Oholah and Oholibah
1 The word of the Lord Yahweh came to me in these terms,
2 “Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother.
3 They became prostitutes in Egypt, even from their youth. In that land their breasts were fondled and caressed.
4 The elder was called Oholah, her sister Oholibah. Both of them were mine and they gave me sons and daughters. Oholah is Sa ma ria and Oho libah is Jerusalem.
5 Oholah was mine when she played the harlot; she lusted after her lovers, the Assyr ians,
6 warriors dressed in purple, governors, com manders, desirable young men, riders on horses.
7 She offered them her harlotry, to those who were the best of Assyria. She dishonored herself with all those for whom she lusted and with their idols.
8 But she did not forget her harlotry with the Egyptians who had lain with her and poured their lust on her from the time of her youth.
9 That is why I gave her over to her lovers, the Assyrians, the object of her lustful desires.
10 They uncovered her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters and slew her. And she be came a byword among women be cause punishment had come to her.
11 Her sister, Oholibah, witnessed this but she was even more corrupt in her lust and worse than her sister in her prostitution.
12 She lusted after the Assyrians, governors, com manders, horsemen, all desirable young men, and
13 I saw how she dis honored herself.
Both sisters acted in the same way but she went further than her sister.
14 No sooner had she seen men portrayed on walls, pictures of Chaldeans sketched in vermilion than she lusted after these men,
15 tightly belted, heads top-heavy with turbans, all resembling Babylonian cavalry officers.
16 She sent messengers to Chal dea and
17 they came to her in the bed of love and defiled her with their prostitution. They dishonored her so much that she turned from them in disgust.
18 But because she had given her self and exposed her nakedness, I too turned from her in disgust just as I had turned away from her sister.
19 She multiplied her harlotry recalling her youth when she played the harlot in Egypt.
20 She lusted after her lovers whose bodies were like those of donkeys and whose organs resembled those of horses.
21 She re turned to the shameful conduct of her youth with the Egyptians.
22 That is why, Oholibah, thus says Yahweh: I am sending against you your lovers from whom you have turned away in disgust and I will bring them against you from all sides,
23 Babylonians and Chaldeans, men of Pekod, Shoa and Koa and all the Assyrians with them, handsome young men, governors, commanders, cavalry officers, titled people, all riding horses.
24 They will come against you with chariots, wagons and throngs of people who will assail you from all sides with buckler, shield and helmet.
25 I will put your case before them and they will judge you according to their laws. I will release my jealousy against you so that they shall deal with you furiously. They will cut off your nose and your ears and what is left of you will fall by the sword. They will seize your sons and daughters and what is left of you will be consumed by the fire;
26 they will strip you of your clothes and ornaments.
27 I will put an end to your shameful behavior and your harlotry dating from your time in Egypt; you will not look towards them again and will no longer dream of Egypt. Thus says
28 the Lord Yahweh: I am handing you over to those you hate, to those from whom you turned in disgust.
29 They will treat you with loathing and take from you everything you have worked for, leaving you naked and uncovered and the nakedness of your harlotry will be exposed.
30 Your shameful conduct and your promiscuity have brought this upon you, because you lusted after the nations and defiled yourself with their idols.
31 Since you have gone the way of your sister, I will place her cup in your hand.
32 Thus says Yahweh: You shall drink your sister’s cup which is deep and wide. You shall be the butt of derision and mockery: the cup holds so much!
33 You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow; it is a cup of desolation and horror, the cup of Samaria, your sister!
34 You will drink and empty it to the dregs, and then tear your breasts – for I have spoken, word of the Lord Yahweh.”
35 That is why the Lord Yahweh speaks thus: “Since you have forgotten me and turned your back on me, you too will pay for your immodesty and harlotry!”
36 Then Yahweh said to me, “Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oho libah? Confront them with their abominations,
37 for they have com mitted adultery and stained their hands with blood. They committed adultery with their idols and even sacrificed their children – my children – as food for them.
38 At that time they defiled my sanctuary and profaned my sabbaths;
39 the same day they sacrificed their children to their idols, they entered my sanctuary to desecrate it. This is what they did in my house.
40 Both of them sent messages to men who had come from afar and they came. You bathed yourself for them, painted your eyes and decked yourself with jewels.
41 You seated your self on a stately couch and be side a table on which you put incense and oil that was mine.
42 The sound of a carefree crowd was heard there because of their number, not to mention the people brought in from the desert. They put bracelets on the wrists of the women and splendid crowns on their heads.
43 Then I said about this city, worn out and defiled with her adultery: This is indeed harlotry!
44 Men go to her as one goes to a prostitute. So they went to Oholah and Oholibah, the dissolute women!
45 But upright men will judge as adulterous those who have shed blood, for indeed they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands.”
46 For thus says Yahweh: “Let a great assembly be gathered against them! Let them be delivered to terror and spoil!
47 The assembly will stone them, have them cut in pieces by the sword, kill their sons and daughters and burn their houses.
48 I will put an end to debauchery in this land; all the women will be warned and no longer will they imitate your immorality.
49 I will make your immorality fall on your own heads and when you receive the punishment of your idolatry, you will know that I am Yahweh.”
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Comments Ezekiel, Chapter 23
• 23.5 As he did in chapter 16, Ezekiel teaches his compatriots, who are indifferent to the love of Yahweh, by starting with what they know: jealous love and prostitution.
Ezekiel mentions three forms of ido latry: with the Egyptians, the Assyrians and the Baby lonians:
– The idolatry of the Egyptians; confidence in a super-organized state that gives food to everyone, but deprives them of freedom.
– The idolatry of the Assyrians: worship of power and male-centeredness.
– The idolatry of the Babylonians: the longing for money and routine work invaded all their lives. People have no time to live and do not question the meaning of their lives.
What offends God is not only that individuals forsake the God of justice – without whose knowl edge nothing befalls us – to trust in stones, images and horoscopes. What offends God more is that the whole nation is sinning. God wanted to develop within it a new faith, lifestyle and culture able to save humankind. Instead of that, their pleasure is to import all that is most alienating in foreign cultures. We too continue to import all that is alienating: advertisements, erotic dances and videos.
Oholibah means my tent is in her: this refers to the southern kingdom, with Jerusalem, where Yahweh established his dwelling and to which he gave his promises.
Oholah means her own tent: this is the North which separated with Jeroboam in order to form a kingdom of its own.