The Two Adulterous Sisters

23 Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother, 3 and they played in Egypt, prostituting themselves from their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their virgin bosoms caressed. 4 The older was named Oholah,[fn] and her sister was named Oholibah.[fn] They became Mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. As for their identities, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

5 Oholah prostituted herself while she was still Mine. She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians—warriors 6 clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all desirable young men, horsemen mounted on steeds. 7 She offered sexual favors to all the elite of Assyria. She defiled herself with all the idols of those for whom she lusted.

8 She did not give up the prostitution she began in Egypt, when men slept with her in her youth, caressed her virgin bosom, and poured out their lust upon her. 9 Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, the Assyrians for whom she lusted. 10 They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and put her to the sword. Thus she became a byword among women, and they executed judgment against her.

11 Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet in her lust and prostitution she was more depraved than her sister. 12 She too lusted after the Assyrians—governors and commanders, warriors dressed in splendor, horsemen riding on steeds, all desirable young men. 13 And I saw that she too had defiled herself; both of them had taken the same path.

14 But Oholibah carried her prostitution even further. She saw the men portrayed on the wall, images of the Chaldeans,[fn] engraved in vermilion, 15 wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like officers of the Babylonians in Chaldea,[fn] the land of their birth. 16 At the sight of them, she lusted for them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. 17 Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. But after she had been defiled by them, she turned away in disgust.

18 When Oholibah openly prostituted herself and exposed her nakedness, I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister. 19 Yet she multiplied her promiscuity, remembering the days of her youth, when she had prostituted herself in the land of Egypt 20 and lusted after their lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of stallions. 21 So you revisited the indecency of your youth, when the Egyptians caressed your bosom and pressed your young breasts.