The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Ezekiel 23
1 Yahweh’s word came again to me, saying,
2 “Son of man, there were two women,
the daughters of one mother.
3 They played the prostitute in Egypt.
They played the prostitute in their youth.
Their breasts were fondled there, and
their youthful nipples were caressed
there.
4 Their names were Oholah the elder,
and Oholibah her sister. They became
mine, and they bore sons and daughters.
As for their names, Samaria is Oholah, and
Jerusalem Oholibah.
5 “Oholahplayed the prostitute whenshe
was mine. She doted on her lovers, on the
Assyrians her neighbors,
6 who were clothed with blue—
governors and rulers, all ofthem desirable
young men, horsemen riding on horses.
7 She gave herself as a prostitute to them,
all ofthemthe choicestmenof Assyria. She
defiled herself with the idols of whomever
she lusted after.
8 She hasn’t left her prostitution since
leaving Egypt; for in her youth they lay
with her. They caressed her youthful nipples
and they poured out their prostitution
on her.
9 “Therefore I delivered her into the
hand of her lovers, into the hand of the
Assyrians on whom she doted.
10 These uncovered her nakedness. They
took her sons and her daughters, and they
killed her with the sword. She became a
byword among women; for they executed
judgments on her.
11 “Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she
was more corrupt in her lusting than she,
and in her prostitution which was more
depraved than the prostitution of her sister.
12 She lusted after the Assyrians, governors
and rulers—her neighbors, clothed
most gorgeously, horsemen riding on
horses, all of them desirable young men.
13 I saw that she was defiled. They both
went the same way.
14 “She increased her prostitution; for
she saw men portrayed on the wall, the
images of the Chaldeans portrayed with
red,
15 dressed with belts on their waists,
with flowing turbans on their heads,
all of them looking like princes,
after the likeness of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the
land of their birth.
16 As soon as she saw them, she lusted
after them and sent messengers to them
into Chaldea.
17 The Babylonians came to her into the
bed of love, and they defiled her with their
prostitution. She was polluted with them,
and her soul was alienated from them.
18 So she uncovered her prostitution and
uncovered her nakedness. Then my soul
was alienated from her, just like my soul
was alienated from her sister.
19 Yet she multiplied her prostitution,
remembering the days ofher youth, in which
she had played the prostitute in the land of
Egypt.
20 She lusted after their lovers, whose
flesh is as the flesh of donkeys, and whose
issue is like the issue of horses.
21 Thus you called to memory the lewdness of
your youth, in the caressing of your
nipples by the Egyptians because of your
youthful breasts.
22 “Therefore, Oholibah, the Lord Yahweh says:
‘Behold, I will raise up your
lovers against you, from whom your soul
is alienated, and I will bring them against
you on every side:
23 theBabylonians and allthe Chaldeans,
Pekod, Shoa, Koa, and all the Assyrians
with them; all of them desirable young
men, governors and rulers, princes and
men of renown, all of them riding on
horses.
24 They will come against you with
weapons, chariots, and wagons, and with
a company of peoples. They will set themselves
against you with buckler, shield,
and helmet all around. I will commit the
judgment to them, and they will judge you
according to their judgments.
25 I will set my jealousy against you, and
they will deal with you in fury. They will
take away your nose and your ears. Your
remnant will fall by the sword. They will
take your sons and your daughters; and
the rest of you will be devoured by the fire.
26 They will also strip you of your clothes
and take away your beautiful jewels.
27 Thus I will make your lewdness to
cease from you, and remove your prostitution
from the land of Egypt, so that
you will not lift up your eyes to them, nor
remember Egypt any more.’
28 “For the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Behold,
I will deliver you into the hand of them
whom you hate, into the hand of them
from whom your soul is alienated.
29 They will deal with you in hatred, and
will take away all your labor, and will
leave you naked and bare. The nakedness
of your prostitution will be uncovered,
both your lewdness and your prostitution.
30 These things will be done to you because
you have played the prostitute after
the nations, and because you are polluted
with their idols.
31 You have walked in the way of your
sister; therefore I will give her cup into
your hand.’
32 “The Lord Yahweh says:
‘You will drink of your sister’s cup,
which is deep and large. You will be
ridiculed and held in derision.
It contains much.
33 You will be filled with drunkenness and
sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation,
with the cup of your sister Samaria.
34 You will even drink it and drain it out.
You will gnaw the broken pieces of it,
and will tear your breasts; for I have
spoken it,’ says the Lord Yahweh.
35 “Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Because
you have forgotten me and cast me
behind your back, therefore you also bear
your lewdness and your prostitution.’ ”
36 Yahweh said moreover to me: “Son of
man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah?
Then declare to them their abominations.
37 For they have committed adultery,
and blood is in their hands. They have
committed adultery with their idols. They
have also caused their sons, whom they
bore to me, to pass through the fire to them
to be devoured.
38 Moreover this they have done to me:
they have defiled my sanctuary in the
same day, and have profaned my Sabbaths.
39For when they had slain their children
to their idols, then they came the same
day into my sanctuary to profane it; and
behold, they have done this in the middle
of my house.
40 “Furthermore yousistershave sentfor
men who come from far away, to whom
a messenger was sent, and behold, they
came; for whom you washed yourself,
painted your eyes, decorated yourself with
ornaments,
41 and sat on a stately bed, with a table
prepared before it, whereupon you set my
incense and my oil.
42 “The voice of a multitude being at
ease was with her. With men of the common
sort were brought drunkards from
the wilderness; and they put bracelets on
their hands, and beautiful crowns on their
heads.
43 Then I said of her who was old in adulteries,
‘Now they will play the prostitute
with her, and she with them.’
44 They went in to her, as they go in to a
prostitute. So they went in to Oholah and
to Oholibah, the lewd women.
45 Righteous men will judge them with
the judgment of adulteresses and with the
judgment of women who shed blood,
because they are adulteresses,
and blood is in their hands.
46 “For the Lord Yahweh says: ‘I will
bring up a mob against them, and will
give them to be tossed back and forth and
robbed.
47 The company will stone them with
stones and dispatch them with their
swords. They will kill their sons and their
daughters, and burn up their houses with
fire.
48 “ ‘Thus I will cause lewdness to cease
out of the land, that all women may be
taught not to be lewd like you.
49 They will recompense your lewdness
on you, and you will bear the sins of your
idols. Then you will know that I am the
Lord Yahweh.