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Ezekiel 23 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

Oholah and Oholibah

Eze 23:1

Eze 23:1The word of the LORD came to me:

Eze 23:2

Eze 23:2“Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother.

Eze 23:3

Eze 23:3They played the whore in Egypt; they played the whore in their youth; there their breasts were pressed and their virgin bosoms[fn] handled.

Eze 23:4

Eze 23:4Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

Eze 23:5

Eze 23:5“Oholah played the whore while she was mine, and she lusted after her lovers the Assyrians, warriors

Eze 23:6

Eze 23:6clothed in purple, governors and commanders, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses.

Eze 23:7

Eze 23:7She bestowed her whoring upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them, and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone after whom she lusted.

Eze 23:8

Eze 23:8She did not give up her whoring that she had begun in Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her and handled her virgin bosom and poured out their whoring lust upon her.

Eze 23:9

Eze 23:9Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, after whom she lusted.

Eze 23:10

Eze 23:10These uncovered her nakedness; they seized her sons and her daughters; and as for her, they killed her with the sword; and she became a byword among women, when judgment had been executed on her.

Eze 23:11

Eze 23:11“Her sister Oholibah saw this, and she became more corrupt than her sister[fn] in her lust and in her whoring, which was worse than that of her sister.

Eze 23:12

Eze 23:12She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriors clothed in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men.

Eze 23:13

Eze 23:13And I saw that she was defiled; they both took the same way.

Eze 23:14

Eze 23:14But she carried her whoring further. She saw men portrayed on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion,

Eze 23:15

Eze 23:15wearing belts on their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them having the appearance of officers, a likeness of Babylonians whose native land was Chaldea.

Eze 23:16

Eze 23:16When she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.

Eze 23:17

Eze 23:17And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoring lust. And after she was defiled by them, she turned from them in disgust.

Eze 23:18

Eze 23:18When she carried on her whoring so openly and flaunted her nakedness, I turned in disgust from her, as I had turned in disgust from her sister.

Eze 23:19

Eze 23:19Yet she increased her whoring, remembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egypt

Eze 23:20

Eze 23:20and lusted after her lovers there, whose members were like those of donkeys, and whose issue was like that of horses.

Eze 23:21

Eze 23:21Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your bosom and pressed[fn] your young breasts.”

Eze 23:22

Eze 23:22Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I will stir up against you your lovers from whom you turned in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side:

Eze 23:23

Eze 23:23the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, desirable young men, governors and commanders all of them, officers and men of renown, all of them riding on horses.

Eze 23:24

Eze 23:24And they shall come against you from the north[fn] with chariots and wagons and a host of peoples. They shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield, and helmet; and I will commit the judgment to them, and they shall judge you according to their judgments.

Eze 23:25

Eze 23:25And I will direct my jealousy against you, that they may deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. They shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire.

Eze 23:26

Eze 23:26They shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewels.

Eze 23:27

Eze 23:27Thus I will put an end to your lewdness and your whoring begun in the land of Egypt, so that you shall not lift up your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.

Eze 23:28

Eze 23:28“For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, into the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust,

Eze 23:29

Eze 23:29and they shall deal with you in hatred and take away all the fruit of your labor and leave you naked and bare, and the nakedness of your whoring shall be uncovered. Your lewdness and your whoring

Eze 23:30

Eze 23:30have brought this upon you, because you played the whore with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols.

Eze 23:31

Eze 23:31You have gone the way of your sister; therefore I will give her cup into your hand.

Eze 23:32

Eze 23:32Thus says the Lord GOD:
“You shall drink your sister’s cup
that is deep and large;
you shall be laughed at and held in derision,
for it contains much;

Eze 23:33

Eze 23:33you will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow.
A cup of horror and desolation,
the cup of your sister Samaria;

Eze 23:34

Eze 23:34you shall drink it and drain it out,
and gnaw its shards,
and tear your breasts; for I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD.

Eze 23:35

Eze 23:35Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, you yourself must bear the consequences of your lewdness and whoring.”

Eze 23:36

Eze 23:36The LORD said to me: “Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Declare to them their abominations.

Eze 23:37

Eze 23:37For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. With their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even offered up[fn] to them for food the children whom they had borne to me.

Eze 23:38

Eze 23:38Moreover, this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and profaned my Sabbaths.

Eze 23:39

Eze 23:39For when they had slaughtered their children in sacrifice to their idols, on the same day they came into my sanctuary to profane it. And behold, this is what they did in my house.

Eze 23:40

Eze 23:40They even sent for men to come from afar, to whom a messenger was sent; and behold, they came. For them you bathed yourself, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with ornaments.

Eze 23:41

Eze 23:41You sat on a stately couch, with a table spread before it on which you had placed my incense and my oil.

Eze 23:42

Eze 23:42The sound of a carefree multitude was with her; and with men of the common sort, drunkards[fn] were brought from the wilderness; and they put bracelets on the hands of the women, and beautiful crowns on their heads.

Eze 23:43

Eze 23:43“Then I said of her who was worn out by adultery, ‘Now they will continue to use her for a whore, even her!’[fn]

Eze 23:44

Eze 23:44For they have gone in to her, as men go in to a prostitute. Thus they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, lewd women!

Eze 23:45

Eze 23:45But righteous men shall pass judgment on them with the sentence of adulteresses, and with the sentence of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands.”

Eze 23:46

Eze 23:46For thus says the Lord GOD: “Bring up a vast host against them, and make them an object of terror and a plunder.

Eze 23:47

Eze 23:47And the host shall stone them and cut them down with their swords. They shall kill their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses.

Eze 23:48

Eze 23:48Thus will I put an end to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not commit lewdness as you have done.

Eze 23:49

Eze 23:49And they shall return your lewdness upon you, and you shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry, and you shall know that I am the Lord GOD.”
See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
ESV Footnotes
Hebrew nipples; also verses 8, 21
Hebrew than she
Vulgate, Syriac; Hebrew bosom for the sake of
Septuagint; the meaning of the Hebrew word is unknown
Or have even made pass through the fire
Or Sabeans
The meaning of the Hebrew verse is uncertain
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Ezekiel Chapter 23 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation New International Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras