Ezekiel 23

1 Yahweh said to me,

The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,

2 “You human, [listen to this parable about Jerusalem and Samaria]. Once there were two women, daughters of the same mother.

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

3 They lived in Egypt. And from the time that they were young women, they became prostitutes. In that land, [men] fondled their breasts and caressed their bosoms [DOU].

and they committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed whoredoms in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity.

4 The older [sister] was Oholah, and her [younger] sister was Oholibah. [It was as though] they became my [wives. Later] they gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah represents Samaria, and Oholibah represents Jerusalem.

And the names of them were Oholah the elder, and Oholibah her sister: and they became mine, and they bare sons and daughters. And as for their names, Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem Oholibah.

5 Oholah acted like a prostitute while she was [still] my wife. She desired to have sex with those she loved—soldiers from Assyria.

And Oholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians [her] neighbours,

6 [Some of them] were army officers and commanders. They wore [beautiful] blue [uniforms. They were] all handsome young men. Some of them rode horses.

which were clothed with blue, governors and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses.

7 She acted like a prostitute toward all the important Assyrian officials, and became unacceptable to me by worshiping all the idols of the men she wanted to have sex with.

And she bestowed her whoredoms upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them: and on whomsoever she doted, with all their idols she defiled herself.

8 When she was a young woman in Egypt, she started being a prostitute, and [young] men caressed her breasts and had sex with her; and when she became older, she did not quit acting like a prostitute.

Neither hath, she left her whoredoms since [the days of] Egypt; for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised the teats of her virginity: and they poured out their whoredom upon her.

9 So I allowed the Assyrian soldiers, whom she wanted to have sex with, to capture her.

Wherefore I delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted.

10 They stripped all her clothes off her. They took away her sons and daughters. And then they killed her with a sword. [Other] women started talking about what had happened to her, about how she had been punished.

These discovered her nakedness: they took her sons and her daughters, and her they slew with the sword: and she became a byword among women; for they executed judgments upon her.

11 [younger] sister Oholibah saw those [that happened to Oholah], but she was a prostitute, and she desired to have sex with men more than [older] sister had desired.

And her sister Oholibah saw this, yet was she more corrupt in her doting than she, and in her whoredoms which were more than the whoredoms of her sister.

12 Oholibah [also] wanted to have sex with the Assyrian soldiers. [Some of them were] army officers and commanders. [They all] wore beautiful blue uniforms. They were all handsome young men. [Some of] them rode horses.

She doted upon the Assyrians, governors and rulers, [her] neighbours, clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men.

13 I saw what she did that caused her to became unacceptable to me, just like [older] sister.

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

14 But she did [even] worse things. She saw drawings of men from Babylonia on the walls, painted in red.

And she increased her whoredoms; for she saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion,

15 The [in the drawings] had belts around their waists and long turbans on their heads. They all resembled officers from Babylonia [DOU] [who rode in chariots].

girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look upon, after the likeness of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their nativity.

16 As soon as she saw those drawings, she wanted to have sex with those men, and she sent messages to them in Babylonia.

And as soon as she saw them she doted upon them, and sent messengers unto them into Chaldea.

17 Then the soldiers from Babylonia came to her, they lay in bed with her, and they had sex with her. Then she became disgusted with them and turned away from them.

And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love; and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her soul was alienated from them.

18 But when she continued to openly/boldly act like a prostitute [DOU], I became disgusted with her, and I rejected her like I had rejected [older] sister.

So she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness: then my soul was alienated from her, like as my soul was alienated from her sister.

19 But she became even more immoral, as she remembered when she was a young woman who was a prostitute in Egypt.

Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, remembering the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt.

20 There she wanted to have sex with those who loved her, whose genitals were [very long], like [SIM] those of donkeys, and whose sexual emissions were huge, [like] those of horses.

And she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.

21 So she desired to be immoral like she was when she was young, when men in Egypt caressed her bosom and fondled her breasts.”

Thus thou calledst to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth, in the bruising of thy teats by the Egyptians for the breasts of thy youth.

22 “[represents you people of Jerusalem]. Therefore, this is what [I], Yahweh the Lord say: ‘I will cause those [soldiers] who loved you but whom you turned away from because you became disgusted with them, to be angry with you. I will cause them to come and attack you from every side—

Therefore, O Oholibah, thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy soul is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side;

23 soldiers from Babylon and all the other places in Babylonia, [their allies] from Pekod and Shoa and [regions], and all the army of Assyria. [Yes], all of them are handsome young men, army officers and commanders, officers who ride in chariots, all riding on horses.

the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, [and] all the Assyrians with them: desirable young men, governors and rulers all of them, princes and men of renown, all of them riding upon horses.

24 Their huge army will attack you with weapons, riding in chariots and pulling wagons [that will carry their army supplies]. They will surround you, carrying large and small shields, and wearing helmets. I will allow them to capture you and punish you in the way that they [always] [their enemies].

And they shall come against thee with weapons, chariots, and wagons, and with an assembly of peoples; they shall set themselves against thee with buckler and shield and helmet round about: and I will commit the judgment unto them, and they shall judge thee according to their judgments.

25 Because I am very angry with you, I will cause them to act [very] furiously toward you. They will cut off your noses and your ears. Then, those who are still alive, they will kill with their swords. They will take away your sons and daughters, and a fire will burn up those who remain alive.

And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall deal with thee in fury: they shall take away thy nose and thine ears; and thy residue shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons and thy daughters; and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire.

26 They will strip off your clothes and your fine jewelry and take them away.

They shall also strip thee of thy clothes, and take away thy fair jewels.

27 In that way, I will stop all the immoral behavior that began when you became a prostitute in Egypt. You will no longer desire to do those things, or think [what you did in] Egypt.’

Thus will I make thy lewdness to cease from thee, and thy whoredom [brought] from the land of Egypt: so that thou shalt not lift up thine eyes unto them, nor remember Egypt any more.

28 This is what [I], Yahweh the Lord say: ‘I am about to allow those whom you hate, those you became disgusted with and turned away from, to capture you.

For thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I will deliver thee into the hand of them whom thou hatest, into the hand of them from whom thy soul is alienated:

29 They will be cruel and take away everything that you have worked hard to acquire. They will leave you completely naked [DOU], and everyone will see that you truly are a prostitute.

and they shall deal with thee in hatred, and shall take away all thy labour, and shall leave thee naked and bare: and the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be discovered, both thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.

30 It is because of what you have done that you will be punished like that; you have been an immoral prostitute; you have had sex with men of other nations, and you have caused yourselves to become unacceptable to me [worshiping] their idols.

These things shall be done unto thee, for that thou hast gone a whoring after the heathen, and because thou art polluted with their idols.

31 You have behaved [the people of Samaria, who are like] your [older] sister. So I will cause you to be punished [MET] like they were punished.’

Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister; therefore will I give her cup into thine hand.

32 This is what [I], Yahweh the Lord, say: ‘[You will suffer like people suffer when they drink from a cup a lot of strong alcoholic drink]: [It will be as though] you will drink from the cup that the people of Samaria drank from; a big and tall cup. Because of your drinking what is in that cup, many people will scorn you and make fun of you because there is a lot of liquid in that cup.

Thus saith the Lord GOD: Thou shalt drink of thy sister’s cup, which is deep and large: thou shalt be laughed to scorn and had in derision; it containeth much.

33 When you become very drunk, you will become very sad, [drinking what is in] that cup [MTY] will cause you to become ruined and deserted, like what happened [MET] to [the people of] Samaria, [who are like] [MET] your sister.

Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of thy sister Samaria.

34 You will drink all the liquid that is in that cup; then you will break that cup into pieces [use those pieces to] gash/cut your [because you will be very sad].’ [That will surely happen because] I, Yahweh, have said it.

Thou shalt even drink it and drain it out, and thou shalt gnaw the sherds thereof, and shalt tear thy breasts: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.

35 Therefore, this is what [I], Yahweh the Lord, say: ‘Because you have forgotten me and rejected me [IDM], you must be punished for your immoral behavior and for [like] a prostitute.’”

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD: Because thou hast forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back, therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.

36 Yahweh said to me, “You human, you must [RHQ] [the people of those two cities represented by] Oholah and Oholibah. You must remind them of their detestable behavior:

The LORD said moreover unto me: Son of man, wilt thou judge Oholah and Oholibah? then declare unto them their abominations.

37 [It is as though the people of those cities] have committed adultery and have murdered [MTY] people. They have been unfaithful to me by [worshiping] idols. They have even sacrificed their own children, who belonged to me, to be food for their idols.

For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery; and they have also caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass through [the fire] unto them to be devoured.

38 They have done [disgraceful things]: They have caused my temple to be an unacceptable place for worship, and have not respected the Sabbath days.

Moreover this they have done unto me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths.

39 On the same day that they sacrificed their children to their idols, they entered my temple, which caused it to be an unacceptable place for worshiping me.

For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and, lo, thus have they done in the midst of mine house.

40 They sent messages to men [in countries] far away. And when those men arrived, [the women of those two cities] bathed themselves for them, painted their eyebrows, and put on jewelry.

And furthermore ye have sent for men that come from far: unto whom a messenger was sent, and, lo, they came; for whom thou didst wash thyself, paintedst thine eyes, and deckedst thyself with ornaments;

41 They sat on a beautiful couch, with a table in front of it on which they had put incense and [olive] oil that belonged to me.

and satest upon a stately bed. with a table prepared before it, whereupon thou didst set mine incense and mine oil.

42 Soon there was a noisy crowd around them. Among the crowd there were men from Sheba who had come from the [of Arabia]. They put bracelets on the arms of the [two] sisters and put beautiful crowns on their heads.

And the voice of a multitude being at ease was with her: and with men of the common sort were brought drunkards from the wilderness; and they put bracelets upon the hands of them [twain], and beautiful crowns upon their heads.

43 Then I said about the woman who had become exhausted by her having sex with many men, ‘Now allow those men to act toward her as though she is a prostitute, because that is all that she is.’

Then said I of her that was old in adulteries, Now will they commit whoredoms with her, and she [with them].

44 So they had sex [EUP] with those two women, Oholah and Oholibah, like men have sex with prostitutes.

And they went in unto her, as they go in unto an harlot: so went they in unto Oholah and unto Oholibah, the lewd women.

45 But righteous men will condemn them to be punished, like women who commit adultery and who murder others are punished, because those women commit adultery and they murder [MTY] others.

And righteous men, they shall judge them with the judgment of adulteresses, and with the judgment of women that shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.

46 So this is what [I], Yahweh the Lord, say: Bring a mob to attack Samaria and Jerusalem, and allow that mob to cause the people of those cities to be terrified, and to rob them.

For thus saith the Lord GOD: I will bring up an assembly against them, and will give them to be tossed to and fro and spoiled.

47 The mob will throw stones at [to kill them]; they will cut them into pieces with their swords, they will kill their sons and daughters, and burn down their houses.

And the assembly shall stone them with stones, and despatch them with their swords; they shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire.

48 In that way I will cause them to stop their immoral behavior. It will warn other women to not imitate/do what you people of Jerusalem are doing.

Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness.

49 [people of Jerusalem] will be punished for your immoral behavior and for your worshiping idols. Then you will know that I, Yahweh the Lord, [have the power to do what I say that I will do].”

And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols: and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.