Ezekiel 23

The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,

1God spoke to me again. This is what he said.

2Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother:

2God said, "Son of man"—that is what God called me—"there were two women. They had the same mother.

3And 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.

3When they were young they lived in Egypt. There they gave their bodies to men. Men touched them and used them.

NoteThe whole chapter tells one long picture story. A wife who leaves her husband stands for the people leaving God and going after other nations and their gods.

4And 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.

4The older sister was named Aholah. The younger was named Aholibah. They belonged to me, and they had sons and daughters. Aholah is the city of Samaria. Aholibah is the city of Jerusalem.

NoteSamaria was the main city of Israel in the north. Jerusalem was the main city of Judah in the south. Each sister stands for one city and its people.

5And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours,

5Aholah was unfaithful while she still belonged to me. She wanted the men of Assyria, who lived nearby.

6Which were clothed with blue, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses.

6They wore blue clothes. They were leaders and army chiefs. They were strong young men who rode horses.

7Thus 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.

7She gave herself to all the important men of Assyria. She wanted them, and she worshiped their idols. That made her unclean.

8Neither 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.

8She never stopped what she began in Egypt. Men there had used her body when she was young.

9Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted.

9So I handed her over to the men she wanted. I gave her to the men of Assyria.

10These 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.

10They stripped her bare. They took her sons and daughters. They killed her with swords. Women everywhere talked about what happened to her. She was punished.

11And 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.

11Her sister Aholibah saw all this. But she was even worse. She wanted men more than her sister did.

12She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbours, captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men.

12She wanted the men of Assyria too. They were leaders and army chiefs in fine clothes. They were strong young men riding horses.

13Then I saw that she was defiled, that they took both one way,

13I saw that she had made herself unclean too. Both sisters had gone the same way.

14And that she increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion,

14She went even further. She saw pictures of Chaldean men painted on a wall in bright red.

15Girded 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:

15They wore belts around their waists. They wore cloth wrapped around their heads. They looked like leaders from Babylon, in Chaldea, the land where they were born.

16And as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she doted upon them, and sent messengers unto them into Chaldea.

16As soon as she saw the pictures, she wanted those men. She sent messengers to them in Chaldea.

17And 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.

17The men of Babylon came to her bed and used her. She became unclean. Then she turned away from them. She was sick of them.

18So she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness: then my mind was alienated from her, like as my mind was alienated from her sister.

18She let everyone see what she was doing. She was not ashamed. So I turned away from her too. I was sick of her, just as I was of her sister.

19Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt.

19Still she did more. She kept thinking about when she was young in Egypt, giving herself to men there.

20For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.

20She wanted the men of Egypt. Their bodies were like the bodies of donkeys and horses.

21Thus thou calledst to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth, in bruising thy teats by the Egyptians for the paps of thy youth.

21So you went back to the shameful things you did when you were young. In Egypt men touched your body then.

22Therefore, 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;

22So, Aholibah, the Lord GOD says this. "I will turn your lovers against you. You are sick of them now. I will bring them at you from every side.

23The 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.

23I will bring the men of Babylon and all the Chaldeans. I will bring the men of Pekod, Shoa, and Koa, and all the men of Assyria. They are strong young men, leaders and army chiefs, important and well known, all riding horses.

24And 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.

24They will come at you with weapons, chariots, and wagons, and with crowds of people. They will circle you with shields and helmets. I will let them judge you. They will punish you by their own rules.

25And 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.

25I will be angry with you, and they will be cruel to you. They will cut off your nose and your ears. The ones left alive will be killed with swords. They will take your sons and daughters. Fire will burn up the rest.

26They shall also strip thee out of thy clothes, and take away thy fair jewels.

26They will pull off your clothes. They will take your fine jewelry.

27Thus 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.

27This is how I will stop your shameful ways, the ways you started in Egypt. You will not look at those men again. You will not think about Egypt anymore."

28For 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:

28The Lord GOD says this. "I will hand you over to people you hate. I will give you to the men you are sick of.

29And 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.

29They will hate you and treat you badly. They will take everything you worked for. They will leave you with nothing to wear. Everyone will see the shameful things you did.

30I will do these things unto thee, because thou hast gone a whoring after the heathen, and because thou art polluted with their idols.

30This will happen because you ran after other nations. You made yourself unclean with their idols.

31Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister; therefore will I give her cup into thine hand.

31You walked the same road your sister walked. So I will put her cup in your hand."

NoteDrinking from a cup is a picture here. The cup holds what happens to a person. Her sister's cup means the same punishment Samaria got.

32Thus 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.

32The Lord GOD says this. "You will drink from your sister's cup. It is deep and wide, and it holds a lot. People will laugh at you and make fun of you.

33Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of thy sister Samaria.

33You will be full of drunkenness and sadness. The cup brings shock and ruin. It is the cup of your sister Samaria.

34Thou 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.

34You will drink it and drain it dry. Then you will smash the cup to pieces. You will tear at your own body. I have said it, says the Lord GOD."

35Therefore 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.

35So the Lord GOD says this. "You forgot me. You threw me behind your back. So you must carry what your shameful ways have earned."

36The LORD said moreover unto me; Son of man, wilt thou judge Aholah and Aholibah? yea, declare unto them their abominations;

36Then the LORD said to me, "Son of man, will you judge Aholah and Aholibah? Tell them the terrible things they have done.

37That 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.

37They were unfaithful, and their hands have blood on them. They were unfaithful with their idols. They gave their own children to the fire as food for those idols. Those children were mine.

38Moreover this they have done unto me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths.

38They did this to me too. On that same day they made my temple unclean. They ruined my Sabbaths, the rest days I gave them.

39For 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.

39On the very day they killed their children for their idols, they walked into my temple. They came to spoil it. They did this right inside my house.

40And 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,

40You even sent messengers far away to bring men to you. When they came, you washed, painted your eyes, and put on jewelry.

41And satest upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it, whereupon thou hast set mine incense and mine oil.

41You sat on a fancy couch with a table set in front of it. On that table you put my incense and my oil. Incense is sweet-smelling smoke burned for me.

42And 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.

42A happy, noisy crowd was with her. Ordinary men came, and men brought in from the desert. They put bracelets on the women's arms and pretty crowns on their heads.

43Then said I unto her that was old in adulteries, Will they now commit whoredoms with her, and she with them?

43Then I spoke about the woman worn out from years of cheating. I said, "Now let them use her, for that is all she is."

44Yet 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.

44And they did go to her, the way men go to a woman who sells her body. That is how they went to Aholah and to Aholibah, the shameful women.

45And 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.

45But good men will judge them. They will punish them like women who cheat on their husbands and kill people. That is what these women did. Their hands have blood on them.

46For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will bring up a company upon them, and will give them to be removed and spoiled.

46The Lord GOD says this. "Bring a crowd against them. Let them be terrified. Let their things be taken away.

47And 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.

47The crowd will throw stones at them and cut them down with swords. They will kill their sons and daughters. They will burn their houses down.

48Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness.

48This is how I will stop shameful living in the land. Then all the women will learn not to copy you.

49And 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.

49You will get back what your shameful ways have earned. You will carry what your idol worship has done to you. Then you will know that I am the Lord GOD."