Oholah and Oholibah as Symbols of God’s Corrupt People
1 And the word of Yahweh {came} to me, {saying},
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"Son of man, there were two women, [the] daughters of one mother,
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and they prostituted [themselves] in Egypt in their childhood; they were prostituting [themselves] there, [and] their breasts were fondled, and there they caressed the bosoms of their virginity.
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Now [as for] their names, the older [was] Oholah, and Oholibah [was] her sister. And {they became mine}, and they bore sons and daughters, and their names [are] Samaria [for] Oholah, and Jerusalem [for] Oholibah
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And Oholah prostituted [herself] {while she was still mine}, and she lusted for her lovers, for Assyria [who was] nearby,
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clothed in blue cloth, governors and prefects, {handsome young men} [and] all of them horsemen, {experts on horseback}.
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And she bestowed her fornication on them, [on] the choice [ones] of the {Assyrians}, all of them, and with every one [after] which she lusted; with all of their idols she defiled herself.
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And her whorings from [the time of] Egypt she [did] not abandon, for they slept with her in her childhood, and they caressed the bosoms of her virginity, and they poured out their fornication on her.
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Therefore I gave her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the {Assyrians} {after whom she lusted}.
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They uncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters, and they killed her with the sword. And she became a name for the women, and they executed judgments against her.
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"And though Oholibah her sister saw, yet in her lust {she behaved more corruptly than her}, and her whoring [was] more than the prostitution of her sister.
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She lusted after the {Assyrians}, governors and prefects, warriors clothed in perfection, {expert horsemen}, all of them {handsome young men}.
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And I saw that she was defiled; {they had both taken the same path}!
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And she increased her whorings, and she saw men carved on the wall, images of Chaldeans carved in red
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belted with a belt at their waist with turbans on their heads, all of them [giving] [the] appearance of adjutants, the image of the {Babylonians}; Chaldea [was] the land of their birth.
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And she lusted for them {when her eyes saw them}, and she sent messengers to them [at] Chaldea.
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And so the {Babylonians} came to her [for the] bed of lovemaking; and they defiled her with their fornication, and she was defiled by them, and she turned from them.
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And she revealed her whorings, and she revealed her nakedness, and so I turned from her {just as} I turned from her sister.
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Yet she increased her whorings, {recalling} the days of her childhood when she was prostituted in the land of Egypt
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And she lusted after her male lovers whose genitalia [were the] genitalia of male donkeys and [their] seminal emission [was the] seminal emission of horses.
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And you longed [after] the obscene conduct of your youth when your bosom was caressed by Egypt, fondling your young breasts.
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"Therefore, Oholibah, thus says the Lord Yahweh: 'Look! I [am] stirring up your lovers against you [concerning] whom you turned away, and I will bring them against you from all around:
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the {Babylonians} and all of the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, all of the {Assyrians} [along] with them, {handsome young men}, governors and prefects, all of them adjutants {and excellent horsemen}.
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And they will come against you [with] an army chariot and wagon and with a crowd of peoples; they will set [themselves] against you [from] all around [with] large shield and small shield and helmet. And I will give {before them} judgment, and they will judge you with their judgments.
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And I will direct my zeal against you, and they will deal with you in anger; your nose and your ears they will remove, and {those who are left}, they will fall by the sword, and they will take your sons and your daughters, and {your remnant} will be consumed by fire.
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And they will strip you [of] your clothes, and they will take {your splendid jewelry}.
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And I will put an end to your obscene conduct [coming] from you and your fornication from the land of Egypt, and you will not lift your eyes to them; and you will not remember Egypt again.'
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For thus says the Lord Yahweh: 'Look! I [am] giving you into the hand of those you hated, into the hand of those from whom you turned away.
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And they will deal with you in hatred, and they will take all of your acquisitions, and they will leave you naked and [in] bareness; and the nakedness of your fornication and your obscene conduct and your whorings will be exposed.
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These [things] [are] accomplished against you since you prostituted yourself after the nations, [and] on account of that, you defiled yourself by their idols.
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You went in the [same] way of your sister, and I will give her cup into your hand." '
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Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "You will drink the deep and wide cup of your sister; you will be as laughter and as scorn; {the cup holds so much}!
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You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, for a cup of horror and desolation [is] the cup of your sister, Samaria.
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And you will drink it, and you will drain [it], and its potsherds you will gnaw, and you will tear out your breasts, for {I myself} spoke," {declares} the Lord Yahweh.
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Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Because you have forgotten me, and you threw me behind your back, now in turn you bear your obscene conduct and your whorings."
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And Yahweh said to me, "Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah and declare their abominable deeds to them
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For they committed adultery, and blood [is] on their hands, and they committed adultery with their idols, and even their children that they had borne for me--they sacrificed them as food!
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Also they did this to me: they defiled my sanctuary on that day, and they profaned my Sabbaths
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and when they slaughtered their children for their idols, they came to my sanctuary on that day to profane it. And look, {this is what they did in my house}!
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{What is worse}, they sent for men {who come} from a distant place, [to] whom a messenger [was] sent to them, and look! They came! [Men] for whom you bathed and painted your eyes, and you adorned yourself [with] an ornament.
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And you sat on a magnificent couch and a table prepared {before her}, and my incense and my olive oil you put on her.
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And a sound of a carefree crowd [was] with it, and in addition to [these] men, {a crowd of drunken men was brought in} from [the] desert, and they put bracelets on their arms and a crown of splendor on their heads.
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And I said to the one worn out [with] adulteries, 'Now they will prostitute [her] [concerning] her fornication, even her.'
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And [so] they went to her like going to a female prostitute; and thus they went to Oholah and to Oholibah, the women of obscene conduct.
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But righteous men, they will judge them [with] [the] judgment of committing adultery, and [with] [the] judgment of shedding blood; for they were committing adultery, and blood [was] on their hands."
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For thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Bring up against them an assembly, and make them as a thing of horror and as plunder.
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And an assembly must stone them [with] stones, and they must cut them down. With their swords they shall kill their sons and their daughters, and with fire they shall burn their houses.
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And {I will cause obscene conduct to cease from the land}, and all of the women will be warned, and they will not do according to your wickedness.
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And they will repay your obscene conduct upon you, and the guilt of your idols you will bear, and you will know that I [am] the Lord Yahweh.