³⁰ For the people of Israel and the people of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth; the people of Israel have done nothing but provoke me to anger by the work of their hands, says the Lord.^(A)

²² For in the day that I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to them or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.^{(A) 23} But this command I gave them, “Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; walk only in the way that I command you, so that it may be well with you.”^{(B) 24} Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but, in the stubbornness of their evil will, they walked in their own counsels and looked backward rather than forward.^{(C) 25} From the day that your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day,^{(D) 26} yet they did not listen to me or pay attention, but they stiffened their necks. They did worse than their ancestors did.^(E)

²⁷ So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall call to them, but they will not answer you.^{(F) 28} You shall say to them: This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.^(G)

²⁵ Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us, for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our ancestors, from our youth even to this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”^(A)

³ they prostituted themselves in Egypt; they prostituted themselves in their youth; their breasts were caressed there, and their virgin bosoms were fondled.^{(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.^(B)

⁵ Oholah prostituted herself while she was mine; she lusted after her lovers the Assyrians, warriors^{[a](C) 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.^{(D) 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.^{(E) 9} Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, for whom she lusted.^{(F) 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.^(G)

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.^{(H) 12} She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriors^[b] clothed in full armor, mounted horsemen, all of them handsome young men.^{(I) 13} And I saw that she was defiled; they both took the same way. ¹⁴ But she carried her prostitutions further; she saw male figures carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion,^{(J) 15} with belts around their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers—a picture of Babylonians whose native land was Chaldea. ¹⁶ When she saw them she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. ¹⁷ And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their lust, and after she defiled herself with them, she turned from them in disgust. ¹⁸ When she carried on her prostitutions so openly and flaunted her nakedness, I turned in disgust from her, as I had turned from her sister.^{(K) 19} Yet she increased her prostitutions, remembering the days of her youth, when she prostituted herself in the land of Egypt ²⁰ and lusted after her paramours there, whose members were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of stallions.^{(L) 21} Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians^[c] fondled your bosom and caressed^[d] your young breasts.^(M)

²² Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: I will rouse against you your lovers from whom you turned in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side:^{(N) 23} the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, handsome young men, governors and commanders all of them, officers and select leaders, all of them riding on horses.^{(O) 24} They shall come against you from the north^[e] with chariots and wagons and a host of peoples; they shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield, and helmet, and I will commit the judgment to them, and they shall judge you according to their ordinances.^{(P) 25} I will direct my indignation against you, in order 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. They shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire. ²⁶ They shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your fine jewels.^{(Q) 27} So I will put an end to your lewdness and your prostitution brought from the land of Egypt; you shall not long for them or remember Egypt any more.^{(R) 28} For thus says the Lord God: I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, into the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust, ²⁹ and they shall deal with you in hatred and take away all the fruit of your labor and leave you naked and bare, and the nakedness of your prostitutions shall be exposed. Your lewdness and your prostitutions^{(S) 30} have brought this upon you, because you prostituted yourself with the nations and polluted yourself with their idols. ³¹ You have gone the way of your sister; therefore I will give her cup into your hand. ³² Thus says the Lord God:

for I have spoken, says the Lord God.^{(U) 35} Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, therefore bear the consequences of your lewdness and prostitutions.^(V)

³⁶ The Lord said to me: Mortal, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominable deeds.^{(W) 37} For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands; with their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even offered up to them for food the children whom they had borne to me.^{(X) 38} Moreover, this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and profaned my Sabbaths. ³⁹ For when they had slaughtered their children for their idols, on the same day they came into my sanctuary to profane it. This is what they did in my house.^(Y)

⁸ But they rebelled against me and would not listen to me; not one of them cast away the detestable things on which their eyes feasted, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt.

Then I thought I would pour out my wrath upon them and spend my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.^(A)

¹⁵ I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, sending them persistently, saying, “Turn now every one of you from your evil way, and amend your doings, and do not go after other gods to serve them, and then you shall live in the land that I gave to you and your ancestors.” But you did not incline your ear or obey me.^(A)