rsv Ezekiel:23:1-49 SEEK
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The word of the LORD came to me :
* "
Son of man ,
there were two women ,
the daughters of one mother ;
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they played the harlot in Egypt ;
they played the harlot in their youth ;
there their breasts were pressed and their virgin bosoms handled .
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Oho '
lah was the name of the elder and Ohol '
ibah the name of her sister .
They became mine ,
and they bore sons and daughters .
As for their names ,
Oho '
lah is Sama '
ria ,
and Ohol '
ibah is Jerusalem .
* "
Oho '
lah played the harlot while she was mine ;
and she doted on her lovers the Assyrians ,
*
warriors clothed in purple ,
governors and commanders ,
all of them desirable young men ,
horsemen riding on horses .
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She bestowed her harlotries upon them ,
the choicest men of Assyria all of them ;
and she defiled herself with all the idols of every one on whom she doted .
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She did not give up her harlotry which she had practiced since her days in Egypt ;
for in her youth men had lain with her and handled her virgin bosom and poured out their lust upon her .
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Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers ,
into the hands of the Assyrians ,
upon whom she doted .
*
These uncovered her nakedness ;
they seized her sons and her daughters ;
and her they slew with the sword ;
and she became a byword among women ,
when judgment had been executed upon her .
* "
Her sister Ohol '
ibah saw this ,
yet she was more corrupt than she in her doting and in her harlotry ,
which was worse than that of her sister .
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She doted upon the Assyrians ,
governors and commanders ,
warriors clothed in full armor ,
horsemen riding on horses ,
all of them desirable young men .
*
And I saw that she was defiled ;
they both took the same way .
*
But she carried her harlotry further ;
she saw men portrayed upon the wall ,
the images of the Chalde '
ans portrayed in vermilion ,
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girded with belts on their loins ,
with flowing turbans on their heads ,
all of them looking like officers ,
a picture of Babylonians whose native land was Chalde '
a .
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When she saw them she doted upon them ,
and sent messengers to them in Chalde '
a .
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And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love ,
and they defiled her with their lust ;
and after she was polluted by them ,
she turned from them in disgust .
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When she carried on her harlotry so openly and flaunted her nakedness ,
I turned in disgust from her ,
as I had turned from her sister .
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Yet she increased her harlotry ,
remembering the days of her youth ,
when she played the harlot in the land of Egypt
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and doted upon her paramours there ,
whose members were like those of asses ,
and whose issue was like that of horses .
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Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth ,
when the Egyptians handled your bosom and pressed your young breasts ."
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Therefore ,
O Ohol '
ibah ,
thus says the Lord GOD : "
Behold ,
I will rouse against you your lovers from whom you turned in disgust ,
and I will bring them against you from every side :
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the Babylonians and all the Chalde '
ans ,
Pekod and Sho '
a and Ko '
a ,
and all the Assyrians with them ,
desirable young men ,
governors and commanders all of them ,
officers and warriors ,
all of them riding on horses .
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And they shall come against you from the north with chariots and wagons and a host of peoples ;
they shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler ,
shield ,
and helmet ,
and I will commit the judgment to them ,
and they shall judge you according to their judgments .
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And I will direct my indignation against you ,
that they may deal with you in fury .
They shall cut off your nose and your ears ,
and your survivors shall fall by the sword .
They shall seize your sons and your daughters ,
and your survivors shall be devoured by fire .
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They shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your fine jewels .
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Thus I will put an end to your lewdness and your harlotry brought from the land of Egypt ;
so that you shall not lift up your eyes to the Egyptians or remember them any more .
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For thus says the Lord GOD :
Behold ,
I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate ,
into the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust ;
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and they shall deal with you in hatred ,
and take away all the fruit of your labor ,
and leave you naked and bare ,
and the nakedness of your harlotry shall be uncovered .
Your lewdness and your harlotry
*
have brought this upon you ,
because you played the harlot with the nations ,
and polluted yourself with their idols .
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You have gone the way of your sister ;
therefore I will give her cup into your hand .
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Thus says the Lord GOD : "
You shall drink your sister '
s cup which is deep and large ;
you shall be laughed at and held in derision ,
for it contains much ;
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you will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow .
A cup of horror and desolation ,
is the cup of your sister Sama '
ria ;
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you shall drink it and drain it out ,
and pluck out your hair ,
and tear your breasts ;
for I have spoken ,
says the Lord GOD .
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Therefore thus says the Lord GOD :
Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back ,
therefore bear the consequences of your lewdness and harlotry ."
*
The LORD said to me : "
Son of man ,
will you judge Oho '
lah and Ohol '
ibah ?
Then declare to them their abominable deeds .
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For they have committed adultery ,
and blood is upon their hands ;
with their idols they have committed adultery ;
and they have even offered up to them for food the sons whom they had borne to me .
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Moreover this they have done to me :
they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and profaned my sabbaths .
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For when they had slaughtered their children in sacrifice to their idols ,
on the same day they came into my sanctuary to profane it .
And lo ,
this is what they did in my house .
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They even sent for men to come from far ,
to whom a messenger was sent ,
and lo ,
they came .
For them you bathed yourself ,
painted your eyes ,
and decked yourself with ornaments ;
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you sat upon a stately couch ,
with a table spread before it on which you had placed my incense and my oil .
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The sound of a carefree multitude was with her ;
and with men of the common sort drunkards were brought from the wilderness ;
and they put bracelets upon the hands of the women ,
and beautiful crowns upon their heads .
* "
Then I said ,
Do not men now commit adultery when they practice harlotry with her ?
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For they have gone in to her ,
as men go in to a harlot .
Thus they went in to Oho '
lah and to Ohol '
ibah to commit lewdness .
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But righteous men shall pass judgment on them with the sentence of adulteresses ,
and with the sentence of women that shed blood ;
because they are adulteresses ,
and blood is upon their hands ."
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For thus says the Lord GOD : "
Bring up a host against them ,
and make them an object of terror and a spoil .
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And the host shall stone them and dispatch them with their swords ;
they shall slay their sons and their daughters ,
and burn up their houses .
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Thus will I put an end to lewdness in the land ,
that all women may take warning and not commit lewdness as you have done .
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And your lewdness shall be requited upon you ,
and you shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry ;
and you shall know that I am the Lord GOD ."