UST by section EZE 23:1

⌂ ← EZE 23:1–23:49 → ║ ═ ©

Ezekiel 23

23 Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 2 “Mortal, listen to this story There were two women who were daughters of the same mother. 3 While they lived in Egypt, they were unfaithful to me; even while they were young, they worshiped other gods. It was as though, while they were young women there, men fondled their breasts and caressed their young bodies. 4 The older woman’s name was Oholah, and her sister’s name was Oholibah. It was as though they both became my wives, and they gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah represents the city of Samaria, and Oholibah represents the city of Jerusalem. 5 However, Oholah was unfaithful to me while she was still my wife. She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians who lived near her, 6 men who wore expensive blue clothing. They were governors and commanders, all of them handsome young men who rode on horses. 7 She offered herself to all of them, the finest men of Assyria. She lusted after every one of them, and she made herself unacceptable to me by worshiping all their idols. 8 She never gave up the promiscuous ways that she had begun in Egypt, where men had had sexual relations with her when she was young. They caressed her young body and freely satisfied their lust with her. 9 So I handed her over to the power of her lovers, the Assyrians, whom she had desired so much. 10 Those men themselves stripped her naked and shamed her publicly. They took away her sons and her daughters, and they killed her with a sword. Women everywhere talked about her, because those men had punished her severely.

11 Her sister Oholibah saw all this, yet she desired men even more shamefully than her sister had, and she behaved even more promiscuously than her sister. 12 She lusted after the Assyrians— governors and commanders who lived near her, men who wore splendid uniforms and rode on horses, all of them handsome young men. 13 I saw that she had made herself unacceptable to me; both sisters behaved the same way. 14 Oholibah behaved even more promiscuously. She saw pictures of men that artists had carved on a wall— images of Babylonians that they had painted bright red. 15 Those men wore belts around their waists and turbans with long ends hanging from their heads. They all looked like the chariot officers of Babylonia, their homeland. 16 As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them, and she sent messengers to them in Babylonia. 17 So the Babylonians came to her and had sexual relations with her, and by their promiscuity they made her unclean. After she had made herself unacceptable to me in that way, she became disgusted with them and turned away from them. 18 She openly flaunted her promiscuous behavior and shamelessly displayed her naked body. So I became disgusted with her and turned away from her, just as I had turned away from her sister. 19 Yet she became even more promiscuous, remembering the days when she was young, when she was unfaithful to me and worshiped the gods of Egypt. 20 There she lusted after her Egyptian lovers, men whose sexual organs were like those of donkeys and whose emission of semen was like that of horses. 21 So you, Oholibah, longed to behave as lewdly as you did when you were young, when the Egyptians caressed your young body and fondled your breasts.

22 So then, Oholibah, this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: ‘I am about to stir up your lovers to attack you— the very men you became disgusted with and turned away from. I will bring them against you from every direction. 23 They are the Babylonians and all the people of Babylonia, along with the men of Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them. They are all handsome young men— governors and commanders, chariot officers and men of high rank, all of them riding on horses. 24 They will attack you with weapons, with chariots and wagons, and with a great army from many nations. They will surround you, carrying large shields and small shields and wearing helmets. I will let them decide how to punish you, and they will punish you according to their own customs. 25 Because you betrayed me and I am furious, I will let them treat you cruelly. They will cut off your noses and your ears, and those of you who survive will die by the sword. They will take away your sons and your daughters, and fire will destroy those of you who remain. 26 They will strip off your clothes and take away your beautiful jewelry. 27 In this way I will put an end to your lewd behavior and to the promiscuous ways that you began in Egypt. You will no longer look longingly at those things, and you will not think about Egypt anymore.’

28 This is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: ‘I am about to hand you over to the people you hate, the ones you became disgusted with and turned away from. 29 They will treat you hatefully and take away everything that you worked hard to gain. They will leave you completely naked, so that everyone will see plainly how promiscuous and lewd you have been. 30 They will do these things to you because you were unfaithful to me and chased after other nations, and because you made yourself unacceptable to me by worshiping their idols. 31 You have behaved just as your sister behaved, so I will make you suffer the same punishment that she suffered.’

32 This is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: ‘You will suffer the punishment that your sister suffered. It will be as though you drink from a cup that is deep and wide and holds a great amount. People will laugh at you and mock you. 33 I will make you as helpless as a drunk person, and I will fill you with sorrow, because the punishment that your sister Samaria suffered horrified people and left her land empty. 34 You will endure that punishment completely, down to the very last of it, and you will suffer such agony that you will tear at your own body. I, Yahweh, have said this. That is what I, the Lord Yahweh, declare.’

35 So this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: ‘Because you have forgotten me and completely rejected me, you yourself must suffer the consequences of your lewd and promiscuous behavior.’ ”

36 Yahweh gave me another message. He said, “Mortal, you must judge Oholah and Oholibah. Tell them about the detestable things that they have done. 37 They have committed adultery, and they are guilty of murdering people. They have been unfaithful to me by worshiping idols, and they have even sacrificed in the fire the sons that they bore for me, giving those children to their idols as food. 38 They have also done this to me: on that same day they made my temple unclean, and they dishonored my Sabbath days. 39 On the very day when they slaughtered their children as sacrifices to their idols, they came into my temple, and by doing that they dishonored it. That is what they did right inside my temple.

40 They even sent messengers to invite men who lived far away, and those men came. For them you bathed yourself, painted your eyes, and put on your jewelry. 41 You sat on a splendid couch, and in front of it someone had set a table on which you placed the incense and the olive oil that belonged to me. 42 A noisy, carefree crowd surrounded her. Along with the ordinary men in that crowd, people brought in drunken men from the wilderness, and those men put bracelets on the two women’s wrists and beautiful crowns on their heads. 43 Then I said about that woman, who had worn herself out with her many adulteries, ‘Now they will treat her as a prostitute, and she will go on being unfaithful.’ 44 Men went to her and had sexual relations with her as men do with a prostitute. That is how they treated both Oholah and Oholibah, those shameless women. 45 However, righteous men will condemn them and sentence them the way people sentence women who commit adultery and women who murder others, because these women have committed adultery and are guilty of murder.

46 This is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: ‘I will bring a mob against them, and I will let that mob terrify them and plunder their possessions. 47 That mob will throw stones at them and cut them to pieces with their swords. They will kill their sons and their daughters and burn down their houses. 48 In this way I will put an end to lewd behavior in the land, and I will warn all other women, so that they will not behave as lewdly as you have behaved. 49 You people will suffer the consequences of your lewd behavior, and you will bear the guilt of the sins that you committed by worshiping idols. Then you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.’ ”

EZE C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24 C25 C26 C27 C28 C29 C30 C31 C32 C33 C34 C35 C36 C37 C38 C39 C40 C41 C42 C43 C44 C45 C46 C47 C48