Ezekiel 23
1 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother:
3 And they committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed whoredoms
in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the
teats of their virginity.
4 And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her
sister: and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters. Thus were their
names; Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah.
5 And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on
her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours,
6 Which were clothed with blue, captains and rulers, all of them
desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses.
7 Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, with all them that
were the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on whom she doted: with all their
idols she defiled herself.
8 Neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt: for in her
youth they lay with her, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and
poured their whoredom upon her.
9 Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into
the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted.
10 These discovered her nakedness: they took her sons and her
daughters, and slew her with the sword: and she became famous among women; for
they had executed judgment upon her.
11 And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in
her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her
whoredoms.
12 She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbours, captains and rulers
clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable
young men.
13 Then I saw that she was defiled, that they took both one way,
14 And that she increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men
pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion,
15 Girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire
upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the
Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity:
16 And as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she doted upon them,
and sent messengers unto them into Chaldea.
17 And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they
defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her mind
was alienated from them.
18 So she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness:
then my mind was alienated from her, like as my mind was alienated from her
sister.
19 Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to remembrance the
days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt.
20 For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh
of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.
21 Thus thou calledst to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth, in
bruising thy teats by the Egyptians for the paps of thy youth.
22 Therefore, O Aholibah, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will
raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy mind is alienated, and I will
bring them against thee on every side;
23 The Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, and Shoa, and
Koa, and all the Assyrians with them: all of them desirable young men, captains
and rulers, great lords and renowned, all of them riding upon horses.
24 And they shall come against thee with chariots, wagons, and
wheels, and with an assembly of people, which shall set against thee buckler and
shield and helmet round about: and I will set judgment before them, and they
shall judge thee according to their judgments.
25 And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall deal
furiously with thee: they shall take away thy nose and thine ears; and thy
remnant shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons and thy daughters; and
thy residue shall be devoured by the fire.
26 They shall also strip thee out of thy clothes, and take away thy
fair jewels.
27 Thus will I make thy lewdness to cease from thee, and thy
whoredom brought from the land of Egypt: so that thou shalt not lift up thine
eyes unto them, nor remember Egypt any more.
28 For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will deliver thee into
the hand of them whom thou hatest, into the hand of them from whom thy mind is
alienated:
29 And they shall deal with thee hatefully, and shall take away all
thy labour, and shall leave thee naked and bare: and the nakedness of thy
whoredoms shall be discovered, both thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.
30 I will do these things unto thee, because thou hast gone a
whoring after the heathen, and because thou art polluted with their idols.
31 Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister; therefore will I give
her cup into thine hand.
32 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou shalt drink of thy sister's cup
deep and large: thou shalt be laughed to scorn and had in derision; it
containeth much.
33 Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup
of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of thy sister Samaria.
34 Thou shalt even drink it and suck it out, and thou shalt break
the sherds thereof, and pluck off thine own breasts: for I have spoken it, saith
the Lord GOD.
35 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast forgotten
me, and cast me behind thy back, therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy
whoredoms.
36 The LORD said moreover unto me; Son of man, wilt thou judge
Aholah and Aholibah? yea, declare unto them their abominations;
37 That they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands,
and with their idols have they committed adultery, and have also caused their
sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them.
38 Moreover this they have done unto me: they have defiled my
sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths.
39 For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they
came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and, lo, thus have they done
in the midst of mine house.
40 And furthermore, that ye have sent for men to come from far,
unto whom a messenger was sent; and, lo, they came: for whom thou didst wash
thyself, paintedst thy eyes, and deckedst thyself with ornaments,
41 And satest upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it,
whereupon thou hast set mine incense and mine oil.
42 And a voice of a multitude being at ease was with her: and with
the men of the common sort were brought Sabeans from the wilderness, which put
bracelets upon their hands, and beautiful crowns upon their heads.
43 Then said I unto her that was old in adulteries, Will they now
commit whoredoms with her, and she with them?
44 Yet they went in unto her, as they go in unto a woman that
playeth the harlot: so went they in unto Aholah and unto Aholibah, the lewd
women.
45 And the righteous men, they shall judge them after the manner of
adulteresses, and after the manner of women that shed blood; because they are
adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.
46 For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will bring up a company upon
them, and will give them to be removed and spoiled.
47 And the company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them
with their swords; they shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn up
their houses with fire.
48 Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all
women may be taught not to do after your lewdness.
49 And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall
bear the sins of your idols: and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
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