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Ezekiel 23
Easy-to-Read Version
Ezekiel 23
Easy-to-Read Version
23 The word of the Lord came to me. He said, 2 “Son of man,[a] listen to this story about Samaria and Jerusalem. There were two sisters, daughters of the same mother. 3 They became prostitutes in Egypt while they were still young girls. That’s where they first let men touch and handle their young breasts. 4 The older daughter was named Oholah,[b] and her sister was named Oholibah.[c] They became my wives, and we had children. I am using the name Oholah to mean Samaria and the name Oholibah to mean Jerusalem.
5 “Then Oholah became unfaithful to me—she began to live like a prostitute. She began to want her lovers. She saw the Assyrian soldiers 6 in their blue uniforms. They were all handsome young men riding horses. They were leaders and officers, 7 and Oholah gave herself to all those men. All of them were handpicked soldiers in the Assyrian army, and she wanted them all! She became filthy with their filthy idols. 8 Besides that, she never stopped her love affair with Egypt. Egypt made love to her when she was a young girl. Egypt was the first lover to touch her young breasts. Egypt poured his untrue love on her. 9 So I let her lovers have her. She wanted Assyria, so I gave her to them! 10 They raped[d] her. They took her children and killed her. They punished her, and women still talk about her.
11 “Her younger sister Oholibah saw all these things happen. But Oholibah sinned more than her sister did! She was more unfaithful than Oholah. 12 She wanted the Assyrian leaders and officers. She wanted those soldiers in blue uniforms riding their horses. They were all handsome young men. 13 I saw that both women were going to ruin their lives with the same mistakes.
14 “Oholibah continued to be unfaithful to me. In Babylon, she saw pictures of men carved on the walls. These were pictures of Chaldean men wearing their red uniforms. 15 They wore belts around their waists and long turbans on their heads. All those men looked like chariot officers. They all looked like native-born Babylonian men, 16 and Oholibah wanted them. 17 So the Babylonian men came to her bed to have sex with her. They used her and made her so filthy that she became disgusted with them.
18 “Oholibah let everyone see that she was unfaithful. She let so many men enjoy her naked body that I became disgusted with her—just as I had become disgusted with her sister. 19 But Oholibah thought about her time as a prostitute in Egypt when she was young, and she turned to even more prostitution. 20 She remembered the lovers who excited her there, who were like animals in their sexual desires and abilities.
21 “Oholibah, you dreamed of those times when you were young, when your lovers touched and handled your young breasts. 22 So Oholibah, this is what the Lord God says: ‘You became disgusted with your lovers, but I will bring them here, and they will surround you. 23 I will bring all the men from Babylon, especially the Chaldeans. I will bring the men from Pekod, Shoa, and Koa, and all the men from Assyria. I will bring all the leaders and officers, all those desirable young men, chariot officers, and handpicked soldiers riding their horses. 24 That crowd of men will come to you in large groups, riding on their horses and in their chariots. They will have their spears, shields, and helmets. They will gather around you, and I will tell them what you have done to me. Then they will punish you their own way. 25 I will show you how jealous I am. They will become angry and hurt you. They will cut off your nose and ears. They will kill you with a sword. Then they will take your children and burn whatever is left of you. 26 They will take your nice clothes and jewelry. 27 So I will stop your dreams about your love affair with Egypt. You will never again look for them. You will never remember Egypt again!’”
28 This is what the Lord God says: “I am giving you to the men you hate. I am giving you to the men you became disgusted with. 29 And they will show how much they hate you! They will take everything you worked for, and they will leave you bare and naked! People will clearly see your sins. They will see that you acted like a prostitute and dreamed wicked dreams. 30 You did those bad things when you left me to chase after the other nations. You did those bad things when you began to worship their filthy idols. 31 You followed your sister and lived as she did. You, yourself, took her cup of poison and held it in your hands.[e]” 32 This is what the Lord God says:
“You will drink your sister’s cup of poison.
It is a tall, wide cup of poison.
It holds much poison.
People will laugh at you and make fun of you.
33 You will stagger like a drunk.
You will become very dizzy.
That is the cup of destruction and devastation.
It is like the cup of punishment that your sister drank.
34 You will drink the poison in that cup.
You will drink it to the last drop.
You will throw down the glass and break it to pieces.
You will tear at your breasts from the pain.
This will happen because I am the Lord God,
and this is what I said.
35 “So this is what the Lord God said: ‘Jerusalem, you forgot me. You threw me away and left me behind. So now you must suffer for leaving me and living like a prostitute. You must suffer for your wicked dreams.’”
Judgment Against Oholah and Oholibah
36 The Lord said to me, “Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then tell them about the terrible things they have done. 37 They committed the sin of adultery. They are guilty of murder. They acted like prostitutes—they left me to be with their filthy idols. They had my children, but they forced them to pass through fire. They did this to give food to their filthy idols. 38 They also treated my special days of rest and my holy place as though they were not important. 39 They killed their children for their idols, and then they went into my holy place and made it filthy too! They did this inside my Temple!
40 “They have sent for men from faraway places. You sent a messenger to these men, and they came to see you. You bathed for them, painted your eyes, and put on your jewelry. 41 You sat on a fine bed with a table set before it. You put my incense[f] and my oil[g] on this table.
42 “The noise in Jerusalem sounded like a crowd of people having a party.[h] Many people came to the party. People were already drinking as they came in from the desert. They gave bracelets and beautiful crowns to the women. 43 Then I spoke to one of the women who was worn out from her sexual sins. I asked her, ‘Will they continue to do sexual sins with her, and she with them?’ 44 But they kept going to her as they would go to a prostitute. Yes, they went again and again to Oholah and Oholibah, those wicked women.
45 “But good men will judge them guilty of adultery and murder, because Oholah and Oholibah committed adultery and their hands are covered with blood!”
46 This is what the Lord God said: “Gather the people together to punish and terrorize Oholah and Oholibah. 47 They will throw stones at these women and kill them. They will cut the women to pieces with their swords. They will kill their children and burn their houses. 48 In this way I will remove that shame from this country, and all the other women will be warned not to do the shameful things you have done. 49 They will punish you for the wicked things you did. You will be punished for worshiping your filthy idols. Then you will know that I am the Lord God.”
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 23:2 Son of man This was usually just a way of saying “a person” or “a human being.” Here, it is a way of addressing Ezekiel. Also in verse 36.
- Ezekiel 23:4 Oholah This name means “Tent.” It probably refers to the Holy Tent where the people of Israel went to worship God.
- Ezekiel 23:4 Oholibah This name means “My Tent is in her country.” Also in verses 18, 21.
- Ezekiel 23:10 raped Literally, “revealed her nakedness.” The Hebrew word meaning “revealed” is like the word meaning “carried away as a prisoner to a faraway country.”
- Ezekiel 23:31 You, yourself … your hands Or “I put her cup in your hands.”
- Ezekiel 23:41 my incense A special blend of spices that were burned as a gift to God. This special incense was to be burned only in the Temple. See Ex. 30:34-38.
- Ezekiel 23:41 my oil The special oil that was used for anointing priests and things in the Temple to make them holy (special). See Ex. 30:22-33.
- Ezekiel 23:42 party The Hebrew word is like the word for a fellowship offering, a time when people came to share a meal and enjoy themselves together with the Lord. Here, it seems this time of worship turned into a wild party. See Deut. 14:22-29; 26:1-15.
Ezekiel 23
New International Version
Ezekiel 23
New International Version
Two Adulterous Sisters
23 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother.(A) 3 They became prostitutes in Egypt,(B) engaging in prostitution(C) from their youth.(D) In that land their breasts were fondled and their virgin bosoms caressed.(E) 4 The older was named Oholah, and her sister was Oholibah. They were mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.(F)
5 “Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was still mine; and she lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians(G)—warriors(H) 6 clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all of them handsome young men, and mounted horsemen. 7 She gave herself as a prostitute to all the elite of the Assyrians and defiled herself with all the idols of everyone she lusted after.(I) 8 She did not give up the prostitution she began in Egypt,(J) when during her youth men slept with her, caressed her virgin bosom and poured out their lust on her.(K)
9 “Therefore I delivered her into the hands(L) of her lovers,(M) the Assyrians, for whom she lusted.(N) 10 They stripped(O) her naked, took away her sons and daughters and killed her with the sword. She became a byword among women,(P) and punishment was inflicted(Q) on her.(R)
11 “Her sister Oholibah saw this,(S) yet in her lust and prostitution she was more depraved than her sister.(T) 12 She too lusted after the Assyrians—governors and commanders, warriors in full dress, mounted horsemen, all handsome young men.(U) 13 I saw that she too defiled herself; both of them went the same way.(V)
14 “But she carried her prostitution still further. She saw men portrayed on a wall,(W) figures of Chaldeans[a] portrayed in red,(X) 15 with belts(Y) around their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like Babylonian chariot officers, natives of Chaldea.[b] 16 As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers(Z) to them in Chaldea.(AA) 17 Then the Babylonians(AB) came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. After she had been defiled by them, she turned away from them in disgust.(AC) 18 When she carried on her prostitution openly and exposed her naked body,(AD) I turned away(AE) from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister.(AF) 19 Yet she became more and more promiscuous as she recalled the days of her youth, when she was a prostitute in Egypt. 20 There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses. 21 So you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when in Egypt your bosom was caressed and your young breasts fondled.[c](AG)
22 “Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will stir up your lovers(AH) against you, those you turned away from in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side(AI)— 23 the Babylonians(AJ) and all the Chaldeans,(AK) the men of Pekod(AL) and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, handsome young men, all of them governors and commanders, chariot officers and men of high rank, all mounted on horses.(AM) 24 They will come against you with weapons,[d] chariots and wagons(AN) and with a throng of people; they will take up positions against you on every side with large and small shields and with helmets. I will turn you over to them for punishment,(AO) and they will punish you according to their standards. 25 I will direct my jealous anger(AP) against you, and they will deal with you in fury. They will cut off your noses and your ears, and those of you who are left will fall by the sword. They will take away your sons and daughters,(AQ) and those of you who are left will be consumed by fire.(AR) 26 They will also strip(AS) you of your clothes and take your fine jewelry.(AT) 27 So I will put a stop(AU) to the lewdness and prostitution you began in Egypt. You will not look on these things with longing or remember Egypt anymore.
28 “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am about to deliver you into the hands(AV) of those you hate, to those you turned away from in disgust. 29 They will deal with you in hatred and take away everything you have worked for. They will leave you stark naked,(AW) and the shame of your prostitution will be exposed.(AX) Your lewdness(AY) and promiscuity(AZ) 30 have brought this on you, because you lusted after the nations and defiled yourself with their idols.(BA) 31 You have gone the way of your sister; so I will put her cup(BB) into your hand.(BC)
32 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“You will drink your sister’s cup,
a cup large and deep;
it will bring scorn and derision,(BD)
for it holds so much.(BE)
33 You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow,
the cup of ruin and desolation,
the cup of your sister Samaria.(BF)
34 You will drink it(BG) and drain it dry
and chew on its pieces—
and you will tear your breasts.
I have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord.(BH)
35 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Since you have forgotten(BI) me and turned your back on me,(BJ) you must bear(BK) the consequences of your lewdness and prostitution.”
36 The Lord said to me: “Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then confront(BL) them with their detestable practices,(BM) 37 for they have committed adultery and blood is on their hands. They committed adultery with their idols; they even sacrificed their children, whom they bore to me, as food for them.(BN) 38 They have also done this to me: At that same time they defiled my sanctuary(BO) and desecrated my Sabbaths.(BP) 39 On the very day they sacrificed their children to their idols, they entered my sanctuary and desecrated(BQ) it. That is what they did in my house.(BR)
40 “They even sent messengers for men who came from far away,(BS) and when they arrived you bathed yourself for them, applied eye makeup(BT) and put on your jewelry.(BU) 41 You sat on an elegant couch,(BV) with a table(BW) spread before it on which you had placed the incense(BX) and olive oil that belonged to me.(BY)
42 “The noise of a carefree(BZ) crowd was around her; drunkards(CA) were brought from the desert along with men from the rabble, and they put bracelets(CB) on the wrists of the woman and her sister and beautiful crowns on their heads.(CC) 43 Then I said about the one worn out by adultery, ‘Now let them use her as a prostitute,(CD) for that is all she is.’ 44 And they slept with her. As men sleep with a prostitute, so they slept with those lewd women, Oholah and Oholibah. 45 But righteous judges will sentence them to the punishment of women who commit adultery and shed blood,(CE) because they are adulterous and blood is on their hands.(CF)
46 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Bring a mob(CG) against them and give them over to terror and plunder.(CH) 47 The mob will stone them and cut them down with their swords; they will kill their sons and daughters(CI) and burn(CJ) down their houses.(CK)
48 “So I will put an end(CL) to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not imitate you.(CM) 49 You will suffer the penalty for your lewdness and bear the consequences of your sins of idolatry.(CN) Then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.(CO)”
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 23:14 Or Babylonians
- Ezekiel 23:15 Or Babylonia; also in verse 16
- Ezekiel 23:21 Syriac (see also verse 3); Hebrew caressed because of your young breasts
- Ezekiel 23:24 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
Ezekiel 23
King James Version
Ezekiel 23
King James Version
23 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.
Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International
New International Version (NIV) 
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