Ezekiel 23

1 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,¹

2 Son of man, there were ^atwo women, the daughters of one mother;

3 And they committed ^bwhoredoms in Egypt; they committed whoredoms in their ^cyouth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity.²

4 And the names of them were ³Aholah⁴ the ^delder,⁵ and ⁶Aholibah⁷ her sister; and they were mine,^e and they bare sons and daughters. Thus were their names, Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah.

5 And Aholah ^gplayed the harlot, when she was mine;⁸ and she ^hdoted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours,

6 Which were clothed with blue, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, ⁱhorsemen riding upon horses.

7 Thus she committed her whoredoms with⁹ them, with all them that were the chosen men of Assyria,¹ and with all on whom she doted: with all their idols she defiled herself.

8 Neither left she her ^jwhoredoms brought from Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured their whoredom upon her.

9 Wherefore ^kI have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted.

10 These discovered her nakedness;² they took her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword; and she became ³famous⁴ among women; for they had executed judgment upon her.

11 And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was ^lmore corrupt in her inordinate love than⁵ she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms.⁶

12 She doted upon the ⁿAssyrians her neighbours, captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men.

13 Then I saw that she was defiled, that they^o took both one way;

14 And that ^pshe increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men pourtrayed upon the wall,⁷ the^q images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion,

15 Girded^r with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire⁸ upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity,

16 And, as soon as she ^ssaw them with her eyes,⁹ she doted upon them, and ^tsent messengers unto them into Chaldea.¹

17 And the Babylonians² came to her into the bed of love,³ and they defiled her with their whoredom; and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated⁴ from them.

18 So she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness: then my mind ^uwas alienated from her, like as my mind was alienated from her sister.

19 Yet she ^vmultiplied her whoredoms, ^xin calling to remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt.

20 For she ⁵doted upon their ⁶paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.

21 Thus ^ythou calledst to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth, in bruising thy teats by the Egyptians for the paps of thy youth.

22 ¶ Therefore, O Aholibah, thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, ^zI will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom ^athy mind is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on ^bevery side;

23 The^c Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa,⁷ and all the Assyrians with them: all of them ^ddesirable young men, captains and rulers, great lords and renowned, all of them riding upon horses.

24 And they shall come against thee ^ewith chariots,⁸ waggons, and wheels, and with an assembly of people, which shall set against thee buckler, and shield, and helmet, round about: and I will set judgment before them, and they shall judge thee according to their ⁹judgments.

25 And^g I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall ^hdeal furiously with thee: ¹they shall take away thy nose and thine ears;² and thy remnant shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons and thy daughters; and ⁱthy residue shall be devoured by the fire.

26 They shall also ^jstrip thee out of thy clothes, and take away thy fair jewels.³

27 Thus ^kwill I make thy lewdness to cease from thee, and thy whoredom brought from the land of Egypt: so that thou shalt not lift up thine eyes unto them, nor remember Egypt any more.

28 For thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, ^lI will deliver thee into the hand of them whom thou hatest, into the hand of them from whom thy mind is alienated:

29 And^m they shall deal with thee hatefully, and shall take away all thy labour, and shall leave thee naked and bare; and the ⁿnakedness of thy whoredoms shall be ^odiscovered, both thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.

30 I will do these things unto thee, ^pbecause thou hast gone a whoring after the heathen, and because thou art polluted with their idols.

31 Thou^q hast walked in the way of thy sister; therefore will I give ^rher cup into thine hand.

32 Thus saith the Lord GOD, ^sThou shalt drink of thy sister's cup deep and large: ^tthou shalt be laughed to scorn and had in derision; it containeth much.

33 Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of thy sister Samaria.

34 Thou^u shalt even drink it, and suck it out, and thou shalt break the sherds thereof, and ^vpluck off thine own breasts: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.

35 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, ^xBecause thou hast forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back, therefore ^ybear thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.

36 ¶ The LORD said moreover unto me, Son of man, wilt thou ^zjudge⁴ Aholah and Aholibah? yea, ^adeclare unto them their abominations;

37 That^b they have committed adultery, and blood^c is in their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery; and have ^dalso caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them.

38 Moreover, this they have done unto me: they ^ehave defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths.

39 For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and, lo, ^gthus have they done in the midst of mine house.

40 And, furthermore, ^hthat ye have sent for men to come⁵ from far, unto whom a messenger was sent; and, lo, they came: for whom thou didstⁱ wash thyself, paintedst thy eyes,⁶ and deckedst thyself with ornaments,

41 And sattest upon a stately⁷ bed, and ^ja table prepared before it, whereupon thou hast set mine incense and mine oil.

42 And a voice of ^ka multitude being at ease was with her: and with the men of the common sort⁸ were brought ⁹Sabeans¹ from the wilderness, which ²put bracelets upon their hands, and beautiful crowns upon their heads.

43 Then said I unto her that was ^lold in adulteries, Will they now commit whoredoms with her,³ and she with them?

44 Yetⁿ they went in unto her, as they go in unto a woman that ^oplayeth the harlot; so went they in unto Aholah and unto Aholibah, the lewd women.

45 ¶ And the ⁴righteous men,⁵ they shall judge them ^pafter the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women that shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.

46 For thus saith the Lord GOD, ^qI will bring up a company upon them, and will give them to be ^rremoved and ^sspoiled.⁶

47 And ^tthe company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them⁷ with their swords; they shall ^uslay their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire.

48 Thus^v will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, ^xthat all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness.

49 And ^ythey shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall ^zbear the sins of your idols: and ye^a shall know that I am the Lord GOD.