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¹ THE word of the LORD came to me, saying,² Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother:³ And they committed whoredom in Egypt in their youth; there were their breasts fondled, there was their virginity broken.⁴ And the name of the elder was Ahlah, and the name of the younger was Ahlibah; and they were mine, and they bore sons and daughters. Thus were their names: Samaria is Ahlah and Jerusalem is Ahlibah.⁵ And Ahlah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbors,⁶ Who were clothed with blue, lords and captains, desirable young men, all of them horsemen riding on horses.⁷ Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, with all the chosen men of Assyria and with all on whom she doted; with all their idols she defiled herself.⁸ Neither did she leave the whoredoms which she had committed in Egypt; for in her youth they defiled her and they broke her virginity and poured out their whoredom upon her.⁹ Therefore I have delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted.¹⁰ These uncovered her nakedness; they carried away her sons and daughters, and slew her with the sword; and she became a byword among women; for her paramours had executed judgment upon her.

¹¹ And when her sister Ahlibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her excessive lust than she, and her whoredoms were more than the whoredoms of her sister.¹² She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbors, lords and captains clothed with blue, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men.¹³ Then I saw that the ways of both of them were defiled.¹⁴ And they added to their whoredoms; for when they saw men portrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion,¹⁵ Girded with girdles upon their loins and with turbans tied on their heads, all of them handsome men to look at, the likeness of the sons of Babylon and of the land of the Chaldeans, the land of their nativity;¹⁶ As soon as she saw them with her eyes, she doted upon them, and sent messengers to them to the land of the Chaldeans,¹⁷ And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted by them; then her soul abhorred them.¹⁸ So she exposed her fornications and uncovered her nakedness; then my soul abhorred her just as my soul abhorred her sister.¹⁹ Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, remembering the days of her youth in which she played the harlot in the land of Egypt;²⁰ For she doted upon their servants, whose male organs are like those of asses, and whose privates are like those of horses.²¹ Thus you have missed the wickedness of your youth, when your virginity was broken in Egypt, and the breasts of your youth were fondled.

²² Therefore, O Ahlibah, thus says the LORD God: Behold, I will stir up your lovers against you, the lovers whom your soul has abhorred, and I will bring them against you.²³ And the Babylonians and the Chaldeans shall surround you, Pod Lod, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them; all of them desirable young men, lords and captains, all renowned men, all of them riding on horses.²⁴ And they shall come against you well armed with chariots, wagons, and with a host of people, who shall set against you with spears, bucklers, shields, and helmets round about; and I will set judgment before them, and they shall judge you according to their judgments.²⁵ And I will set my indignation against you, and they shall crush your nose with fury and shall pluck out your ears; and your remnant shall fall by the sword; they shall carry away your sons and your daughters; and your residue shall be devoured by fire,²⁶ They shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your costly jewels.²⁷ Thus I will nullify your counsel and the whoredom which you brought from the land of Egypt, so that you shall not lift up your eyes to them, nor remember Egypt any more.²⁸ For thus says the LORD God: Behold, I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, into the hands of the Assyrians whom your soul abhorred;²⁹ And they shall deal with you with hate, and shall take away all your labor, and shall leave you naked and bare, and the nakedness of your whoredoms and your iniquities shall be uncovered.³⁰ These things were done to you because of your whoredom, for you have played the harlot with the Gentiles and polluted yourself with their idols.³¹ And because you have walked in the ways of your sister; therefore I will give her cup into your hands.³² Thus says the LORD God: You shall drink your sisters cup deep and large; you shall become a laughingstock, and be ridiculed and scorned; for it contains much.³³ You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of horror and desolation, with the cup of your sister Samaria.³⁴ Then you shall even drink it and drain it out, and you shall cut off your hair and tear your breasts; for I have spoken it, says the LORD God.³⁵ Therefore thus says the LORD God: Because you have forgotten me and cast me off behind your idols, therefore you also shall bear your lewdness and your whoredoms.

³⁶ The LORD said to me, Son of man, now you can judge Ahlah and Ahlibah, and declare to them their abominations;³⁷ For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands, and with their idols they have committed adultery and have also caused their sons, whom they bore to me, to be consumed in the fire.³⁸ Moreover this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day and have profaned my sabbaths;³⁹ For when they had slain their children to their idols, they came the same day into my sanctuary and profaned it; and, 1o, thus have they done in the midst of my house.⁴⁰ Also they sent for men who came from afar, to whom they had sent messengers; and, 1o, as soon as they arrived, they bathed and painted their eyes, and adorned themselves with ornaments.⁴¹ Then they sat on stately beds, and tables were prepared before them, and my oil and my incense were wasted on them.⁴² And the sound of their merrymaking could be heard everywhere, and the voices of men who had come from Sheba and from the desert, who put bracelets upon their wrists, and beautiful crowns upon their heads.⁴³ Then I said. With these men have they played the harlot and committed the acts of harlots.⁴⁴ And they went in to them as to a woman who plays the harlot; so went they in to Ahlah and to Ahlibah, the harlots.⁴⁵ And the righteous men shall judge them with the judgment of adulteresses and the judgment of those who shed blood, because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands.⁴⁶ For thus says the LORD God, I will bring up a multitude against them, and will give them over to terror and spoil.⁴⁷ And the multitude shall stone them with stones and thrust them through with their swords; they shall slay their sons and their daughters and burn their houses with fire.⁴⁸ Thus will I put an end to lewdness from the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your whoredom.⁴⁹ And I will recompense your lewdness upon you, and you shall bear the sins of your idols; and you shall know that I am the LORD God.