Ezekiel 23
The Two
Sisters |
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 Aho'lah
the elder, and Ahol'ibah her sister: and they were mine, and they
bare sons and daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria is Aho'lah, and Jerusalem Ahol'ibah.
|
5 |
And Aho'lah played the harlot when she
was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbors,
|
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 Ahol'ibah 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 neighbors, 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 portrayed upon the wall, the images
of the Chalde'ans portrayed 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 Chalde'a, 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
Chalde'a.
|
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 Ahol'ibah, 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 Chalde'ans,
Pekod, and Sho'a, and Ko'a, 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 labor, 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 Aho'lah and Ahol'ibah?
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 Sabe'ans 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 Aho'lah
and unto Ahol'ibah, 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.
|