Day 191 of 365

¹The word of the Lord came again to me, saying,

²"Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother:

³and they played the prostitute in Egypt; they played the prostitute in their youth; there were their breasts pressed, and there was handled the bosom of their virginity.

⁴Their names were Oholah the elder, and Oholibah her sister: and they became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem Oholibah.

⁵"Oholah played the prostitute when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbors,

⁶who were clothed with blue, governors and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses.

⁷She bestowed her prostitution on them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them; and on whoever she doted, with all their idols she defiled herself.

⁸Neither has she left her prostitution since the days of Egypt; for in her youth they lay with her, and they handled the bosom of her virginity; and they poured out their prostitution on her.

⁹Therefore I delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, on whom she doted.

¹⁰These uncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters; and her they killed with the sword: and she became a byword among women; for they executed judgments on her.

¹¹"Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet was she more corrupt in her doting than she, and in her prostitution which were more than the prostitution of her sister.

¹²She doted on the Assyrians, governors and rulers, her neighbors, clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men.

¹³I saw that she was defiled; they both took one way.

¹⁴She increased her prostitution; for she saw men portrayed on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion,

¹⁵dressed with girdles on their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them princes to look on, after the likeness of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth.

¹⁶As soon as she saw them she doted on them, and sent messengers to them into Chaldea.

¹⁷The Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their prostitution, and she was polluted with them, and her soul was alienated from them.

¹⁸So she uncovered her prostitution, and uncovered her nakedness: then my soul was alienated from her, like as my soul was alienated from her sister.

¹⁹Yet she multiplied her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth, in which she had played the prostitute in the land of Egypt.

²⁰She doted on their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of donkeys, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.

²¹Thus you called to memory the lewdness of your youth, in the handling of your bosom by the Egyptians for the breasts of your youth.

²²"Therefore, Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: 'Behold, I will raise up your lovers against you, from whom your soul is alienated, and I will bring them against you on every side:

²³the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them; desirable young men, governors and rulers all of them, princes and men of renown, all of them riding on horses.

²⁴They shall come against you with weapons, chariots, and wagons, and with a company of peoples; they shall set themselves against you with buckler and shield and helmet all around; and I will commit the judgment to them, and they shall judge you according to their judgments.

²⁵I will set my jealousy against you, and they shall deal with you in fury; they shall take away your nose and your ears; and your residue shall fall by the sword: they shall take your sons and your daughters; and your residue shall be devoured by the fire.

²⁶They shall also strip you of your clothes, and take away your beautiful jewels.

²⁷Thus will I make your lewdness to cease from you, and your prostitution brought from the land of Egypt; so that you shall not lift up your eyes to them, nor remember Egypt any more.

²⁸"'For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will deliver you into the hand of them whom you hate, into the hand of them from whom your soul is alienated;

²⁹and they shall deal with you in hatred, and shall take away all your labor, and shall leave you naked and bare; and the nakedness of your prostitution shall be uncovered, both your lewdness and your prostitution.

³⁰These things shall be done to you, because you have played the prostitute after the nations, and because you are polluted with their idols.

³¹You have walked in the way of your sister; therefore will I give her cup into your hand.'

³²"Thus says the Lord God: 'You will drink of your sister's cup, which is deep and large; you will be ridiculed and held in derision; it contains much.

³³You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of your sister Samaria.

³⁴You shall even drink it and drain it out, and you shall gnaw the broken pieces of it, and shall tear your breasts; for I have spoken it,' says the Lord God.

³⁵"Therefore thus says the Lord God: 'Because you have forgotten me, and cast me behind your back, therefore you also bear your lewdness and your prostitution.'"

³⁶The Lord said moreover to me: "Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations.

³⁷For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands; and with their idols have they committed adultery; and they have also caused their sons, whom they bore to me, to pass through the fire to them to be devoured.

³⁸Moreover this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my Sabbaths.

³⁹For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and behold, thus have they done in the midst of my house.

⁴⁰"'Furthermore you have sent for men who come from far, to whom a messenger was sent, and behold, they came; for whom you did wash yourself, paint your eyes, and decorate yourself with ornaments,

⁴¹and sit on a stately bed, with a table prepared before it, whereupon you set my incense and my oil.'

⁴²The voice of a multitude being at ease was with her: and with men of the common sort were brought drunkards from the wilderness; and they put bracelets on their hands twain, and beautiful crowns on their heads.

⁴³Then I said of her who was old in adulteries, 'Now will they play the prostitute with her, and she with them.'

⁴⁴They went in to her, as they go in to a prostitute: so went they in to Oholah and to Oholibah, the lewd women.

⁴⁵Righteous men, they shall judge them with the judgment of adulteresses, and with the judgment of women who shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.

⁴⁶"For thus says the Lord God: 'I will bring up a company against them, and will give them to be tossed back and forth and robbed.

⁴⁷The company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords; they shall kill 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.

⁴⁹They shall recompense your lewdness on you, and you shall bear the sins of your idols; and you shall know that I am the Lord God.'"

¹Again, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²"Son of man, write the name of the day, even of this same day: the king of Babylon drew close to Jerusalem this same day.

³Utter a parable to the rebellious house, and tell them, 'Thus says the Lord God, "Set on the caldron, set it on, and also pour water into it:

⁴gather its pieces into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones.

⁵Take the choice of the flock, and also a pile of wood for the bones under the caldron; make it boil well; yes, let its bones be boiled in its midst."'

⁶"Therefore thus says the Lord God: 'Woe to the bloody city, to the caldron whose rust is therein, and whose rust is not gone out of it! Take out of it piece after piece; No lot is fallen on it.

⁷For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it on the bare rock; she didn't pour it on the ground, to cover it with dust.

⁸That it may cause wrath to come up to take vengeance, I have set her blood on the bare rock, that it should not be covered.'

⁹"Therefore thus says the Lord God: 'Woe to the bloody city! I also will make the pile great.

¹⁰Heap on the wood, make the fire hot, boil well the flesh, and make thick the broth, and let the bones be burned.

¹¹Then set it empty on its coals, that it may be hot, and its brass may burn, and that its filthiness may be molten in it, that its rust may be consumed.

¹²She has wearied herself with toil; yet her great rust doesn't go forth out of her; her rust doesn't go forth by fire.

¹³In your filthiness is lewdness: because I have cleansed you and you weren't cleansed, you shall not be cleansed from your filthiness any more, until I have caused my wrath toward you to rest.

¹⁴I, the Lord, have spoken it: it shall happen, and I will do it: I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent; according to your ways, and according to your doings, shall they judge you,' says the Lord God."

¹⁵Also the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

¹⁶"Son of man, behold, I will take away from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke: yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears run down.

¹⁷Sigh, but not aloud, make no mourning for the dead; bind your headdress on you, and put your shoes on your feet, and do not cover your lips, and do not eat men's bread."

¹⁸So I spoke to the people in the morning; and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded.

¹⁹The people said to me, "Won't you tell us what these things are to us, that you do so?"

²⁰Then I said to them, "The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²¹'Speak to the house of Israel, "Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pities; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left behind shall fall by the sword.

²²You shall do as I have done: you shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.

²³Your turbans shall be on your heads, and your shoes on your feet: you shall not mourn nor weep; but you shall pine away in your iniquities, and moan one toward another.

²⁴Thus Ezekiel shall be a sign to you; according to all that he has done, you will do. When this comes, then you will know that I am the Lord God."'"

²⁵"You, son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their heart, their sons and their daughters,

²⁶that in that day he who escapes shall come to you, to cause you to hear it with your ears?

²⁷In that day your mouth will be opened to him who has escaped, and you shall speak, and be no more mute: so you will be a sign to them; and they shall know that I am the Lord."

¹The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²"Son of man, set your face toward the children of Ammon, and prophesy against them:

³and tell the children of Ammon, 'Hear the word of the Lord God: Thus says the Lord God, "Because you said, 'Aha,' against my sanctuary, when it was profaned; and against the land of Israel, when it was made desolate; and against the house of Judah, when they went into captivity:

⁴therefore, behold, I will deliver you to the children of the east for a possession, and they shall set their encampments in you, and make their dwellings in you; they shall eat your fruit, and they shall drink your milk.

⁵I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the children of Ammon a resting place for flocks: and you shall know that I am the Lord."

⁶For thus says the Lord God: "Because you have clapped your hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced with all the despite of your soul against the land of Israel;

⁷therefore, behold, I have stretched out my hand on you, and will deliver you for a spoil to the nations; and I will cut you off from the peoples, and I will cause you to perish out of the countries: I will destroy you; and you shall know that I am the Lord."'"

⁸"Thus says the Lord God: 'Because Moab and Seir say, "Behold, the house of Judah is like all the nations";

⁹therefore, behold, I will open the side of Moab from the cities, from his cities which are on his frontiers, the glory of the country, Beth Jeshimoth, Baal Meon, and Kiriathaim,

¹⁰to the children of the east, to go against the children of Ammon; and I will give them for a possession, that the children of Ammon may not be remembered among the nations.

¹¹and I will execute judgments on Moab; and they shall know that I am the Lord.'"

¹²"Thus says the Lord God: 'Because Edom has dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and has greatly offended, and revenged himself on them';

¹³therefore thus says the Lord God, 'I will stretch out my hand on Edom, and will cut off man and animal from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; even to Dedan shall they fall by the sword.

¹⁴I will lay my vengeance on Edom by the hand of my people Israel; and they shall do in Edom according to my anger and according to my wrath; and they shall know my vengeance, says the Lord God.'"

¹⁵"Thus says the Lord God: 'Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with despite of soul to destroy with perpetual enmity;

¹⁶therefore thus says the Lord God, Behold, I will stretch out my hand on the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites, and destroy the remnant of the sea coast.

¹⁷I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay my vengeance on them.'"

¹It happened in the eleventh year, in the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²"Son of man, because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, 'Aha, she is broken: the gate of the peoples; she is turned to me; I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste':

³therefore thus says the Lord God, 'Behold, I am against you, Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes its waves to come up.'

⁴They shall destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her a bare rock.

⁵She shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea; for I have spoken it," says the Lord God; "and she shall become a spoil to the nations.

⁶Her daughters who are in the field shall be slain with the sword: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

⁷"For thus says the Lord God: 'Behold, I will bring on Tyre Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and a company, and many people.

⁸He shall kill your daughters in the field with the sword; and he shall make forts against you, and cast up a mound against you, and raise up the buckler against you.

⁹He shall set his battering engines against your walls, and with his axes he shall break down your towers.

¹⁰By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover you: your walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wagons, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into your gates, as men enter into a city in which is made a breach.

¹¹With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all your streets; he shall kill your people with the sword; and the pillars of your strength shall go down to the ground.

¹²They shall make a spoil of your riches, and make a prey of your merchandise; and they shall break down your walls, and destroy your pleasant houses; and they shall lay your stones and your timber and your dust in the midst of the waters.

¹³I will cause the noise of your songs to cease; and the sound of your harps shall be no more heard.

¹⁴I will make you a bare rock; you shall be a place for the spreading of nets; you shall be built no more: for I the Lord have spoken it,' says the Lord God.

¹⁵"Thus says the Lord God to Tyre: 'Shall not the islands shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, when the slaughter is made in the midst of you?

¹⁶Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay aside their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit on the ground, and shall tremble every moment, and be astonished at you.

¹⁷They shall take up a lamentation over you, and tell you, "How you are destroyed, who were inhabited by seafaring men, the renowned city, who was strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, who caused their terror to be on all who lived there!

¹⁸Now shall the islands tremble in the day of your fall; yes, the islands that are in the sea shall be dismayed at your departure."'

¹⁹"For thus says the Lord God: 'When I shall make you a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep on you, and the great waters shall cover you;

²⁰then will I bring you down with those who descend into the pit, to the people of old time, and will make you to dwell in the lower parts of the earth, in the places that are desolate of old, with those who go down to the pit, that you be not inhabited; and I will set glory in the land of the living:

²¹I will make you a terror, and you shall no more have any being; though you are sought for, yet you will never be found again,' says the Lord God."