Ezekiel 23:1-21

Amplified Bible

Oholah and Oholibah’s Sin and Its Consequences

23 The word of the Lord came to me again, saying, ² “Son of man, there were two women (Israel and Judah), the daughters of one mother (the united kingdom); ³ and they prostituted themselves in Egypt. From their youth they were grossly immoral; in that place their breasts were embraced and their virgin bosom was grasped. ⁴ Their names were Oholah the elder and Oholibah her sister, and they became Mine and they gave birth to sons and daughters. And as for [the identity of] their names, Oholah is Samaria (capital city of ^[a]Israel) and Oholibah is Jerusalem (capital city of ^[b]Judah).

⁵ “Oholah played the prostitute while she was Mine; and she adored and lusted after her lovers (allies), the Assyrians, her neighbors, ⁶ who were clothed in purple, governors and officials, all of them attractive young men, horsemen riding on horses. ⁷ She bestowed [freely] her immoralities on them, the choicest men of Assyria, all of them; and with all whom she adored and lusted after, she defiled herself with their idols. ⁸ She did not ^[c]give up the acts of prostitution that originated during her time in Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her, and they handled her virgin bosom and poured out their depravity on her. ⁹ Therefore, I placed her in the hand of her lovers (allies), into the hand of the Assyrians whom she adored. ¹⁰ They uncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters and they killed her with the sword. So she became ^[d]notorious among women, and they executed judgments on her.

¹¹ “Now her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was more corrupt in her lust than she, and her acts of prostitution were more [wanton] than the immoralities of her sister. ¹² She lusted after the Assyrians—governors and officials, her neighbors, magnificently clothed, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men. ¹³ I saw that she had defiled herself; they both behaved the same way. ¹⁴ But Oholibah carried her depravity further, for she saw men pictured on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans (Babylonians) sketched and portrayed in vermilion (bright red pigment), ¹⁵ girded with belts on their ^[e]loins, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, like the Babylonian men whose native land was Chaldea. ¹⁶ When she saw [the sketches of] them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. ¹⁷ The Babylonians came to her to the bed of love and they defiled her with their evil desire; and when she had been defiled by them, she (Jerusalem) broke the relationship and pushed them away from her in disgust. ¹⁸ So she flaunted her acts of prostitution and exposed her nakedness; then I became disgusted with her [and turned away], as I had become disgusted with her sister [and turned away]. ¹⁹ Yet she multiplied her depravities, remembering the days of her youth, when she was actively immoral in the land of Egypt. ²⁰ For she lusted after her lovers [there], whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys and whose issue is like the issue of horses. ²¹ Thus you longed for the lewdness and vulgarity of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your bosom on account of the breasts of your youth.