants to them in Chaldaea.

She doted upon them with the lust of her eyes, and she sent messengers to them into Chaldea.

17 And the Babylonians came to her, into the bed of love, and made her unclean with their loose desire, and she became unclean with them, and her soul was turned from them.

And when the sons of Babylon were come to her to the bed of love, they defiled her with their fornications, and she was polluted by them, and her soul was glutted with them.

18 So her loose behaviour was clearly seen and her shame uncovered: then my soul was turned from her as it had been turned from her sister.

And she discovered her fornications, and discovered her disgrace: and my soul was alienated from her, as my soul was alienated from her sister.

19 But still she went on the more with her loose behaviour, keeping in mind the early days when she had been a loose woman in the land of Egypt.

For she multiplied her fornications, remembering the days of her youth, in which she played the harlot in the land of Egypt.

20 And she was full of desire for her lovers, whose flesh is like the flesh of asses and whose seed is like the seed of horses.

And she was mad with lust after lying with them whose flesh is as the flesh of asses: and whose issue as the issue of horses.

21 And she made the memory of the loose ways of her early years come back to mind, when her young breasts were crushed by the Egyptians.

And thou hast renewed the wickedness of thy youth, when thy breasts were pressed in Egypt, and the papa of thy virginity broken.

22 For this cause, O Oholibah, this is what the Lord has said: See, I will make your lovers come up against you, even those from whom your soul is turned away in disgust; and I will make them come up against you on every side;

Therefore, Ooliba, thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will raise up against thee all thy lovers with whom thy soul hath been glutted: and I will gather them together against thee round about.

23 The Babylonians and all the Chaldaeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them: young men to be desired, captains and rulers all of them, and chiefs, her neighbours, all of them on horseback.

The children of Babylon, and all the Chaldeans, the nobles, and the kings, and princes, all the sons of the Assyrians, beautiful young men, all the captains, and rulers, the princes of princes, and the renowned horsemen.

24 And they will come against you from the north on horseback, with war-carriages and a great band of peoples; they will put themselves in order against you with breastplate and body-cover and metal head-dress round about you: and I will make them your judges, and they will give their decision against you as seems right to them.

And they shall come upon thee well appointed with chariot and wheel, a multitude of people: they shall be armed against thee on every side with breastplate, and buckler, and helmet: and I will set judgment before them, and they shall judge thee by their judgments.

25 And my bitter feeling will be working against you, and they will take you in hand with passion; they will take away your nose and your ears, and the rest of you will be put to the sword: they will take your sons and daughters, and the rest of you will be burned up in the fire.

And I will set my jealousy against thee, which they shall execute upon thee with fury: they shall cut off thy nose and thy ears: and what remains shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons, and thy daughters, and thy residue shall be devoured by fire.

26 And they will take all your clothing off you and take away your ornaments.

And they shall strip thee of thy garments, and take away the instruments of thy glory.

27 So I will put an end to your evil ways and your loose behaviour which came from the land of Egypt: and your eyes will never be lifted up to them again, and you will have no more memory of Egypt.

And I will put an end to thy wickedness in thee, and thy fornication brought out of the land of Egypt: neither shalt thou lift up thy eyes to them, nor remember Egypt any more.

28 For this is what the Lord has said: See, I will give you up into the hands of those who are hated by you, into the hands of those from whom your soul is turned away in disgust:

For thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will deliver thee into the hands of them whom thou hatest, into their hands with whom thy soul hath been glutted.

29 And they will take you in hand with hate, and take away all the fruit of your work, and let you be unveiled and without clothing: and the shame of your loose behaviour will be uncovered, your evil designs and your loose ways.

And they shall deal with thee in hatred, and they shall take away all thy labours, and shall let thee go naked, and full of disgrace, and the disgrace of thy fornication shall be discovered, thy wickedness, and thy fornications.

30 They will do these things to you because you have been untrue to me, and have gone after the nations, and have become unclean with their images.

They have done these things to thee, because thou hast played the harlot with the nations among which thou wast defiled with their idols.

31 You have gone in the way of your sister; and I will give her cup into your hand.

Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister, and I will give her cup into thy hand.

32 This is what the Lord has said: You will take a drink from your sister's cup, which is deep and wide: you will be laughed at and looked down on, more than you are able to undergo.

Thus saith the Lord God: Thou shalt drink thy sister’s cup, deep, and wide: thou shalt be had in derision and scorn, which containeth very much.

33 You will be broken and full of sorrow, with the cup of wonder and destruction, with the cup of your sister Samaria.

Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness, and sorrow: with the cup of grief, and sadness, with the cup of thy sister Samaria.

34 And after drinking it and draining it out, you will take the last drops of it to the end, pulling off your breasts: for I have said it, says the Lord.

And thou shalt drink it, and shalt drink it up even to the dregs, and thou shalt devour the fragments thereof, thou shalt rend thy breasts: because I have spoken it, saith the Lord God.

35 So this is what the Lord has said: Because you have not kept me in your memory, and because your back has been turned to me, you will even undergo the punishment of your evil designs and your loose ways.

Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because thou hast forgotten me, and hast cast me off behind thy back, bear thou also thy wickedness, and thy fornications.

36 Then the Lord said to me: Son of man, will you be the judge of Oholibah? then make clear to her the disgusting things she has done.

And the Lord spoke to me, saying: Son of man, dost thou judge Oolla, and Ooliba, and dost thou declare to them their wicked deeds?

37 For she has been false to me, and blood is on her hands, and with her images she has been untrue; and more than this, she made her sons, whom she had by me, go through the fire to them to be burned up.

Because they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and they have committed fornication with their idols: moreover also their children, whom they bore to me, they have offered to them to be devoured.

38 Further, this is what she has done to me: she has made my holy place unclean and has made my Sabbaths unclean.

Yea, and they have done this to me. They polluted my sanctuary on the same day, and profaned my sabbaths.

39 For when she had made an offering of her children to her images, she came into my holy place to make it unclean; see, this is what she has done inside my house.

And when they sacrificed their children to their idols, and went into my sanctuary the same day to profane it: they did these things even in the midst of my house.

40 And she even sent for men to come from far away, to whom a servant was sent, and they came: for whom she was washing her body and painting her eyes and making herself fair with ornaments.

They sent for men coming from afar, to whom they had sent a messenger: and behold they came: for whom thou didst wash thyself, and didst paint thy eyes, and wast adorned with women’s ornaments.

41 And she took her seat on a great bed, with a table put ready before it on which she put my perfume and my oil.

Thou sattest on a very fine bed, and a table was decked before thee: whereupon thou didst set my incense, and my ointment.

42 ... and they put jewels on her hands and beautiful crowns on her head.

And there was in her the voice of a multitude rejoicing: and to some that were brought of the multitude of men, and that came from the desert, they put bracelets on their hands, and beautiful crowns on their heads.

43 Then I said ... now she will go on with her loose ways.

And I said to her that was worn out in her adulteries: Now will this woman still continue in her fornication.

44 And they went in to her, as men go to a loose woman: so they went in to Oholibah, the loose woman.

And they went in to her, as to a harlot: so went they in unto Oolla, and Ooliba, wicked women.

45 And upright men will be her judges, judging her as false wives and women who take lives are judged; because she has been untrue to me and blood is on her hands.

They therefore are just men: these shall judge them as adulteresses are judged, and as shedders of blood are judged: because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.

46 For this is what the Lord has said: I will make a great meeting of the people come together against her, and will send on her shaking fear and take everything from her.

For thus saith the Lord God: Bring a multitude upon them, and deliver them over to tumult and rapine:

47 And the meeting, after stoning her with stones, will put an end to her with their swords; they will put her sons and daughters to death and have her house burned up with fire.

And lee the people stone them with stones, and let them be stabbed with their swords: they shall kill their sons and daughters, and their houses they shall burn with fire.

48 And I will put an end to evil in all the land, teaching all women not to do as you have done.

And I will take away wickedness out of the land: and all women shall learn, not to do according to the wickedness of them.

49 And I will send on you the punishment of your evil ways, and you will be rewarded for your sins with your images: and you will be certain that I am the Lord.

And they shall render your wickedness upon you, and you shall bear the sins of your idols: and you shall know that I am the Lord God.