¹⁹ Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God but walked in the customs that Israel had introduced.

³ but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even made his son pass through fire, according to the abominable practices of the nations whom the Lord had driven out before the people of Israel.^(A)

²² Judah did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; they provoked him to jealousy with their sins that they committed, more than all that their ancestors had done.^{(A) 23} For they also built for themselves high places, pillars, and sacred poles^[a] on every high hill and under every green tree;^(B)

⁵¹ Samaria has not committed half your sins; you have committed more abominations than they and have made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations that you have committed.^{(A) 52} Bear your disgrace, you also, for you have brought about for your sisters a more favorable judgment; because of your sins in which you acted more abominably than they, they are more in the right than you. So be ashamed, you also, and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous.

⁸ She^[a] saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce, yet her false sister Judah did not fear, but she also went and prostituted herself.^{(A) 9} Because she took her prostitution so lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree.^{(B) 10} Yet for all this her false sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart but only in pretense, says the Lord.^(C)

¹¹ Then the Lord said to me: Faithless Israel has shown herself less guilty than false Judah.^(D)

¹³ but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel and have led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem into unfaithfulness, as the house of Ahab led Israel into unfaithfulness, and because you also have killed your brothers, members of your father’s house, who were better than you,^(A)

Elijah’s Letter

¹¹ Moreover he made high places in the hill country of Judah and led the inhabitants of Jerusalem into unfaithfulness and made Judah go astray.^(A)

⁴ Oholah was the name of the older and Oholibah the name of her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.^(A)

⁵ Oholah prostituted herself while she was mine; she lusted after her lovers the Assyrians, warriors^{[a](B) 6} clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all of them handsome young men, mounted horsemen. ⁷ She bestowed her sexual favors upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them, and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone for whom she lusted.^{(C) 8} She did not give up her prostitutions that she had practiced since Egypt, for in her youth men had lain with her and fondled her virgin bosom and poured out their lust upon her.^{(D) 9} Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, for whom she lusted.^{(E) 10} These uncovered her nakedness; they seized her sons and her daughters, and they killed her with the sword. Judgment was executed upon her, and she became a byword among women.^(F)

¹¹ Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was more corrupt than she in her lusting and in her prostitutions, which were worse than those of her sister.^{(G) 12} She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriors^[b] clothed in full armor, mounted horsemen, all of them handsome young men.^{(H) 13} And I saw that she was defiled; they both took the same way.

² You, mortal, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Then declare to it all its abominable deeds.^{(A) 3} You shall say: Thus says the Lord God: A city! Shedding blood within itself; its time has come; making its idols, defiling itself. ⁴ You have become guilty by the blood that you have shed and defiled by the idols that you have made; you have brought your days near; the appointed time of your years has come. Therefore I have made you a disgrace before the nations and a mockery to all the countries. ⁵ Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you, you infamous one, full of tumult.

⁶ The princes of Israel in you, everyone according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood.^{(B) 7} Father and mother are treated with contempt in you; the alien residing within you suffers extortion; the orphan and the widow are wronged in you.^{(C) 8} You have despised my holy things and profaned my Sabbaths.^{(D) 9} In you are those who slander to shed blood, those in you who eat upon the mountains, who commit lewdness in your midst.^{(E) 10} In you they uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women during their menstrual periods.^{(F) 11} One commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; another in you defiles his sister, his father’s daughter.^{(G) 12} In you, they take bribes to shed blood; you take both advance interest and accrued interest and make gain of your neighbors by extortion, and you have forgotten me, says the Lord God.^(H)

¹³ See, I strike my hands together at the dishonest gain you have made and at the blood that has been shed within you. ¹⁴ Can your courage endure, or can your hands remain strong in the days when I shall deal with you? I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it.^{(I) 15} I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the countries, and I will purge your filthiness out of you.^{(J) 16} And you shall be profaned within yourself in the sight of the nations, and you shall know that I am the Lord.