1The word of the LORD came to me again. He said,
2"Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother."
3"They were prostitutes in Egypt; they were prostitutes in their youth. There their breasts were pressed, and there their virgin breasts were bruised."
4"Their names were Aholah, the elder, and Aholibah, her sister. They were mine, and they bore sons and daughters. These are their names: Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem is Aholibah."
5"Aholah acted like a prostitute while she was mine. She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians, her neighbours,"
6"who were dressed in blue - captains and rulers, all of them handsome young men, horsemen riding on horses."
7"So she gave herself as a prostitute to them, to all the chosen men of Assyria, and to all she lusted after. With all their idols she made herself unclean."
8"She did not leave behind the prostitution she had brought from Egypt. For in her youth men lay with her, and bruised her virgin breasts, and poured out their prostitution on her."
9"So I handed her over to her lovers, to the Assyrians, whom she lusted after."
10"They uncovered her nakedness. They took her sons and her daughters, and killed her with the sword. She became notorious among women, for they had carried out judgment on her."
11"Her sister Aholibah saw this. Yet she was more corrupt than her sister in her wild love, and her prostitution was worse than her sister's prostitution."
12"She lusted after the Assyrians, her neighbours - captains and rulers dressed in splendid clothes, horsemen riding on horses, all of them handsome young men."
13"Then I saw that she was defiled. The two of them took the same way."
14"She went further still with her prostitution. She saw men pictured on the wall, images of the Chaldeans painted in bright red,"
15"with belts round their waists and flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like princes, like the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land where they were born."
16"As soon as she saw them with her eyes, she lusted after them, and she sent messengers to them in Chaldea."
17"The Babylonians came to her, into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their prostitution. She was made unclean with them, and then her mind turned away from them."
18"So she uncovered her prostitution and uncovered her nakedness. Then my mind turned away from her, just as my mind had turned away from her sister."
19"Yet she did more and more prostitution, remembering the days of her youth, when she had acted like a prostitute in the land of Egypt."
20"She lusted after their lovers, whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys, and whose issue is like the issue of horses."
21"So you remembered the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians bruised your breasts, the breasts of your youth."
22"Therefore, Aholibah, this is what the Lord GOD says: 'Look, I will stir up your lovers against you, the ones your mind has turned away from, and I will bring them against you from every side:"
23"the Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them - all of them handsome young men, captains and rulers, great lords and famous men, all of them riding on horses."
24"They will come against you with chariots, wagons and wheels, and with a great crowd of people. They will set shield and buckler and helmet against you on every side. I will put judgment before them, and they will judge you by their own judgments."
25"I will turn my jealousy against you, and they will deal with you in fury. They will take away your nose and your ears, and those of you who are left will fall by the sword. They will take your sons and your daughters, and the rest of you will be burned up by the fire."
26"They will also strip off your clothes and take away your fine jewels."
27"So I will put an end to your lewdness and to the prostitution you brought from the land of Egypt. You will not look to them any more, and you will not remember Egypt again."
28"For this is what the Lord GOD says: Look, I will hand you over to those you hate, to those your mind has turned away from."
29"They will deal with you in hatred. They will take away everything you worked for, and leave you naked and bare. The nakedness of your prostitution will be uncovered, your lewdness and your prostitution."
30"I will do these things to you because you have gone after the nations like a prostitute, and because you have made yourself unclean with their idols."
31"You have walked in the way of your sister, so I will put her cup into your hand."
32"This is what the Lord GOD says: You will drink from your sister's cup, deep and wide. You will be laughed at and mocked, for the cup holds much."
33"You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of horror and ruin, the cup of your sister Samaria."
34"You will drink it and drain it dry. You will break its pieces, and tear off your own breasts. For I have spoken it, says the Lord GOD."
35"Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Because you have forgotten me and thrown me behind your back, you must carry your lewdness and your prostitution.'"
36The LORD said to me further, "Son of man, will you judge Aholah and Aholibah? Then tell them about the disgusting things they have done."
37"They have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols. They have even made their sons, whom they bore to me, pass through the fire to their idols, to be devoured."
38"And this too they have done to me: on the same day they made my sanctuary unclean and treated my sabbaths as nothing holy."
39"For when they had killed their children for their idols, they came that same day into my sanctuary to make it unclean. Look, this is what they did inside my house."
40"And more than this: you sent for men to come from far away. A messenger was sent to them, and look, they came. For them you washed yourself, painted your eyes and put on your jewels."
41"You sat on a splendid bed, with a table spread before it, and on it you set my incense and my oil."
42"The noise of a careless crowd was with her. Common men were brought, and Sabeans from the wilderness. They put bracelets on their hands and beautiful crowns on their heads."
43"Then I said of her who was worn out with adulteries, 'Will they now be prostitutes with her, and she with them?'"
44"Yet they went in to her, as men go in to a prostitute. So they went in to Aholah and to Aholibah, the lewd women."
45"But righteous men will judge them as adulteresses are judged, and as women who shed blood are judged; because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands."
46"For this is what the Lord GOD says: I will bring a crowd up against them, and hand them over to be carried off and plundered."
47"The crowd 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."
48"So I will put an end to lewdness in the land, so that all women may be taught not to copy your lewdness."
49"They will pay you back for your lewdness, and you will carry the sins of your idols. Then you will know that I am the Lord GOD."