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Ezekiel 23

Oholah and Oholibah

1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 ^a“Son of man, there were ^btwo women, the daughters of one mother. 3 ^cThey played the whore in Egypt; ^dthey played the whore ^ein their youth; there their breasts were pressed and their virgin bosoms ^{▼

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Hebrew nipples; also verses 8, 21} handled. 4 Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. ^gThey became mine, and they ^hbore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is ⁱSamaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

5 “Oholah played the whore ^jwhile she was mine, and ^kshe lusted after her lovers ^lthe Assyrians, warriors 6 clothed in purple ^mgovernors and commanders ⁿall of them desirable young men ^ohorsemen 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 ^pthat 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 ^qI delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, after whom she lusted. 10 ^rThese uncovered her nakedness; ^sthey seized her sons and her daughters; and as for her, they killed her with the sword; and she became ^ta byword among women ^uwhen judgment had been executed on her.

11 ^v“Her sister Oholibah saw this, and she became ^wmore corrupt than her sister ^{▼

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Hebrew than she} 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, ^yall 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 ^zportrayed on the wall, the ^aaimages of ^abthe 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 ^acsent messengers to them ^adin Chaldea. 17 And the Babylonians came to her ^aeinto the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoring lust. And after she was defiled by them, ^afshe 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, ^agremembering 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 pressed ^{▼

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Vulgate, Syriac; Hebrew bosom for the sake of} your young breasts.”

22 Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I will stir up against you your lovers ^aifrom whom you turned in disgust ^ajand I will bring them against you from every side: 23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, ^akPekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, ^aldesirable young men, ^amgovernors 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 north ^{▼

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Septuagint; the meaning of the Hebrew word is unknown} with chariots and wagons and a host of peoples. ^aoThey shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield, and helmet; and ^apI will commit the judgment to them, and ^aqthey shall judge you according to their judgments. 25 And I will direct my jealousy against you, ^arthat they may deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. ^asThey shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire. 26 ^atThey shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewels. 27 ^auThus I will put an end to your lewdness and ^avyour 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: ^awBehold, I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate ^axinto the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust, 29 and ^aythey shall deal with you in hatred and take away all the fruit of your labor ^azand leave you naked and bare, and ^bathe nakedness of your whoring shall be uncovered. Your lewdness and your whoring 30 have brought this upon you, because ^bbyou played the whore with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols. 31 You have gone the way of your sister; ^bctherefore I will give ^bdher cup into your hand. 32 Thus says the Lord God:

“You shall drink your sister’s cup
that is deep and large;
you shall be laughed at and held in derision,
for it contains much;
33 you will be filled with ^bedrunkenness and sorrow.
^bfA cup of horror and desolation,
the cup of ^bgyour sister Samaria;
34 ^bhyou shall drink it and drain it out,
and gnaw its shards,
and tear your breasts;

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

36 The Lord said to me: ^bl“Son of man, ^bmwill you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Declare to them their abominations. 37 For ^bnthey have committed adultery ^boand blood is on their hands. With their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even ^bpoffered up ^{▼

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Or have even made pass through the fire} to them for food the children whom they had borne to me. 38 Moreover, this they have done to me: ^brthey have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and ^bsprofaned my Sabbaths. 39 For when ^btthey had slaughtered their children in sacrifice to their idols, on the same day ^buthey came into my sanctuary to profane it. And behold, ^bvthis is what they did in my house. 40 They even sent for men to come from afar, ^bwto whom a messenger was sent; and behold, they came. For them you bathed yourself, ^bxpainted your eyes, ^byand adorned yourself with ornaments. 41 You sat on ^bza stately couch, with a table spread before it ^caon which you had placed my incense and ^cbmy oil. 42 The ^ccsound of a carefree multitude was with her; and with men of the common sort, drunkards ^{▼

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Or Sabeans} were brought from the wilderness; and they put ^cebracelets on the hands of the women, and ^cfbeautiful 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! ^{▼

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The meaning of the Hebrew verse is uncertain} 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 ^chshall 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: ^ci“Bring up a vast host against them, and make them ^cjan object of terror and ^cka plunder. 47 ^clAnd the host shall stone them and cut them down with their swords. ^cmThey shall kill their sons and their daughters, and ^cnburn up their houses. 48 ^coThus 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 ^cpyou shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry, and ^cqyou shall know that I am the Lord God.”