|
Chapter 23 |
| 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 Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister: and they were
mine, and they bare sons and daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria is
Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah. |
| 5 | And Aholah played the harlot
when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her
neighbours, |
| 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
Aholibah 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 neighbours, 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 pourtrayed upon the wall, the
images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed 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 Chaldea, 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 Chaldea. |
| 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
Aholibah, 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 Chaldeans, Pekod, and
Shoa, and Koa, 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 labour, 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 Aholah and Aholibah? 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 Sabeans 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 Aholah and unto
Aholibah, 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. |
