6Every one of the princes of Israel in your midst used his strength for the shedding of blood. 7Fathers and mothers have been humiliated within you; strangers have been cheated in your midst; orphans and widows have been wronged within you. 8You have despised My holy things and profaned My sabbaths.
9Basec men in your midst were intent on shedding blood; in you they have eaten d-upon the mountains;-d and they have practiced depravity in your midst. 10In you they have uncovered their fathers’ nakedness;e in you they have ravished women during their impurity. 11They have committed abhorrent acts with other men’s wives; in their depravity they have defiled their own daughters-in-law; in you they have ravished their own sisters, daughters of their fathers. 12They have taken bribes within you to shed blood. You have taken advance and accrued interest;f you have defrauded your countrymen to your profit. You have forgotten Me—declares the Lord GOD.
13Lo, I will strike My hands over the ill-gotten gains that you have amassed, and over the bloodshed that has been committed in your midst. 14Will your courage endure, will your hands remain firm in the days when I deal with you? I the LORD have spoken and I will act. 15I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the lands; I will consume the uncleanness out of you. 16You shall be dishonored in the sight of nations, and you shall know that I am the LORD.
17The word of the LORD came to me: 18O mortal, the House of Israel has become dross to Me; they are all copper, tin, iron, and lead. c-But in a crucible, the dross shall turn into silver.-c 19Assuredly, thus said the Lord GOD: Because you have all become dross, I will gather you into Jerusalem. 20As silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin are gathered into a crucible to blow the fire upon them, so as to melt them, so will I gather you in My fierce anger and cast you [into the fire] and melt you. 21I will gather you and I will blow upon you the fire of My fury, and you shall be melted in it. 22As silver is melted in a crucible, so shall you be melted in it. And you shall know that I the LORD have poured out My fury upon you.
23The word of the LORD came to me: 24O mortal, say to her: You are an uncleansed land, c-not to be washed with rain-c on the day of indignation. 25g-Her gang of prophets-g are like roaring lions in her midst, rending prey. They devour human beings; they seize treasure and wealth; they have widowed many women in her midst. 26Her priests have violated My Teaching: they have profaned what is sacred to Me, they have not distinguished between the sacred and the profane, they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have closed their eyes to My sabbaths. I am profaned in their midst. 27Her officials are like wolves rending prey in her midst; they shed blood and destroy lives to win ill-gotten gain. 28Her prophets, too, daub the wall for them with plaster:h They prophesy falsely and divine deceitfully for them; they say, “Thus said the Lord GOD,” when the LORD has not spoken. 29And the people of the land have practiced fraud and committed robbery; they have wronged the poor and needy, have defrauded the stranger without redress. 30And I sought a man among them to repair the wall or to stand in the breach before Me in behalf of this land, that I might not destroy it; but I found none. 31I have therefore poured out My indignation upon them; I will consume them with the fire of My fury. I will repay them for their conduct—declares the Lord GOD.
23 The word of the LORD came to me: 2O mortal, once there were two women, daughters of one mother. 3They played the whore in Egypt; they played the whore while still young. There their breasts were squeezed, and there their virgin nipples were handled. 4Their names were: the elder one, Oholah;a and her sister, Oholibah.b They became Mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
5Oholah whored while she was Mine, and she lusted after her lovers, after the Assyrians, warriorsc 6clothed in blue, governors and prefects, horsemen mounted on steeds—all of them handsome young fellows. 7She bestowed her favors upon them—upon all the pick of the Assyrians—and defiled herself with all their fetishes after which she lusted. 8She did not give up the whoring she had begun with the Egyptians; for they had lain with her in her youth, and they had handled her virgin nipples and had poured out their lust upon her. 9Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians after whom she lusted. 10They exposed her nakedness; they seized her sons and daughters, and she herself was put to the sword. And because of the punishment inflicted upon her, she became a byword among women.
11Her sister Oholibah saw this; yet her lusting was more depraved than her sister’s, and her whoring more debased. 12She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and prefects, warriorsc gorgeously clad, horsemen mounted on steeds—all of them handsome young fellows. 13And I saw how she had defiled herself. Both of them followed the same course, 14but she carried her harlotries further. For she saw men sculptured upon the walls, figures of Chaldeans drawn in vermilion, 15girded with belts round their waists, and with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers—a picture of Babylonians whose native land was Chaldea. 16At the very sight of them she lusted after them, and she sent messengers for them to Chaldea. 17So the Babylonians came to her for lovemaking and defiled her with their whoring; and she defiled herself with them until she turned from them in disgust. 18She flaunted her harlotries and exposed her nakedness, and I turned from her in disgust, as I had turned disgusted from her sister. 19But she whored still more, remembering how in her youth she had played the whore in the land of Egypt; 20she lusted for concubinage with them, whose members were like those of asses and whose organsc were like those of stallions. 21Thus you reverted to the wantonness of your youth, rememberingd your youthful breasts, when the men of Egypt handled your nipples.
22Assuredly, Oholibah, thus said the Lord GOD: I am going to rouse against you the lovers from whom you turned in disgust, and I will bring them upon you from all around—23the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, [the people of] Pekod, Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, all of them handsome young fellows, governors and prefects, officers and warriors,e all of them riding on horseback. 24They shall attack you with fleetse of wheeled chariots and a host of troops; they shall set themselves against you on all sides with bucklers, shields, and helmets. And I will entrust your punishment to them, and they shall inflict their punishments on you. 25I will direct My passion against you, and they shall deal with you in fury: they shall cut off your nose and ears. The last of you shall fall by the sword; theye shall take away your sons and daughters, and your remnant shall be devoured by fire. 26They shall strip you of your clothing and take away your dazzling jewels. 27I will put an end to your wantonness and to your whoring in the land of Egypt, and you shall not long for them or remember Egypt any more.
28For thus said the Lord GOD: I am going to deliver you into the hands of those you hate, into the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust. 29They shall treat you with hate, and they shall take away all you have toiled for, and leave you naked and bare; your naked whoredom, wantonness, and harlotry will be exposed. 30These things shall be done to you for your harlotries with the nations, for defiling yourself with their fetishes. 31You walked in your sister’s path; therefore I will put her cup into your hand.
32Thus said the Lord GOD:
You shall drink of your sister’s cup,
So deep and wide;
It shall cause derision and scorn,
It holds so much.
33You shall be filled with drunkenness and woe.
The cup of desolation and horror,
The cup of your sister Samaria—
34You shall drink it and drain it,
c-And gnaw its shards;-c
And you shall tear your breasts.
For I have spoken—declares the Lord GOD.
35 Assuredly, thus said the Lord GOD: Because you have forgotten Me and cast Me behind your back, you in turn must suffer for your wanton whoring.
36Then the LORD said to me: O mortal, arraignf Oholah and Oholibah, and charge them with their abominations. 37For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands; truly they have committed adultery with their fetishes, and have even offered to them as food the children they bore to Me. 38At the same time they also did this to Me: they defiled My Sanctuary and profaned My sabbaths. 39On the very day that they slaughtered their children to their fetishes, they entered My Sanctuary to desecrate it. That is what
