Ezekiel 23

1 And there is a word of YHWH to me, saying, “Son of man,

2 Two women were daughters of one mother,

3 And they go whoring in Egypt, They have gone whoring in their youth, There they have bruised their breasts, And there they have dealt with the loves of their virginity.

4 And their names [are] Aholah the older, And Aholibah her sister, And they are Mine, and bear sons and daughters. As for their names—Samaria [is] Aholah, And Jerusalem [is] Aholibah.

5 And Aholah goes whoring under Me, and she lusts on her lovers, on the neighboring Assyrians,

6 Clothed with blue—governors and prefects, All of them desirable young men, Horsemen, riding on horses,

7 And she gives her whoredoms on them, The choice of the sons of Asshur, All of them—even all on whom she lusted, She has been defiled by all their idols.

8 And she has not forsaken her whoredoms out of Egypt, For with her they lay in her youth, And they dealt with the loves of her virginity, And they pour out their whoredoms on her.

9 Therefore I have given her into the hand of her lovers, Into the hand of sons of Asshur on whom she lusted.

10 They have uncovered her nakedness, They have taken her sons and her daughters, And they have slain her by sword, And she is a name for women, And they have done judgments with her.

11 And her sister Aholibah sees, And she makes her unhealthy love more corrupt than she, And her whoredoms than the whoredoms of her sister.

12 She has lusted on sons of Asshur, Governors and prefects, Neighboring ones—clothed in perfection, Horsemen, riding on horses, All of them desirable young men.

13 And I see that she has been defiled, One way [is] to them both.

14 And she adds to her whoredoms, And she sees men carved on the wall, Pictures of Chaldeans, carved with vermillion,

15 Girded with a girdle on their loins, Dyed attire spread out on their heads, The appearance of rulers—all of them, The likeness of sons of Babylon, Chaldea is the land of their birth.

16 And she lusts on them at the sight of her eyes, And sends messengers to them, to Chaldea.

17 And sons of Babylon come in to her, To the bed of loves, And they defile her with their whoredoms, And she is defiled with them, And her soul is alienated from them.

18 And she reveals her whoredoms, And she reveals her nakedness, And My soul is alienated from off her, As My soul was alienated from off her sister.

19 And she multiplies her whoredoms, To remember the days of her youth, When she went whoring in the land of Egypt.

20 And she lusts on their lovers, Whose flesh [is] the flesh of donkeys, And the emission of horses—their emission.

21 You look after the wickedness of your youth, In dealing out of Egypt your loves, For the sake of the breasts of your youth.

22 Therefore, O Aholibah, thus said Lord YHWH: Behold, I am stirring up your lovers against you, From whom your soul has been alienated, And have brought them in against you from all around.

23 Sons of Babylon, and of all Chaldea, Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa, All the sons of Asshur with them, Desirable young men, governors and prefects, All of them—rulers and proclaimed ones, All of them riding on horses.

24 And they have come in against you, With arms, rider, and wheel, And with an assembly of peoples; Buckler, and shield, and helmet, They set against you all around, And I have set judgment before them, They have judged you in their judgments.

25 And I have set My jealousy against you, And they have dealt with you in fury, They turn aside your nose and your ears, And your posterity falls by sword, They take away your sons and your daughters, And your posterity is devoured by fire.

26 And they have stripped you of your garments, And have taken your beautiful jewels.

27 And I have caused your wickedness to cease from you, And your whoredoms out of the land of Egypt, And you do not lift up your eyes to them, And you do not remember Egypt again.

28 For thus said Lord YHWH: Behold, I am giving you into a hand that you have hated, Into a hand from which you were alienated.

29 And they have dealt with you in hatred, And they have taken all your labor, And they have left you naked and bare, And the nakedness of your whoredoms has been revealed, And the wickedness of your whoredoms.

30 To do these things to you, In your going whoring after nations, Because you have been defiled with their idols,

31 You have walked in the way of your sister, And I have given her cup into your hand.

32 Thus said Lord YHWH: You drink the cup of your sister, The deep and the wide one (You are for laughter and for scorn), Abundant to contain.

33 You are filled with drunkenness and sorrow, A cup of astonishment and desolation, The cup of your sister Samaria.

34 And you have drunk it, and have drained [it], And you gnaw its earthen ware, And you pluck off your own breasts, For I have spoken, A declaration of Lord YHWH,

35 Therefore, thus said Lord YHWH: Because you have forgotten Me, And you cast Me behind your back, Even you also bear your wickedness and your whoredoms.”

36 And YHWH says to me, “Son of man, Do you judge Aholah and Aholibah? Then declare their abominations to them.

37 For they have committed adultery, And blood [is] in their hands, They committed adultery with their idols, And also their sons whom they bore to Me, They caused to pass over to them for food.

38 Again, they have done this to Me, They defiled My sanctuary in that day, And they have defiled My Sabbaths.

39 And in their slaughtering their sons to their idols They also come into My sanctuary in that day to defile it, And behold, thus they have done in the midst of My house,

40 And also that they send to men coming from afar, To whom a messenger is sent, And behold, they have come in for whom you have washed, Painted your eyes, and put on adornment.

41 And you have sat on a couch of honor, And a table arrayed before it, And placed My incense and My oil on it.

42 And the voice of a multitude at ease [is] with her, And Sabeans from the wilderness are brought in to men of the common people, And they put bracelets on their hands, And a beautiful crown on their heads.

43 And I say of the worn-out one in adulteries, Now they commit her whoredoms—she also!

44 And they come in to her, As the coming in to a whorish woman, So they have come in to Aholah, And to Aholibah—the wicked women.

45 As for righteous men, they judge them with the judgment of adulteresses, And the judgment of women shedding blood, For they [are] adulteresses, And blood [is] in their hands.

46 For thus said Lord YHWH: Bring up an assembly against them, And give them to trembling and to spoiling.

47 And they have cast the stone of the assembly at them, And cut them with their swords, They slay their sons and their daughters, And they burn their houses with fire.

48 And I have caused wickedness to cease from the land, And all the women have been instructed, And they do not do according to your wickedness.

49 And they have put your wickedness on you, And you bear the sins of your idols, And you have known that I [am] Lord YHWH!”