⁴¹ You sat with them on a beautifully embroidered couch and put my incense and my special oil on a table that was spread before you.

² “Son of man, once there were two sisters who were daughters of the same mother. ³ They became prostitutes in Egypt. Even as young girls, they allowed men to fondle their breasts. ⁴ The older girl was named Oholah, and her sister was Oholibah. I married them, and they bore me sons and daughters. I am speaking of Samaria and Jerusalem, for Oholah is Samaria and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

⁵ “Then Oholah lusted after other lovers instead of me, and she gave her love to the Assyrian officers. ⁶ They were all attractive young men, captains and commanders dressed in handsome blue, charioteers driving their horses. ⁷ And so she prostituted herself with the most desirable men of Assyria, worshiping their idols^[a] and defiling herself. ⁸ For when she left Egypt, she did not leave her spirit of prostitution behind. She was still as lewd as in her youth, when the Egyptians slept with her, fondled her breasts, and used her as a prostitute.

⁹ “And so I handed her over to her Assyrian lovers, whom she desired so much. ¹⁰ They stripped her, took away her children as their slaves, and then killed her. After she received her punishment, her reputation was known to every woman in the land.

¹¹ “Yet even though Oholibah saw what had happened to Oholah, her sister, she followed right in her footsteps. And she was even more depraved, abandoning herself to her lust and prostitution. ¹² She fawned over all the Assyrian officers—those captains and commanders in handsome uniforms, those charioteers driving their horses—all of them attractive young men. ¹³ I saw the way she was going, defiling herself just like her older sister.

¹⁴ “Then she carried her prostitution even further. She fell in love with pictures that were painted on a wall—pictures of Babylonian^[b] military officers, outfitted in striking red uniforms. ¹⁵ Handsome belts encircled their waists, and flowing turbans crowned their heads. They were dressed like chariot officers from the land of Babylonia.^{[c] 16} When she saw these paintings, she longed to give herself to them, so she sent messengers to Babylonia to invite them to come to her. ¹⁷ So they came and committed adultery with her, defiling her in the bed of love. After being defiled, however, she rejected them in disgust.

¹⁸ “In the same way, I became disgusted with Oholibah and rejected her, just as I had rejected her sister, because she flaunted herself before them and gave herself to satisfy their lusts. ¹⁹ Yet she turned to even greater prostitution, remembering her youth when she was a prostitute in Egypt. ²⁰ She lusted after lovers with genitals as large as a donkey’s and emissions like those of a horse.

³² Yes, you are an adulterous wife who takes in strangers instead of her own husband.

²⁵ On every street corner you defiled your beauty, offering your body to every passerby in an endless stream of prostitution. ²⁶ Then you added lustful Egypt to your lovers, provoking my anger with your increasing promiscuity. ²⁷ That is why I struck you with my fist and reduced your boundaries. I handed you over to your enemies, the Philistines, and even they were shocked by your lewd conduct. ²⁸ You have prostituted yourself with the Assyrians, too. It seems you can never find enough new lovers! And after your prostitution there, you still were not satisfied.

⁸ He said to me, “Now, son of man, dig into the wall.” So I dug into the wall and found a hidden doorway.

⁹ “Go in,” he said, “and see the wicked and detestable sins they are committing in there!” ¹⁰ So I went in and saw the walls covered with engravings of all kinds of crawling animals and detestable creatures. I also saw the various idols^[a] worshiped by the people of Israel. ¹¹ Seventy leaders of Israel were standing there with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan in the center. Each of them held an incense burner, from which a cloud of incense rose above their heads.

¹² Then the Lord said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the leaders of Israel are doing with their idols in dark rooms? They are saying, ‘The Lord doesn’t see us; he has deserted our land!’”