1The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:
2Son of man, there were two women, daughters of one mother.
3They played the whore in Egypt; in their youth they played the whore. There their breasts were fondled, and there their virgin nipples were handled.
4Their 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 is Oholibah.
5Oholah played the whore while she was mine, and she lusted after her lovers, after Assyria, who were near,
6clothed in blue—governors and commanders, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses.
7She bestowed her whorings upon them, all of them the choicest of the Assyrians; and with all whom she lusted after, with all their idols, she defiled herself.
8She did not abandon her whorings from Egypt, for in her youth they lay with her, and they handled her virgin nipples and poured out their whoring upon her.
9Therefore I handed her over to her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians whom she lusted after.
10They exposed her nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters; and her they killed with the sword. She became a byword among women, and they executed judgments upon her.
11Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was more corrupt in her lust than she, and her whorings were worse than her sister’s whorings.
12She lusted after the Assyrians—governors and commanders, warriors clothed to perfection, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men.
13And I saw that she had defiled herself; both of them went the same way.
14But she added to her whorings: she saw men carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans engraved in vermilion,
15belted with a girdle around their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, the likeness of the Babylonians, Chaldeans, the land of their birth.
16She lusted after them at the sight of her eyes, and she sent messengers to them, to Chaldea.
17And the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoring; and she was defiled by them, and then she turned away from them in disgust.
18When she flaunted her whorings and exposed her nakedness, then I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned away in disgust from her sister.
19Yet she multiplied her whorings, recalling the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egypt.
20She lusted after their concubine-mates, whose flesh is the flesh of donkeys and whose emission is the emission of horses.
21So you attended to the depravity of your youth, when in Egypt your bosom was handled, for the sake of the breasts of your youth.
22Therefore, Oholibah, thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am rousing your lovers against you, those from whom you turned away in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side—
23the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, all the Assyrians with them, desirable young men, governors and commanders all of them, officers and men of renown, all of them riding on horses.
24They will come against you with weapons, chariots, and wheels, and with an assembly of peoples; buckler and shield and helmet they will set against you all around. I will commit the judgment to them, and they will judge you by their own judgments.
25I will direct my jealousy against you, and they will deal with you in fury. They will cut off your nose and your ears, 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.
26They will strip off your garments and take away your beautiful ornaments.
27So I will put an end to your depravity and your whoring from the land of Egypt, and you will not lift your eyes to them nor remember Egypt anymore.
28For thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am giving you into the hand of those you hate, into the hand of those from whom you turned away in disgust.
29They will deal with you in hatred and take all your earnings, and they will leave you naked and bare, so that the nakedness of your whorings will be exposed—your depravity and your whorings.
30These things are done to you because you played the whore after the nations, because you defiled yourself with their idols.
31You walked in the way of your sister, so I will put her cup into your hand.
32Thus says the Lord Yahweh: You will drink your sister’s cup, the deep and wide one; it will bring scorn and derision, for it holds so much.
33You will be filled with drunkenness and grief — a cup of horror and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria.
34You will drink it and drain it, and gnaw its shards, and tear your breasts. For I have spoken, declares the Lord Yahweh.
35Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, so you also bear your depravity and your prostitutions.
36And Yahweh said to me: Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations.
37For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands; they committed adultery with their idols, and even their children whom they bore to me they passed through the fire as food for them.
38This also they did to me: on that same day they defiled my sanctuary and profaned my sabbaths.
39For when they slaughtered their children to their idols, they came into my sanctuary on that same day to profane it — and look, this is what they did in the midst of my house.
40And what is more, they would send for men coming from afar, to whom a messenger was sent — and look, they came! — those for whom you washed yourself, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with ornaments.
41You sat on a stately couch, with a table spread before it, and on it you set my incense and my oil.
42And the sound of a carefree crowd was in her; and along with the multitude of men, drunkards were brought in from the wilderness; and they put bracelets on their hands and a crown of splendor on their heads.
43Then I said of her who was worn out by adulteries: Now they will carry on her prostitutions, even hers.
44And he came to her as one comes to a prostitute; so they came to Oholah and to Oholibah, the lewd women.
45But righteous men — they will judge them with the judgment of adulteresses and the judgment of women who shed blood, for they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands.
46For thus says the Lord Yahweh: Bring up against them an assembly, and hand them over to terror and plunder.
47The assembly will stone them with stones and cut them down with their swords; they will kill their sons and daughters and burn their houses with fire.
48So I will put an end to depravity in the land, and all the women will be disciplined and will not act according to your depravity.
49They will bring your depravity upon you, and you will bear the sins of your idols; and you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.
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