Ezekiel 23:5-21

English Standard Version

⁵ “Oholah played the whore ^(A)while she was mine, and ^(B)she lusted after her lovers ^(C)the Assyrians, warriors ⁶ clothed in purple, ^(D)governors and commanders, ^(E)all of them desirable young men, ^(F)horsemen riding on horses. ⁷ She bestowed her whoring upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them, and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone after whom she lusted. ⁸ She did not give up her whoring ^(G)that she had begun in Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her and handled her virgin bosom and poured out their whoring lust upon her. ⁹ Therefore ^(H)I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, after whom she lusted. ^10 (I)These uncovered her nakedness; ^(J)they seized her sons and her daughters; and as for her, they killed her with the sword; and she became ^(K)a byword among women, ^(L)when judgment had been executed on her.

^11 (M)“Her sister Oholibah saw this, and she became ^(N)more corrupt than her sister^[a] in her lust and in her whoring, which was worse than that of her sister. ¹² She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriors clothed in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, ^(O)all of them desirable young men. ¹³ And I saw that she was defiled; they both took the same way. ¹⁴ But she carried her whoring further. She saw men ^(P)portrayed on the wall, the ^(Q)images of ^(R)the Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion, ¹⁵ wearing belts on their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them having the appearance of officers, a likeness of Babylonians whose native land was Chaldea. ¹⁶ When she saw them, she lusted after them and ^(S)sent messengers to them ^(T)in Chaldea. ¹⁷ And the Babylonians came to her ^(U)into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoring lust. And after she was defiled by them, ^(V)she turned from them in disgust. ¹⁸ When she carried on her whoring so openly and flaunted her nakedness, I turned in disgust from her, as I had turned in disgust from her sister. ¹⁹ Yet she increased her whoring, ^(W)remembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egypt ²⁰ and lusted after her lovers there, whose members were like those of donkeys, and whose issue was like that of horses. ²¹ Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your bosom and pressed^[b] your young breasts.”