³¹ And they have built the high places of ^(A)Topheth, which is in ^(B)the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, ^(C)to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, ^(D)which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.

^17 (A)For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, ^(B)blind, and naked. ¹⁸ I counsel you ^(C)to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and ^(D)white garments so that you may clothe yourself and ^(E)the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, ^(F)so that you may see.

^8 (A)If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and ^(B)the truth is not in us. ^9 (C)If we confess our sins, he is ^(D)faithful and just to forgive us our sins and ^(E)to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say we have not sinned, ^(F)we make him a liar, and ^(G)his word is not in us.

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever ^(A)the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, ^(B)so that every mouth may be stopped, and ^(C)the whole world may be held accountable to God.

²⁹ But he, ^(A)desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Oholah and Oholibah

23 The word of the Lord came to me: ^2 (A)“Son of man, there were ^(B)two women, the daughters of one mother. ^3 (C)They played the whore in Egypt; ^(D)they played the whore ^(E)in their youth; there their breasts were pressed and their virgin bosoms^[a] handled. ⁴ Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. ^(F)They became mine, and they ^(G)bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is ^(H)Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

⁵ “Oholah played the whore ^(I)while she was mine, and ^(J)she lusted after her lovers ^(K)the Assyrians, warriors ⁶ clothed in purple, ^(L)governors and commanders, ^(M)all of them desirable young men, ^(N)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 ^(O)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 ^(P)I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, after whom she lusted. ^10 (Q)These uncovered her nakedness; ^(R)they seized her sons and her daughters; and as for her, they killed her with the sword; and she became ^(S)a byword among women, ^(T)when judgment had been executed on her.

^11 (U)“Her sister Oholibah saw this, and she became ^(V)more corrupt than her sister^[b] 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, ^(W)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 ^(X)portrayed on the wall, the ^(Y)images of ^(Z)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 ^(AA)sent messengers to them ^(AB)in Chaldea. ¹⁷ And the Babylonians came to her ^(AC)into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoring lust. And after she was defiled by them, ^(AD)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, ^(AE)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^[c] your young breasts.”

²² Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I will stir up against you your lovers ^(AF)from whom you turned in disgust, ^(AG)and I will bring them against you from every side: ²³ the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, ^(AH)Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, ^(AI)desirable young men, ^(AJ)governors and commanders all of them, officers and men of renown, all of them riding on horses. ²⁴ And they shall come against you from the north^[d] with chariots and wagons and a host of peoples. ^(AK)They shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield, and helmet; and ^(AL)I will commit the judgment to them, and ^(AM)they shall judge you according to their judgments. ²⁵ And I will direct my jealousy against you, ^(AN)that they may deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. ^(AO)They shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire. ^26 (AP)They shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewels. ^27 (AQ)Thus I will put an end to your lewdness and ^(AR)your whoring begun in the land of Egypt, so that you shall not lift up your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.

²⁸ “For thus says the Lord God: ^(AS)Behold, I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, ^(AT)into the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust, ²⁹ and ^(AU)they shall deal with you in hatred and take away all the fruit of your labor ^(AV)and leave you naked and bare, and ^(AW)the nakedness of your whoring shall be uncovered. Your lewdness and your whoring ³⁰ have brought this upon you, because ^(AX)you played the whore with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols. ³¹ You have gone the way of your sister; ^(AY)therefore I will give ^(AZ)her cup into your hand. ³² Thus says the Lord God:

for I have spoken, declares the Lord God. ³⁵ Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because ^(BE)you have forgotten me and ^(BF)cast me behind your back, you yourself ^(BG)must bear the consequences of your lewdness and whoring.”

³⁶ The Lord said to me: ^(BH)“Son of man, ^(BI)will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Declare to them their abominations. ³⁷ For ^(BJ)they have committed adultery, ^(BK)and blood is on their hands. With their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even ^(BL)offered up^[e] to them for food the children whom they had borne to me. ³⁸ Moreover, this they have done to me: ^(BM)they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and ^(BN)profaned my Sabbaths. ³⁹ For when ^(BO)they had slaughtered their children in sacrifice to their idols, on the same day ^(BP)they came into my sanctuary to profane it. And behold, ^(BQ)this is what they did in my house. ⁴⁰ They even sent for men to come from afar, ^(BR)to whom a messenger was sent; and behold, they came. For them you bathed yourself, ^(BS)painted your eyes, ^(BT)and adorned yourself with ornaments. ⁴¹ You sat on ^(BU)a stately couch, with a table spread before it ^(BV)on which you had placed my incense and ^(BW)my oil. ⁴² The ^(BX)sound of a carefree multitude was with her; and with men of the common sort, drunkards^[f] were brought from the wilderness; and they put ^(BY)bracelets on the hands of the women, and ^(BZ)beautiful crowns on their heads.

⁴³ “Then I said of her who was worn out by adultery, ‘Now they will continue to use her for a whore, even her!’^{[g] 44} For they have gone in to her, as men go in to a prostitute. Thus they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, lewd women! ⁴⁵ But righteous men ^(CA)shall pass judgment on them with the sentence of adulteresses, and with the sentence of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands.”

⁴⁶ For thus says the Lord God: ^(CB)“Bring up a vast host against them, and make them ^(CC)an object of terror and ^(CD)a plunder. ^47 (CE)And the host shall stone them and cut them down with their swords. ^(CF)They shall kill their sons and their daughters, and ^(CG)burn up their houses. ^48 (CH)Thus will I put an end to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not commit lewdness as you have done. ⁴⁹ And they shall return your lewdness upon you, and ^(CI)you shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry, and ^(CJ)you shall know that I am the Lord God.”

The Lord's Faithless Bride

16 Again the word of the Lord came to me: ^2 (A)“Son of man, ^(B)make known to Jerusalem her abominations, ³ and say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an ^(C)Amorite and your mother a ^(D)Hittite. ⁴ And as for your birth, ^(E)on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. ⁵ No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, ^(F)but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, ^(G)on the day that you were born.

⁶ “And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing ^(H)in your blood, I said to you ^(I)in your blood, ‘Live!’ I said to you ^(J)in your blood, ‘Live!’ ^7 (K)I made you flourish like a plant of the field. And you grew up and became tall ^(L)and arrived at full adornment. Your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown; yet ^(M)you were naked and bare.

⁸ “When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and ^(N)I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you ^(O)and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, ^(P)and you became mine. ⁹ Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and ^(Q)anointed you with oil. ^10 (R)I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk.^{[a] 11 (S)}And I adorned you with ornaments and ^(T)put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. ¹² And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. ¹³ Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. ^(U)You ate fine flour and honey and oil. ^(V)You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. ¹⁴ And ^(W)your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord God.

^15 (X)“But you trusted in your beauty ^(Y)and played the whore^[b] because of your renown ^(Z)and lavished your whorings^[c] on any passerby; your beauty^[d] became his. ¹⁶ You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore. The like has never been, nor ever shall be.^{[e] 17} You also took ^(AA)your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and ^(AB)made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore. ¹⁸ And you took your embroidered garments to cover them, ^(AC)and set my oil and my incense before them. ^19 (AD)Also my bread that I gave you—^(AE)I fed you with fine flour and oil and honey—you set before them for ^(AF)a pleasing aroma; and so it was, declares the Lord God. ^20 (AG)And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and ^(AH)these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter ²¹ that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them? ²² And in all your abominations and your whorings you did not remember ^(AI)the days of your youth, ^(AJ)when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your blood.

²³ “And after all your wickedness (woe, woe to you! declares the Lord God), ²⁴ you built yourself ^(AK)a vaulted chamber and made yourself a lofty place in every square. ²⁵ At the head of every street ^(AL)you built your lofty place and made ^(AM)your beauty an abomination, ^(AN)offering yourself^[f] to any passerby and multiplying your whoring. ^26 (AO)You also played the whore ^(AP)with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, ^(AQ)multiplying your whoring, ^(AR)to provoke me to anger. ²⁷ Behold, therefore, I stretched out my hand against you ^(AS)and diminished your allotted portion ^(AT)and delivered you to the greed of your enemies, ^(AU)the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. ^28 (AV)You played the whore also ^(AW)with the Assyrians, because you were not satisfied; yes, you played the whore with them, and still you were not satisfied. ²⁹ You multiplied your whoring also with the trading land ^(AX)of Chaldea, and even with this you were not satisfied.