Ezekiel 23:11-35

11Ohalah's sister, Oholibah, saw this, but she did even worse things than her sister. She wanted other lovers even more than her sister did.

12She, too, wanted Assyrian men to be her lovers. They were army officers and leaders. They were brave soldiers in beautiful clothes. Some of them rode on horses. They were all strong young men.

13I saw that she was living in the same way that her sister had done. Like her sister, she made herself unclean.

14But Oholibah did even worse things, as a prostitute does. She saw pictures of men on the walls. They were bright red pictures that people had made of Babylonian men.

15The men wore belts around their bodies. They wore large cloths around their heads. They looked like Babylonian army officers who came from Chaldea.

16When Oholibah saw these pictures, she wanted the men to be her lovers. She sent messages to them in Babylonia.

17The Babylonian soldiers came to have sex with her. They did many disgusting things with her so that she was unclean. After they had done this to her, she became upset. She turned away from them.

18She was not ashamed to have sex with many other men. Everyone knew that she lived as a prostitute. So I was very upset. I turned away from her, as I had turned away from her sister.

19But she wanted more and more men to be her lovers. She remembered how she had lived as a prostitute in Egypt when she was a young woman.

20She wanted those strong men to be her lovers. They had sex in a strong way, like donkeys or horses.

21Yes, Oholibah, you thought about the disgusting ways that you had sex when you were young. You wanted men to touch your breasts and make love to you as the Egyptian men had done.

22So this is what the Almighty Lord says to you, Oholibah: “Listen to me! I will cause your lovers to become angry with you. The lovers that you turned away from will come to attack you. I will bring them from every direction to attack you.

23The soldiers from Babylon and from Chaldea will come. Men from Pekod, Shoa and Koa will come. All the Assyrian soldiers will come with them. They will be beautiful young men, army officers, leaders and important men. They will all ride on horses.

24They will attack you with their weapons, their chariots and with a large army of soldiers. They will come together all around you, on every side. They will have different kinds of shields. They will wear helmets on their heads. I will give them authority to judge you. They will punish you in the way that they choose.

25You have not been faithful to me, so I am very angry with you. I will cause these men to punish you in cruel ways. They will cut off your noses and your ears. They will use their swords to kill any men who remain. They will take away your sons and daughters. Fire will destroy any of your people who remain.

26They will pull off your clothes. They will take away your beautiful jewels.

27That is how I will stop you living in a disgusting way. You will no longer live as a prostitute, in the way that you lived in Egypt. You will not want to live in that way again. You will not think about how you lived in Egypt any more.”

28This is what the Almighty Lord says: “Listen! I will put you under the power of people that you hate. Those were the people that you turned away from because you were upset.

29They will be cruel to you. They will take away everything that you worked hard to get. When they leave you, you will have no clothes to wear. You will be ashamed. Everyone will see that you have lived as a prostitute and you have done disgusting things.

30I am punishing you in this way because you were not faithful to me. You wanted other nations to be your lovers. You became unclean because you worshipped their idols.

31You have lived in the same bad way that your sister lived. So I will punish you as I punished her.”

32This is what the Lord God says: “You will drink from the same cup of punishment that I gave to your sister. It is a cup that holds a lot of punishment. People will laugh at you and they will insult you.

33You will suffer very much. You will be drunk and very sad. The cup of your punishment will destroy you. Like your sister Samaria, nothing will remain in you.

34You will have to drink all the punishment that is in that cup! Then you will break the cup into pieces. You will cut your breasts to show that you are very upset. I, the Almighty Lord, have said this.”

35This is what the Almighty Lord says: “You have forgotten me. You have not been faithful to me. You have lived as a prostitute and you have done disgusting things. So now you must receive the punishment that you deserve.” ’