The Two Adulterous Sisters
And the word of the LORD came to me, saying:
Son of man, two women, daughters of one mother, there were.
And they whored in Egypt; in their youth they whored. There their breasts were squeezed, and there the nipples of their virginity were handled.
And their names were Oholah the elder and Oholibah her sister. And they became mine and bore sons and daughters. And their names: Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem is Oholibah.
And Oholah whored while she was mine, and she lusted after her lovers, after Assyria, who were near —
clothed in blue, governors and prefects, desirable young men all of them, horsemen riding horses.
And she gave her whorings to them, the choicest of the sons of Assyria, all of them; and with all after whom she lusted, with all their idols, she was defiled.
And her whorings from Egypt she did not forsake, for in her youth they had lain with her and had handled the nipples of her virginity and poured out their whoring on her.
Therefore I gave her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the sons of Assyria, after whom she lusted.
They uncovered her nakedness; her sons and her daughters they took, and her they killed with the sword. And she became a byword among women, and judgments they did on her.
And her sister Oholibah saw, and she was more corrupt in her lusting than she, and her whorings were more than the whorings of her sister.
After the sons of Assyria she lusted — governors and prefects near at hand, clothed in full array, horsemen riding horses, desirable young men all of them.
And I saw that she was defiled; one way was for the two of them.
And she added to her whorings. And she saw men carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans engraved in vermilion,
girded with a belt at their loins, with flowing turbans on their heads, the look of officers all of them, the likeness of the sons of Babylon, Chaldea the land of their birth.
And she lusted after them at the sight of her eyes, and she sent messengers to them, to Chaldea.
And the sons of Babylon came to her, to the bed of love, and defiled her with their whoring; and she was defiled by them, and her soul turned away from them in disgust.
And she uncovered her whorings and uncovered her nakedness, and my soul turned away from her in disgust, as my soul had turned away from her sister.
And she multiplied her whorings, remembering the days of her youth when she whored in the land of Egypt.
And she lusted after their paramours, whose flesh is the flesh of donkeys and whose emission is the emission of horses.
And you attended to the depravity of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your nipples for the sake of the breasts of your youth.
Oholibah to Be Plagued
Therefore, Oholibah, thus says the Lord GOD: See, I am rousing your lovers against you, those from whom your soul turned away in disgust, and I will bring them against you from all around —
the sons of Babylon and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, all the sons of Assyria with them — desirable young men, governors and prefects all of them, officers and called ones, riding horses all of them.
And they will come against you with weapons, chariot and wheel, and with an assembly of peoples. Buckler and shield and helmet they will set against you all around; and I will give judgment before them, and they will judge you by their judgments.
And I will set my jealousy against you, and they will deal with you in wrath. Your nose and your ears they will remove, and what remains of you will fall by the sword. They will take your sons and your daughters, and what remains of you will be devoured by fire.
And they will strip you of your garments and take the vessels of your beauty.
And I will make your depravity cease from you, and your whoring from the land of Egypt; and you will not lift your eyes to them, and Egypt you will not remember again.
For thus says the Lord GOD: See, I am giving you into the hand of those you hate, into the hand of those from whom your soul turned away in disgust.
And they will deal with you in hatred and take all your labor and leave you naked and bare; and the nakedness of your whorings will be uncovered, and your depravity and your whorings.
These will be done to you because you whored after the nations, because you were defiled with their idols.
In the way of your sister you have walked; and I will put her cup into your hand.
Thus says the Lord GOD: The cup of your sister you will drink, the deep and the wide. It will be for laughter and for derision — it holds much.
With drunkenness and sorrow you will be filled — a cup of horror and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria.
And you will drink it and drain it, and you will gnaw its shards and tear your breasts. For I have spoken, the utterance of the Lord GOD.
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, you too bear your depravity and your whorings.
Judgment on Both Sisters
And the LORD said to me: Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations.
For they have committed adultery and blood is on their hands; and with their idols they have committed adultery, and even their sons whom they bore to me they passed over to them for food.
This also they did to me: they defiled my sanctuary on that day and profaned my sabbaths.
And when they had slaughtered their sons to their idols, they came into my sanctuary on that day to profane it — and see, this is what they did in the midst of my house.
And moreover, they sent for men coming from far off, to whom a messenger was sent — and see, they came, for whom you washed yourself, painted your eyes and adorned yourself with ornament.
And you sat on a stately couch with a table set before it, and my incense and my oil you set on it.
And the sound of a crowd at ease was with her; and to the men from the multitude of mankind were brought drunkards from the wilderness, and they put bracelets on their hands and a crown of beauty on their heads.
And I said of the one worn out by adulteries: Now they will whore her whorings, and she with them.
And they came to her as one comes to a whoring woman; so they came to Oholah and to Oholibah, the women of depravity.
And righteous men, they will judge them with the judgment of adulteresses and the judgment of shedders of blood; for they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands.
For thus says the Lord GOD: Bring up against them an assembly, and give them over to trembling and to plunder.
And the assembly will stone them with stones and cut them down with their swords. Their sons and their daughters they will kill, and their houses they will burn with fire.
And I will make depravity cease from the land, and all the women will be disciplined and will not do according to your depravity.
And they will set your depravity on you, and you will bear the sins of your idols; and you will know that I am the Lord GOD.