Ezekiel 23

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

Son of man, there were two women, daughters of one mother.

And they played the whore in Egypt, in their youth they played the whore; there their breasts fell, there they were deflowered.

And their names were Oola the elder and Ooliba her sister; and they became mine and bore sons and daughters. And as for their names: Samaria is Oola, and Ierousalem is Ooliba.

And Oola played the whore away from me and doted upon her lovers, upon the Assyrians who were near to her,

clothed in violet, leaders and generals, choice young men, all of them horsemen riding upon horses.

And she bestowed her whoring upon them — choice sons of the Assyrians, all of them — and upon all whom she doted upon; with all her devisings she defiled herself.

And she did not abandon her whoring from Egypt, for in her youth they lay with her, and they deflowered her and poured out their whoring upon her.

Therefore I handed her over into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the sons of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted.

They uncovered her shame; they took her sons and daughters, and they killed her with a sword. And she became a byword among women, and they carried out acts of vengeance upon her for the daughters.

And her sister Ooliba saw it, and she corrupted her doting more than she had, and her whoring beyond her sister's whoring.

She doted upon the sons of the Assyrians, leaders and generals who were near her, clothed in richly bordered garments, horsemen riding upon horses, choice young men all of them.

And I saw that one way of the two had been defiled.

And she added to her whoring; and she saw men portrayed upon the wall, images of Chaldeans portrayed with a graving tool,

girded with embroidered work upon their loins, and dyed turbans upon their heads, the appearance of all of them threefold, the likeness of the sons of the Chaldeans, of the land of their fatherland.

And she doted upon them at the sight of her eyes, and she sent messengers to them into the land of the Chaldeans.

And the sons of Babylon came to her, to a bed of lodgers, and they defiled her in her whoring; and she was defiled by them, and her soul turned away from them.

And she uncovered her whoring and uncovered her shame, and my soul turned away from her, in the same way my soul turned away from her sister.

And you multiplied your whoring, to call to mind the days of your youth, in which you played the whore in Egypt.

And you doted upon the Chaldeans, whose flesh was like the flesh of donkeys, and whose members were the members of horses.

And you looked back upon the lawlessness of your youth, the things you did in Egypt in your lodging, where the breasts of your youth were.

Therefore, Ooliba, this is what the Lord says: Behold, I am rousing your lovers against you, those from whom your soul turned away, and I will bring them against you from all around:

sons of Babylon and all the Chaldeans, Phakoud and Soue and Koue, and with them all the sons of the Assyrians, choice young men, governors and generals, all of them officers of the third rank and men of renown, riding upon horses.

And they shall all come against you from the north, with chariots and wheels and a throng of peoples, with long shields and light shields; and they shall set a watch against you all around. And I will set judgment before their face, and they shall exact vengeance upon you by their judgments.

And I will direct my jealousy against you, and they shall deal with you in the anger of wrath: they shall take away your nose and your ears, and those left of you shall fall by the sword; they shall take your sons and your daughters, and those left of you fire shall devour.

And they shall strip you of your clothing and take the vessels of your boasting.

And I will turn your impieties away from you, and your whoring from the land of Egypt; and you shall not lift up your eyes to them, and Egypt you shall remember no more.

For this is what the Lord, the Lord says: Behold, I am handing you over into the hands of those whom you hate, those from whom your soul turned away.

And they shall deal with you in hatred, and they shall take all your labors and your toils; and you shall be naked and disgraced, and the shame of your whoring shall be uncovered, and your impiety and your whoring.

He did these things to you because you played the whore after the nations, and you were defiled with their devisings.

You walked in the way of your sister, and so I will put her cup into your hands.

This is what the Lord says: You shall drink your sister's cup, the deep and wide one, the one that holds much, to the very end.

With drunkenness and faintness you shall be filled. The cup of annihilation is the cup of your sister Samaria.

And you shall drink it; and her feasts and her new moons I will do away with, for I have spoken, says the Lord.

Therefore this is what the Lord says: Because you forgot me and cast me behind your back, you also shall bear your impiety and your whoring.

And the Lord said to me: Son of man, will you not judge Oola and Ooliba? And you shall declare to them their lawless deeds.

For they committed adultery, and blood is on their hands; with their devisings they committed adultery, and their children whom they bore to me they passed over to them through fire.

Even this they did to me: they defiled my holy things and profaned my sabbaths.

And when they slaughtered their children for their idols, they also went into my holy places to profane them; and they did so in the midst of my house.

And moreover, for men coming from afar, to whom they sent messengers — and as soon as they came, at once you bathed and painted your eyes with kohl and adorned yourself with adornment,

and you sat upon a spread couch, with an adorned table before it; and my incense and my oil — they took their delight in them.

And they struck up a sound of music; and to men from among a multitude of people who came from the wilderness — and they put bracelets upon their hands and a crown of boasting upon their heads.

And I said: Do they not commit adultery with these, and the deeds of a whore? And she herself played the whore.

And they went in to her as men go in to a prostitute woman; so they went in to Oola and to Ooliba, to commit lawlessness.

But righteous men — they shall judge them with the judgment of an adulteress and the judgment of blood, for they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands.

This is what the Lord, the Lord says: Bring up a throng against them, and give them over to turmoil and plunder.

And stone them with the stones of throngs, and run them through with their swords; they shall kill their sons and their daughters, and they shall burn down their houses.

And I will put an end to impiety in the land, and all the women shall be instructed and shall not act according to their impieties.

And your impiety shall be laid upon you, and you shall bear the sins of your devisings; and you shall know that I am the Lord.