The Sisters' Harlotry: Samaria and Jerusalem Condemned (part 1)
Ezekiel 23:1-44
1And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,2Son of man, two women, daughters of one mother.3They fornicated in Egypt in their youth; they fornicated there; their breasts were bruised there, and there they pressed the breasts of their virginity.4Their names were Oholah the great and Oholibah her sister; they became mine and bore sons and daughters. Their names were Samaria for Oholah and Jerusalem for Oholibah.5Oholah fornicated under me and lusted after her lovers, toward Assyria who were near.6They were clothed in blue, governors and rulers, youths of delight, all of them horsemen riding horses.7She bestowed her fornication upon them, the best of the sons of Assyria, all of them; and with everything after which she lusted, with all their idols she became defiled.8She did not abandon her fornication from Egypt, because they lay with her in her youth, and they pressed the breasts of her virginity, and they poured their fornication upon her.9Therefore I gave her into her lovers' hand, into the hand of the sons of Assyria after whom she lusted.10They uncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters, and they killed her with the sword. She became a name among the women, and they executed judgments upon her.11Her sister Oholibah saw and ruined her own lust away from her and her fornication away from the fornication of her sister; she lusted after the sons of Assyria,12to the sons of Assyria she lusted, governors and rulers near, clothed in perfection, horsemen riding horses, youths of delight, all of them.13I saw that she was defiled; the way was one for the two of them.14She added to her fornication and saw men engraved upon the wall, images of Chaldeans engraved in vermilion,15belted with a girdle at their loins, with turbans overrun upon their heads, the appearance of officers, all of them, the likeness of the sons of Babylon, Chaldeans of the land of their birth.16She lusted after them according to the appearance of her eyes and sent messengers to them toward Chaldea.17The sons of Babylon came to her to the bed of beloved ones; they defiled her with their fornication, she was defiled by them, and she dislocated her soul from them.18She uncovered her fornication and uncovered her nakedness, and she dislocated my soul from her just as my soul had been alienated from her sister.19She multiplied her fornication in order to remember the days of her youth when she fornicated in the land of Egypt.20She lusted after their concubines whose flesh was the flesh of donkeys and whose discharge was the discharge of horses.21You remembered the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians pressed your breasts, fondling your youthful bosom.22Therefore Oholibah, thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am stirring up your lovers against you, those from whom your soul was alienated, and I will bring them against you from every side,23the sons of Babylon and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, all the sons of Assyria with them, youths of delight, governors and rulers, all of them, officers and summoned horsemen riding horses, all of them.24They will come against you with weapon, chariot, and wheel, and with an assembly of peoples; they will set shield and shield and helmet against you all around, and I will place justice before them, and they will judge you according to their judgments.25I will put my jealousy upon you, and they will deal with you in the rage of your anger; they will remove your ears, and your end will fall by the sword; they will take your sons and your daughters, and your end will be consumed by fire.26They will strip you of your garments and will take the articles of your beauty.27I will cause your wickedness to cease from you and your fornication from the land of Egypt, and you will not lift your eyes toward them, and you will not remember Egypt any longer.28For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am giving you into the hand of those whom you hated, into the hand of those from whom your soul was alienated.29They will deal with you in hatred; they will take all your toil and will abandon you naked and bare, and the nakedness of your fornication and your wickedness and your fornication will be uncovered.30These things are done to you because you fornicated after the nations by which you were defiled in their idols; you went in the way of your sister.31I will put her cup into your hand.32Thus says the Lord GOD: You will drink the cup of your sister, the deep and the broad; it will become an object of laughter and of much derision.33You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, the cup of horror and devastation, the cup of your sister Samaria.34You will drink it and drain it; you will break its earthenware to pieces and will tear your breasts, for I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD.35Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you forgot me and cast me behind your back, and also you have lifted up your wickedness and your fornication,36the LORD said to me, Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Declare to them their abominations.37For they committed adultery, and blood is on their hands; they committed adultery with their idols; they also gave their sons whom they bore to me to pass through the fire to them for food.38They did this also to me: they defiled my sanctuary on that same day and profaned my Sabbaths.39When they slaughtered their sons for their idols, they came to my sanctuary on that same day to profane it; and behold, this is what they did inside my house.40They even sent for men coming from a distance, to whom a messenger had been sent, and behold, they came; you washed yourself, painted your eyes, and put on ornaments.41You sat upon a glorious bed with a table set before it; you placed my incense and my oil upon it.42The sound of a carefree crowd was in it, and men were brought from the multitude of people, drunkards from the wilderness; they gave bracelets to their hands and a beautiful crown upon their heads.43I said concerning the old adulteries, Now, now she will commit fornication; they will commit her fornication, and she.44They came to her as one comes to a prostitute; so they came to Oholah and to Oholibah, the wicked women.