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¹The word of the LORD came to me again, saying,

²“Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother;

³and they prostituted themselves in Egypt. They prostituted themselves in their youth; there their breasts were squeezed and there their virgin breasts were handled.

⁴Their names were Oholah the elder and Oholibah her sister. And they became Mine, and they gave birth to sons and daughters. And as for their names, Samaria is Oholah and Jerusalem is Oholibah.

⁵“Oholah prostituted herself while she was Mine; and she lusted after her lovers, after the Assyrians, her neighbors,

⁶who were clothed in purple, governors and officials, all of them handsome young men, horsemen riding on horses.

⁷She bestowed her obscene practices on them, all of whom were the choicest men of Assyria; and with all whom she lusted after, with all their idols she defiled herself.

⁸She did not abandon her obscene practices from the time in Egypt; for in her youth men had slept with her, and they handled her virgin breasts and poured out their obscene practice on her.

⁹Therefore, I handed her over to her lovers, to the Assyrians, after whom she lusted.

¹⁰They uncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters, but they killed her with the sword. So she became a subject of gossip among women, and they executed judgments on her.

¹¹“Now her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was more corrupt in her lust than she, and her obscene practices were more than the prostitution of her sister.

¹²She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and officials, the ones near, opulently dressed, horsemen riding on horses, all of them handsome young men.

¹³And I saw that she had defiled herself; they both took the same way.

¹⁴So she increased her obscene practices. And she saw men carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans drawn in bright red,

¹⁵wearing belts around their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, like the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth.

¹⁶And when she saw them she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.

¹⁷And the Babylonians came to her to the bed of love and defiled her with their obscene practice. And when she had been defiled by them, she turned away from them in disgust.

¹⁸She exposed her obscene practices and exposed her nakedness; then I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister in disgust.

¹⁹Yet she multiplied her obscene practices, remembering the days of her youth, when she prostituted herself in the land of Egypt.

²⁰She lusted after their lovers, whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys and whose discharge is like the discharge of horses.

²¹So you longed for the outrageous sin of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your breasts because of the breasts of your youth.

²²“Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold I am going to incite your lovers against you, from whom you turned away in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side:

²³the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them; handsome young men, governors and officials all of them, officers and men of renown, all of them riding on horses.

²⁴And they will come against you with weapons, chariots, and wagons, and with a contingent of peoples. They will attack you on every side with shield, buckler, and helmet; and I will commit the judgment to them, and they will judge you according to their customs.

²⁵I will set My jealousy against you, so that they may deal with you in wrath. They will remove your nose and your ears; and your survivors will fall by the sword. They will take your sons and your daughters; and your survivors will be consumed by the fire.

²⁶They will also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewelry.

²⁷So I will remove from you your outrageous sin and your prostitution that you brought from the land of Egypt, so that you will not raise your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.’

²⁸For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I am going to hand you over to those whom you hate, to those from whom you turned away in disgust.

²⁹They will deal with you in hatred, take all your property, and leave you naked and bare. And the nakedness of your prostitution will be exposed, both your outrageous sin and your obscene practices.

³⁰These things will be done to you because you have adulterously pursued the nations, because you have defiled yourself with their idols.

³¹You have walked in the way of your sister; therefore I will put her cup in your hand.’

³²This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You will drink your sister’s cup, Which is deep and wide. You will be laughed at and held in derision; Because it contains much.

³³You will be filled with drunkenness and grief, A cup of horror and desolation, The cup of your sister Samaria.

³⁴And you will drink it and drain it. Then you will gnaw on its fragments And tear your breasts; for I have spoken,’ declares the Lord GOD.

³⁵Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because you have forgotten Me and discarded Me behind your back, suffer on your own part the punishment for your outrageous sin and your obscene practices.’ ”

³⁶Moreover, the LORD said to me, “Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations.

³⁷For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. So they have committed adultery with their idols, and even made their sons, whom they bore to Me, pass through the fire to them as food.

³⁸Again, they have done this to Me: they have defiled My sanctuary on the same day, and have profaned My Sabbaths.

³⁹For when they slaughtered their children for their idols, they entered My sanctuary on the same day to profane it; and behold, this is what they did within My house.

⁴⁰“Furthermore, they have even sent for men who come from a great distance, to whom a messenger was sent; and behold, they came—for whom you bathed, put makeup on your eyes, and adorned yourselves with jewelry;

⁴¹and you sat on a splendid couch with a table arranged in front of it on which you had set My incense and My oil.

⁴²And the sound of a carefree multitude was with her; and heavy drinkers were brought from the wilderness with people from the multitude of humanity. And they put bracelets on the wrists of the women and beautiful crowns on their heads.

⁴³“Then I said concerning her who was worn out by adulteries, ‘Will they now commit adultery with her when she is like this?’

⁴⁴But they went in to her as they would go in to a prostitute. This is how they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, the lewd women.

⁴⁵But they, righteous people, will judge them with the judgment of adulteresses and with the judgment of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands.

⁴⁶“For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Bring up a contingent against them and turn them over to terror and plunder.

⁴⁷The contingent will stone them with stones and cut them down with their swords; they will kill their sons and their daughters and burn their houses with fire.

⁴⁸So I will eliminate outrageous conduct from the land, so that all women will take warning and not commit outrageous sin as you have done.

⁴⁹Your outrageous conduct will be repaid to you, and you will bear the guilt for your idols; so you will know that I am the Lord GOD.’ ”

¹Now the word of the LORD came to me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, saying,

²“Son of man, write the name of the day, this very day. The king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day.

³Present a parable to the rebellious house and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “Put on the pot, put it on and also pour water into it;

⁴Put in it the pieces of meat, Every good piece, the thigh and the shoulder; Fill it with choice bones.

⁵Take the choicest of the flock, And also stack wood under the pot. Make it boil vigorously. Also boil its bones in it.”

⁶‘Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says: “Woe to the bloody city, To the pot in which there is rust And whose rust has not gone out of it! Take out of it piece after piece, Without making a choice.

⁷For her blood is in her midst; She placed it on the bare rock; She did not pour it on the ground To cover it with dust.

⁸So that it may cause wrath to come up to take vengeance, I have put her blood on the bare rock, So that it will not be covered.”

⁹Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says: “Woe to the bloody city! I also will make the wood pile great.

¹⁰Heap on the wood, kindle the fire, Cook the meat thoroughly And mix in the spices, And let the bones be burned up.

¹¹Then set it empty on its burning coals So that it may be hot And its bronze may glow, And its filthiness may be melted in it, Its rust eliminated.

¹²She has wearied Me with work, Yet her great rust has not gone from her; Let her rust be in the fire!

¹³In your filthiness is outrageous sin. Because I would have cleansed you, Yet you are not clean, You will not be cleansed from your filthiness again Until I have expended My wrath on you.

¹⁴I, the LORD, have spoken; it is coming and I will act. I will not overlook, I will not pity, and I will not be sorry; according to your ways and according to your deeds I will judge you,” declares the Lord GOD.’ ”

¹⁵And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

¹⁶“Son of man, behold, I am about to take from you what is precious to your eyes with a fatal blow; but you shall not mourn and you shall not weep, and your tears shall not come.

¹⁷Groan silently; do no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban and put your sandals on your feet, and do not cover your mustache, and do not eat the bread of other people.”

¹⁸So I spoke to the people in the morning, and in the evening my wife died. And in the morning I did as I was commanded.

¹⁹And the people said to me, “Will you not tell us what these things mean for us, that you are doing?”

²⁰Then I said to them, “The word of the LORD came to me, saying,

²¹‘Speak to the house of Israel, “This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I am about to profane My sanctuary, the pride of your power, that which is precious in your eyes and the longing of your soul; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left behind will fall by the sword.

²²And you will do just as I have done; you will not cover your mustache, and you will not eat the bread of other people.

²³Your turbans will be on your heads, and your sandals on your feet. You will not mourn and you will not weep; but you will rot away in your guilty deeds, and you will groan to one another.

²⁴So Ezekiel will be a sign to you; according to all that he has done, you will do. When it comes, then you will know that I am the Lord GOD.’ ”

²⁵‘As for you, son of man, will it not be on the day when I take from them their stronghold, the joy of their splendor, that which is precious in their eyes and their heart’s longing, their sons and their daughters,

²⁶that on that day the one who escapes will come to you with information for your ears?

²⁷On that day your mouth will be opened to him who escaped, and you will speak and no longer be silenced. So you will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am the LORD.’ ”