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Oholah and Oholibah

¹ The word of the Lord came to me: ^2 (a)"Son of man, there were ^(b)two women, the daughters of one mother. ^3 (c)They played the whore in Egypt; ^(d)they played the whore ^(e)in their youth; there their breasts were pressed and their virgin bosoms^[a] handled. ⁴ Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. ^(f)They became mine, and they ^(g)bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is ^(h)Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

⁵ "Oholah played the whore ⁽ⁱ⁾while she was mine, and ^(j)she lusted after her lovers ^(k)the Assyrians, warriors ⁶ clothed in purple, ^(l)governors and commanders, ^(m)all of them desirable young men, ⁽ⁿ⁾horsemen 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 ^(o)that 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 ^(p)I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, after whom she lusted. ^10 (q)These uncovered her nakedness; ^(r)they seized her sons and her daughters; and as for her, they killed her with the sword; and she became ^(s)a byword among women, ^(t)when judgment had been executed on her.

^11 (u)"Her sister Oholibah saw this, and she became ^(v)more corrupt than her sister^[b] 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, ^(w)all 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 ^(x)portrayed on the wall, the ^(y)images of ^(z)the 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 ^(aa)sent messengers to them ^(ab)in Chaldea. ¹⁷ And the Babylonians came to her ^(ac)into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoring lust. And after she was defiled by them, ^(ad)she 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, ^(ae)remembering 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^[c] your young breasts."

²² Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: "Behold, I will stir up against you your lovers ^(af)from whom you turned in disgust, ^(ag)and I will bring them against you from every side: ²³ the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, ^(ah)Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, ^(ai)desirable young men, ^(aj)governors 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^[d] with chariots and wagons and a host of peoples. ^(ak)They shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield, and helmet; and ^(al)I will commit the judgment to them, and ^(am)they shall judge you according to their judgments. ²⁵ And I will direct my jealousy against you, ^(an)that they may deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. ^(ao)They shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire. ^26 (ap)They shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewels. ^27 (aq)Thus I will put an end to your lewdness and ^(ar)your 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: ^(as)Behold, I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, ^(at)into the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust, ²⁹ and ^(au)they shall deal with you in hatred and take away all the fruit of your labor ^(av)and leave you naked and bare, and ^(aw)the nakedness of your whoring shall be uncovered. Your lewdness and your whoring ³⁰ have brought this upon you, because ^(ax)you played the whore with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols. ³¹ You have gone the way of your sister; ^(ay)therefore I will give ^(az)her cup into your hand. ³² Thus says the Lord God:

for I have spoken, declares the Lord God. ³⁵ Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because ^(be)you have forgotten me and ^(bf)cast me behind your back, you yourself ^(bg)must bear the consequences of your lewdness and whoring."

³⁶ The Lord said to me: ^(bh)"Son of man, ^(bi)will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Declare to them their abominations. ³⁷ For ^(bj)they have committed adultery, ^(bk)and blood is on their hands. With their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even ^(bl)offered up^[e] to them for food the children whom they had borne to me. ³⁸ Moreover, this they have done to me: ^(bm)they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and ^(bn)profaned my Sabbaths. ³⁹ For when ^(bo)they had slaughtered their children in sacrifice to their idols, on the same day ^(bp)they came into my sanctuary to profane it. And behold, ^(bq)this is what they did in my house. ⁴⁰ They even sent for men to come from afar, ^(br)to whom a messenger was sent; and behold, they came. For them you bathed yourself, ^(bs)painted your eyes, ^(bt)and adorned yourself with ornaments. ⁴¹ You sat on ^(bu)a stately couch, with a table spread before it ^(bv)on which you had placed my incense and ^(bw)my oil. ⁴² The ^(bx)sound of a carefree multitude was with her; and with men of the common sort, drunkards^[f] were brought from the wilderness; and they put ^(by)bracelets on the hands of the women, and ^(bz)beautiful 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!'^{[g] 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 ^(ca)shall 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: ^(cb)"Bring up a vast host against them, and make them ^(cc)an object of terror and ^(cd)a plunder. ^47 (ce)And the host shall stone them and cut them down with their swords. ^(cf)They shall kill their sons and their daughters, and ^(cg)burn up their houses. ^48 (ch)Thus 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 ^(ci)you shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry, and ^(cj)you shall know that I am the Lord God."