The Adultery of Oholah and Aholibah

1And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, 2Son of man, there were two women, daughters of one mother. 3And they committed whoredom in Egypt; they committed whoredom in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there were handled the teats of their virginity. 4And their names were Oholah the elder, and Oholibah her sister; and they were mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names: Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem Oholibah.

5And Oholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she lusted after her lovers, after the Assyrians her neighbours, 6clothed with blue, governors and rulers, all of them attractive young men, horsemen riding upon horses. 7And she bestowed her whoredoms upon them, all of them the choice of the children of Asshur; and with all after whom she lusted, with all their idols she defiled herself. 8Neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt; for in her youth they had lain with her, and had handled the breasts of her virginity, and poured their fornication upon her. 9Therefore I gave her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the children of Asshur, after whom she lusted. 10These discovered her nakedness, they took her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword; and she became a name among women; and they executed judgment upon her.

11And her sister Oholibah saw this, and was more corrupt in her passion than she, and in her fornications more than the whoredoms of her sister. 12She lusted after the children of Asshur her neighbours, governors and rulers, clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them attractive young men. 13And I saw that she was defiled: both took one way. 14And she increased her fornications; for she saw men portrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion, 15girded with girdles upon their loins, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them captains in appearance, after the likeness of the children of Babylon, of Chaldea, the land of their nativity. 16And as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she lusted after them, and sent messengers unto them into Chaldea. 17And the children of Babylon came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their fornication; she too defiled herself with them, and her soul was alienated from them. 18And she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness; and my soul was alienated from her, like as my soul was alienated from her sister. 19Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, calling to remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she played the harlot in the land of Egypt; 20and she lusted after their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is as the issue of horses. 21And thou didst look back to the lewdness of thy youth, in the handling of thy teats by the Egyptians, for the breasts of thy youth.

Aholibah to Be Plagued

22Therefore, Oholibah, thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy soul is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side. 23The children of Babylon, and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, all the children of Asshur with them; all of them attractive young men, governors and rulers, great lords and renowned, all of them riding upon horses. 24And they shall come against thee with armour, chariots and wheels, and with an assemblage of peoples; they shall set themselves against thee with target, and shield, and helmet round about; and I will put judgment before them, and they shall judge thee according to their judgments. 25And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall deal furiously with thee: they shall cut off 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. 26They shall also strip the of thy garments, and take away thy fair jewels. 27And I will make thy lewdness to cease from thee, and thy whoredom brought from the land of Egypt; and thou shalt not lift up thine eyes unto them, nor remember Egypt any more. 28For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will give thee over into the hand of them whom thou hatest, into the hand of them from whom thy soul is alienated. 29And they shall deal with thee in hatred, and shall take away all thy labour, and shall leave thee naked and bare; so that the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be discovered, both thy lewdness and thy fornications. 30These things shall be done unto thee, because thou hast gone a whoring after the nations, because thou hast defiled thyself with their idols. 31Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister; and I have given her cup into thy hand.

32Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Thou shalt drink of thy sister's cup deep and large; thou shalt be for a laughing-stock and a derision, for it containeth much.

33Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, the cup of thy sister Samaria;

34thou shalt even drink it and suck it out, and thou shalt gnaw the sherds thereof, and pluck off thine own breasts: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord Jehovah.

35Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because thou hast forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back, therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy fornications.

Judgment on Both Sisters

36And Jehovah said unto me, Son of man, wilt thou judge Oholah and Oholibah? yea, declare unto them their abominations. 37For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands; and with their idols have they committed adultery, and have also passed over unto them their children, whom they bore unto me, to be devoured. 38Moreover this have they done unto me: in the same day have they defiled my sanctuary and profaned my sabbaths. 39For when they had slaughtered their children unto their idols, they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and behold, thus have they done in the midst of my house.

40And furthermore, they sent for men to come from far, unto whom a messenger was sent; and behold, they came: for whom thou didst wash thyself, paintedst thine eyes, and deckedst thyself with ornaments; 41and satest upon a stately bed, with a table prepared before it, whereupon thou hadst set mine incense and mine oil. 42And the voice of a multitude living carelessly was with her; and with people of the common sort were brought Sabeans from the wilderness, and they put bracelets upon their hands, and a beautiful crown upon their heads.

43And I said of her that was old in adulteries, Will she now commit her fornications, even she. 44And they went in unto her, as they go in unto a whorish woman: so went they in unto Oholah and unto Oholibah the lewd women. 45And righteous men, they shall judge them with the judgment of adulteresses, and with the judgment of women that shed blood; for they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.

46For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I will bring up an assemblage against them, and will give them to be driven hither and thither and spoiled. 47And the assemblage shall stone them with stones, and despatch them with their swords; they shall kill their sons and their daughters, and burn their houses with fire. 48And I will cause lewdness to cease out of the land, and all women shall receive instruction and shall not do according to your lewdness. 49And 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 Jehovah.