You bring shame on me among my people for a few handfuls of barley or a piece of bread. By lying to my people who love to listen to lies, you kill those who should not die, and you promise life to those who should not live.

And when I passed by again, I saw that you were old enough for love. So I wrapped my cloak around you to cover your nakedness and declared my marriage vows. I made a covenant with you, says the Sovereign Lord, and you became mine.

I gave you lovely jewelry, bracelets, beautiful necklaces,

a ring for your nose, earrings for your ears, and a lovely crown for your head.

You used the lovely things I gave you to make shrines for idols, where you played the prostitute. Unbelievable! How could such a thing ever happen?

Then you added lustful Egypt to your lovers, provoking my anger with your increasing promiscuity.

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.

You added to your lovers by embracing Babylonia, the land of merchants, but you still weren’t satisfied.

Prostitutes charge for their services—but not you! You give gifts to your lovers, bribing them to come and have sex with you.

So you are the opposite of other prostitutes. You pay your lovers instead of their paying you!

This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because you have poured out your lust and exposed yourself in prostitution to all your lovers, and because you have worshiped detestable idols, and because you have slaughtered your children as sacrifices to your gods,

this is what I am going to do. I will gather together all your allies—the lovers with whom you have sinned, both those you loved and those you hated—and I will strip you naked in front of them so they can stare at you.

Then I will give you to these many nations who are your lovers, and they will destroy you. They will knock down your pagan shrines and the altars to your idols. They will strip you and take your beautiful jewels, leaving you stark naked.

They will burn your homes and punish you in front of many women. I will stop your prostitution and end your payments to your many lovers.

“Then Oholah lusted after other lovers instead of me, and she gave her love to the Assyrian officers.

“And so I handed her over to her Assyrian lovers, whom she desired so much.

“Then she carried her prostitution even further. She fell in love with pictures that were painted on a wall—pictures of Babylonian military officers, outfitted in striking red uniforms.

So they came and committed adultery with her, defiling her in the bed of love. After being defiled, however, she rejected them in disgust.

She lusted after lovers with genitals as large as a donkey’s and emissions like those of a horse.

The Lord’s Judgment of Oholibah

“Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will send your lovers against you from every direction—those very nations from which you turned away in disgust.

“They will plunder all your riches and merchandise and break down your walls. They will destroy your lovely homes and dump your stones and timbers and even your dust into the sea.

Your heart was filled with pride because of all your beauty. Your wisdom was corrupted by your love of splendor. So I threw you to the ground and exposed you to the curious gaze of kings.

Say to them, ‘O Egypt, are you lovelier than the other nations? No! So go down to the pit and lie there among the outcasts.’

You are very entertaining to them, like someone who sings love songs with a beautiful voice or plays fine music on an instrument. They hear what you say, but they don’t act on it!