Ezekiel 23
1The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
2Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother:
3And they committed harlotries in Egypt; they committed harlotries in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they handled the breasts of their virginity.
4And the names of them were Oholah the elder, and Oholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bore sons and daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem Oholibah.
5And Oholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbors,
6Who were clothed with blue, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses.
7Thus she committed her harlotries 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.
8Neither left she her harlotries brought from Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her, and they handled the breasts of her virginity, and poured their harlotry upon her.
9Therefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted.
10These uncovered her nakedness: they took her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword: and she became a byword among women; for they had executed judgment upon her.
11And when her sister Oholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her lust than she, and in her harlotries more than her sister in her harlotries.
12She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbors, captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men.
13Then I saw that she was defiled, that they took both the same way,
14And that she increased her harlotries: for when she saw men portrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion,
15Girded with belts upon their waists, exceeding in flowing turbans upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity:
16And as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she doted upon them, and sent messengers unto them into Chaldea.
17And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their harlotry, and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from them.
18So she uncovered her harlotries, and uncovered her nakedness: then my mind was alienated from her, like my mind was alienated from her sister.
19Yet she multiplied her harlotries, in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, in which she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt.
20For she doted upon her paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of donkeys, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.
21Thus you called to remembrance the lewdness of your youth, in handling of your breasts by the Egyptians for the sake of the bosom of your youth.
22Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I will raise up your lovers against you, from whom your mind is alienated, and I will bring them against you on every side;
23The 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.
24And they shall come against you with chariots, wagons, and wheels, and with an assembly of people, who shall set against you buckler and shield and helmet round about: and I commit set judgment unto them, and they shall judge you according to their judgments.
25And I will set my jealousy against you, and they shall deal furiously with you: they shall take away your nose and your ears; and your remnant shall fall by the sword: they shall take your sons and your daughters; and your survivors shall be devoured by the fire.
26They shall also strip you out of your clothes, and take away your fine jewels.
27Thus will I make your lewdness to cease from you, and your harlotry brought from the land of Egypt: so that you shall not lift up your eyes unto them, nor remember Egypt anymore.
28For thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I will deliver you into the hand of them whom you hate, into the hand of them from whom your mind is alienated:
29And they shall deal with you hatefully, and shall take away all the fruit of your labor, and shall leave you naked and bare: and the nakedness of your harlotries shall be uncovered, both your lewdness and your harlotries.
30I will do these things unto you, because you have played the harlot after the nations, and because you are polluted with their idols.
31You have walked in the way of your sister; therefore will I give her cup into your hand.
32Thus says the Lord GOD; You shall drink of your sister's cup deep and large: you shall be laughed to scorn and had in derision; it contains much.
33You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of horror and desolation, with the cup of your sister Samaria.
34You shall even drink it and drain it out, and you shall break its sherds, and tear your own breasts: for I have spoken it, says the Lord GOD.
35Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Because you have forgotten me, and cast me behind your back, therefore bear you also your lewdness and your harlotries.
36The LORD said moreover unto me;
Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? yea, declare unto them their abominations;
37That 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 bore unto me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them.
38Moreover this they have done unto me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths.
39For when they had slain their children for their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and, lo, thus have they done in the midst of my house.
40And furthermore, that you have sent for men to come from afar, unto whom a messenger was sent; and, lo, they came: for whom you did wash yourself, painted your eyes, and decked yourself with ornaments,
41And sat upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it, upon which you have set my incense and my oil.
42And 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, who put bracelets upon their wrists, and beautiful crowns upon their heads.
43Then said I unto her that had grown old in adulteries, Will they now commit harlotries with her, and she with them?
44Yet they went in unto her, as they go in unto a woman that plays the harlot: so went they in unto Oholah and unto Oholibah, the lewd women.
45And 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 on their hands.
46For thus says the Lord GOD; I will bring up a company against them, and will give them to be removed and plundered.
47And 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.
48Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness.
49And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and you shall bear the sins of your idols: and you shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
Commentaries for Ezekiel 23:0