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Oholah and Oholibah
23 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 Mortal, there were two women, the daughters of one mother; 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:
You shall drink your sister’s cup,
deep and wide;
it will bring scorn and derision;
it holds so much.(T)
33 You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow.
A cup of horror and desolation
is the cup of your sister Samaria;
34 you shall drink it and drain it out
and gnaw its sherds
and tear out your breasts,
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)
40 They even sent for men to come from far away, to whom a messenger was sent, and they came. For them you bathed yourself, painted your eyes, and decked yourself with ornaments;(Z) 41 you sat on a stately couch, with a table spread before it on which you had placed my incense and my oil.(AA) 42 The sound of a raucous multitude was around her, with many of the rabble brought in drunken from the wilderness, and they put bracelets on the arms of the women and beautiful crowns upon their heads.(AB)
43 Then I said, “Ah, she is worn out with adulteries, but they carry on their sexual acts with her.” 44 They have[f] gone in to her as one goes in to a prostitute. Thus they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, wanton women. 45 But righteous judges shall declare them guilty of adultery and of bloodshed, because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands.(AC)
46 For thus says the Lord God: Bring up an assembly against them, and make them an object of terror and of plunder. 47 The assembly shall stone them, and with their swords they shall cut them down; they shall kill their sons and their daughters and burn up their houses.(AD) 48 Thus will I put an end to lewdness in the land, so that all women may take warning and not commit lewdness as you have done.(AE) 49 They shall repay you for your lewdness, and you shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry, and you shall know that I am the Lord God.
18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
A Call to Persevere
19 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus,(A) 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh),(B) 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,(C) 22 let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.(D) 23 Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.(E) 24 And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.(F)
26 For if we willfully persist in sin after having received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins(G) 27 but a fearful prospect of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.(H) 28 Anyone who has violated the law of Moses dies without mercy “on the testimony of two or three witnesses.”(I) 29 How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by those who have spurned the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace?(J) 30 For we know the one who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.”[a] And again, “The Lord will judge his people.”(K) 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
32 But recall those earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings,(L) 33 sometimes being publicly exposed to insults and afflictions and sometimes becoming partners with those so treated.(M) 34 For you had compassion for those who were in prison, and you cheerfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you yourselves possessed something better and more lasting.[b](N) 35 Do not, therefore, abandon that boldness of yours; it brings a great reward. 36 For you need endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what was promised.(O) 37 For yet
“in a very little while,
the one who is coming will come and will not delay,(P)
38 but my righteous one will live by faith.
My soul takes no pleasure in anyone who shrinks back.”(Q)
39 But we are not among those who shrink back and so are lost but among those who have faith and so preserve our souls.(R)
Psalm 109
Prayer for Vindication and Vengeance
To the leader. Of David. A Psalm.
1 Do not be silent, O God of my praise.(A)
2 For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me,
speaking against me with lying tongues.
3 They surround me with words of hate
and attack me without cause.(B)
4 In return for my love they accuse me,
even while I make prayer for them.[a](C)
5 So they reward me evil for good
and hatred for my love.(D)
6 They say,[b] “Appoint a wicked man against him;
let an accuser stand on his right.(E)
7 When he is tried, let him be found guilty;
let his prayer be counted as sin.(F)
8 May his days be few;
may another seize his position.(G)
9 May his children be orphans
and his wife a widow.(H)
10 May his children wander about and beg;
may they be driven out of[c] the ruins they inhabit.
11 May the creditor seize all that he has;
may strangers plunder the fruits of his toil.(I)
12 May there be no one to do him a kindness
nor anyone to pity his orphaned children.(J)
13 May his posterity be cut off;
may his name be blotted out in the second generation.(K)
14 May the iniquity of his father[d] be remembered before the Lord,
and do not let the sin of his mother be blotted out.(L)
15 Let them be before the Lord continually,
and may his[e] memory be cut off from the earth.(M)
16 For he did not remember to show kindness
but pursued the poor and needy
and the brokenhearted to their death.(N)
17 He loved to curse; let curses come on him.
He did not like blessing; may it be far from him.(O)
18 He clothed himself with cursing as his coat;
may it soak into his body like water,
like oil into his bones.(P)
19 May it be like a garment that he wraps around himself,
like a belt that he wears every day.”
20 May that be the reward of my accusers from the Lord,
of those who speak evil against my life.(Q)
21 But you, O Lord my Lord,
act on my behalf for your name’s sake;
because your steadfast love is good, deliver me.(R)
22 For I am poor and needy,
and my heart is pierced within me.(S)
23 I am gone like a shadow at evening;
I am shaken off like a locust.(T)
24 My knees are weak through fasting;
my body has become gaunt.(U)
25 I am an object of scorn to my accusers;
when they see me, they shake their heads.(V)
26 Help me, O Lord my God!
Save me according to your steadfast love.
27 Let them know that this is your hand;
you, O Lord, have done it.(W)
28 Let them curse, but you will bless.
Let my assailants be put to shame;[f] may your servant be glad.(X)
29 May my accusers be clothed with dishonor;
may they be wrapped in their own shame as in a mantle.(Y)
30 With my mouth I will give great thanks to the Lord;
I will praise him in the midst of the throng.(Z)
31 For he stands at the right hand of the needy,
to save them from those who would condemn them to death.(AA)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.