The Two Adulterous Sisters

The word of the LORD introduces two sisters, Oholah and Oholibah, who became His yet had practiced harlotry already in Egypt. Oholah, identified with Samaria, lusted after the splendid Assyrians and defiled herself with their idols without abandoning her Egyptian whoredom. Therefore the LORD gave her into the hands of those lovers, and they exposed, stripped, and slew her so that she became a warning among women.

A¹gain the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother, ³and they played in Egypt, prostituting themselves from their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their virgin bosoms caressed. ⁴The older was named Oholah, and her sister was named Oholibah. They became Mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. As for their identities, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem. ⁵Oholah prostituted herself while she was still Mine. She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians — warriors ⁶clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all desirable young men, horsemen mounted on steeds. ⁷She offered sexual favors to all the elite of Assyria. She defiled herself with all the idols of those for whom she lusted. ⁸She did not give up the prostitution she began in Egypt, when men slept with her in her youth, caressed her virgin bosom, and poured out their lust upon her. ⁹Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, the Assyrians for whom she lusted. ¹⁰They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and put her to the sword. Thus she became a byword among women, and they executed judgment against her.

Oholibah, representing Jerusalem, saw her sister's fate but became even more corrupt. She lusted after Assyrian warriors and then after images of Babylonian men painted on the wall, sending for them and defiling herself with them. Even when her soul turned from them, she multiplied her whoredom by returning in memory and desire to Egypt's sensual corruptions. Her conduct exposes Jerusalem as the more shameless sister.

¹¹Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet in her lust and prostitution she was more depraved than her sister. ¹²She too lusted after the Assyrians — governors and commanders, warriors dressed in splendor, horsemen riding on steeds, all desirable young men. ¹³And I saw that she too had defiled herself; both of them had taken the same path. ¹⁴But Oholibah carried her prostitution even further. She saw the men portrayed on the wall, images of the Chaldeans, engraved in vermilion, ¹⁵wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like officers of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth. ¹⁶At the sight of them, she lusted for them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. ¹⁷Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. But after she had been defiled by them, she turned away in disgust. ¹⁸When Oholibah openly prostituted herself and exposed her nakedness, I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister. ¹⁹Yet she multiplied her promiscuity, remembering the days of her youth, when she had prostituted herself in the land of Egypt ²⁰and lusted after their lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of stallions. ²¹So you revisited the indecency of your youth, when the Egyptians caressed your bosom and pressed your young breasts.