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Chapter 23
1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, there were two women, daughters of one mother.
3 And they committed fornication in Egypt, in their youth they committed fornication: there were their breasts pressed down, and the teats of their virginity were bruised.
4 And their names were Oolla the elder, and Ooliba her younger sister: and I took them, and they bore sons and daughters. Now for their names, Samaria is Oolla, and Jerusalem is Ooliba.
5 And Oolla committed fornication against me, and doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians that came to her,
6 Who were clothed with blue, princes, and rulers, beautiful youths, all horsemen, mounted upon horses.
7 And she committed her fornications with those chosen men, all sons of the Assyrians: and she defiled herself with the uncleanness of all them on whom she doted.
8 Moreover also she did not forsake her fornications which she had committed in Egypt: for they also lay with her in her youth, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured out their fornication upon her.
9 Therefore have I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the sons of the Assyrians, upon whose lust she doted.
10 They discovered her disgrace, took away her sons and daughters, and slew her with the sword: and they became infamous women, and they executed judgments in her.
11 And when her sister Ooliba saw this, she was mad with lust more than she: and she carried her fornication beyond the fornication of her sister.
12 Impudently prostituting herself to the children of the Assyrians, the princes, and rulers that came to her, clothed with divers colours, to the horsemen that rode upon horses, and to young men all of great beauty.
13 And I saw that she was defiled, and that they both took one way.
14 And she increased her fornications: and when she had seen men painted on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans set forth in colours,
15 And girded with girdles about their reins, and with dyed turbans on their heads, the resemblance of all the captains, the likeness of the sons of Babylon, and of the land of the Chaldeans wherein they were born,
16 She doted upon them with the lust of her eyes, and she sent messengers to them into Chaldea.
17 And when the sons of Babylon were come to her to the bed of love, they defiled her with their fornications, and she was polluted by them, and her soul was glutted with them.
18 And she discovered her fornications, and discovered her disgrace: and my soul was alienated from her, as my soul was alienated from her sister.
19 For she multiplied her fornications, remembering the days of her youth, in which she played the harlot in the land of Egypt.
20 And she was mad with lust after lying with them whose flesh is as the flesh of asses: and whose issue as the issue of horses.
21 And you have renewed the wickedness of your youth, when your breasts were pressed in Egypt, and the papa of your virginity broken.
22 Therefore, Ooliba, thus said the Lord God: Behold I will raise up against you all your lovers with whom your soul has been glutted: and I will gather them together against you round about.
23 The children of Babylon, and all the Chaldeans, the nobles, and the kings, and princes, all the sons of the Assyrians, beautiful young men, all the captains, and rulers, the princes of princes, and the renowned horsemen.
24 And they shall come upon you well appointed with chariot and wheel, a multitude of people: they shall be armed against you on every side with breastplate, and buckler, and helmet: and I will set judgment before them, and they shall judge you by their judgments.
25 And I will set my jealousy against you, which they shall execute upon you with fury: they shall cut off your nose and your ears: and what remains shall fall by the sword: they shall take your sons, and your daughters, and your residue shall be devoured by fire.
26 And they shall strip you of your garments, and take away the instruments of your glory.
27 And I will put an end to your wickedness in you, and your fornication brought out of the land of Egypt: neither shall you lift up your eyes to them, nor remember Egypt any more.
28 For thus said the Lord God: Behold, I will deliver you into the hands of them whom you hate, into their hands with whom your soul has been glutted.
29 And they shall deal with you in hatred, and they shall take away all your labours, and shall let you go naked, and full of disgrace, and the disgrace of your fornication shall be discovered, your wickedness, and your fornications.
30 They have done these things to you, because you have played the harlot with the nations among which you were defiled with their idols.
31 You have walked in the way of your sister, and I will give her cup into your hand.
32 Thus said the Lord God: you shall drink your sister's cup, deep, and wide: you shall be had in derision and scorn, which contains very much.
33 You shall be filled with drunkenness, and sorrow: with the cup of grief, and sadness, with the cup of your sister Samaria.
34 And you shall drink it, and shall drink it up even to the dregs, and you shall devour the fragments thereof, you shall rend your breasts: because I have spoken it, said the Lord God.
35 Therefore thus said the Lord God: Because you have forgotten me, and have cast me off behind your back, bear you also your wickedness, and your fornications.
36 And the Lord spoke to me, saying: Son of man, do you judge Oolla, and Ooliba, and do you declare to them their wicked deeds?
37 Because they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and they have committed fornication with their idols: moreover also their children, whom they bore to me, they have offered to them to be devoured.
38 Yea, and they have done this to me. They polluted my sanctuary on the same day, and profaned my sabbaths.
39 And when they sacrificed their children to their idols, and went into my sanctuary the same day to profane it: they did these things even in the midst of my house.
40 They sent for men coming from afar, to whom they had sent a messenger: and behold they came: for whom you did wash yourself, and did paint your eyes, and were adorned with women's ornaments.
41 You sat on a very fine bed, and a table was decked before you: whereupon you did set my incense, and my ointment.
42 And there was in her the voice of a multitude rejoicing: and to some that were brought of the multitude of men, and that came from the desert, they put bracelets on their hands, and beautiful crowns on their heads.
43 And I said to her that was worn out in her adulteries: Now will this woman still continue in her fornication.
44 And they went in to her, as to a harlot: so went they in unto Oolla, and Ooliba, wicked women.
45 They therefore are k just men: these shall judge them as adulteresses are judged, and as shedders of blood are judged: because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.
46 For thus said the Lord God: Bring a multitude upon them, and deliver them over to tumult and rapine:
47 And lee the people stone them with stones, and let them be stabbed with their swords: they shall kill their sons and daughters, and their houses they shall burn with fire.
48 And I will take away wickedness out of the land: and all women shall learn, not to do according to the wickedness of them.
49 And they shall render your wickedness upon you, and you shall bear the sins of your idols: and you shall know that I am the Lord God.