0 SAB Ezekiel 23

Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of his sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked. 21:3

Trivia: Which of the God's wives in Ezekiel 23 plucked off her own breasts?

Ezekiel

CHAPTER 23

God's wives: A tale of two sisters
23:1-4

1The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,

The word of God came to me again, saying,

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

3 And they committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed whoredoms in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity.

Two young sisters committed whoredoms in Egypt,

where their virgin breasts were fondled.

4 And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah.

The older sister's name was Aholah,

and the younger's name was Aholibah.

They were my wives and had my sons and daughters. [1]

(Samaria is Aholah and Jerusalem is Aholibah.)

The older sister, Aholah
23:5-10

5 And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours,

6 Which were clothed with blue, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses.

Aholah played the harlot while she was my wife.

She had Assyrians for lovers, who rode on horses.

7Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, with all them that were the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on whom she doted: with all their idols she defiled herself.

She committed whoredoms with them,

and defiled herself with their idols.

8 Neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured their whoredom upon her.

She started her whoredoms in Egypt and never stopped.

They fondled her breasts while they poured out their whoredoms upon her.

9Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted.

So I delivered her to her lovers, the Assyrians.

10These discovered her nakedness: they took her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword: and she became famous among women; for they had executed judgment upon her.

They discovered her nakedness, took her children, and killed her with a sword.

The younger sister, Aholibah
23:11-20

11And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms.

When her sister, Aholibah, saw this, she committed even more whoredoms than Aholah.

12 She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbours, captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men.

13 Then I saw that she was defiled, that they took both one way,

She doted on the Assyrians,

who were well-dressed young men,

who rode on horses.

14 And that she increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion,

When Aholibah saw paintings of Chaldean men on the wall,

15 Girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity:

who had girdles on their loins,

and were really good-looking

(as Chaldean men tend to be),

16 And as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she doted upon them, and sent messengers unto them into Chaldea.

she sent messengers to them.

17And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from them.

And they came to her in her bed of love,

defiled and polluted her with their whoredom,

and discovered her nakedness.

18So she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness: then my mind was alienated from her, like as my mind was alienated from her sister.

So I rejected her, like I did her sister.

19Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt.

She multiplied her whoredoms,

like she did when she was a young harlot in Egypt.

20For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.

For she lusted for her lovers,

whose penises were like those of donkeys,

and ejaculate like that of horses. [2]

They'll cut off your nose and ears,
and you'll pluck off your own breasts
23:21-35

21 Thus thou calledst to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth, in bruising thy teats by the Egyptians for the paps of thy youth.

God said to Aholibah,

So you behaved like you did when you were young,

when you lewdly offered your breasts to the Egyptians.

22 Therefore, O Aholibah, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy mind is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side;

Therefore, I said to you,

I'll send your lovers to assault you on every side.

23 The Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them: all of them desirable young men, captains and rulers, great lords and renowned, all of them riding upon horses.

24 And they shall come against thee with chariots, wagons, and wheels, and with an assembly of people, which shall set against thee buckler and shield and helmet round about: and I will set judgment before them, and they shall judge thee according to their judgments.

They're all desirable young men, riding on horses.

25 And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall deal furiously with thee: they shall take away thy nose and thine ears; and thy remnant shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons and thy daughters; and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire.

They'll cut off your nose and ears, [3]

enslave your children,

burn your house,

26They shall also strip thee out of thy clothes, and take away thy fair jewels.

strip off your clothes,

and take your jewelry.

27 Thus will I make thy lewdness to cease from thee, and thy whoredom brought from the land of Egypt: so that thou shalt not lift up thine eyes unto them, nor remember Egypt any more.

Thus, I'll end your lewdness and whoredom,

and you'll forget all about your Egyptians lovers.

28 For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will deliver thee into the hand of them whom thou hatest, into the hand of them from whom thy mind is alienated:

Then I'll deliver you to those who hate you.

29 And they shall deal with thee hatefully, and shall take away all thy labour, and shall leave thee naked and bare: and the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be discovered, both thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.

They'll strip you of your clothes and leave you naked.

And discover the nakedness of your lewd whoredoms.

30I will do these things unto thee, because thou hast gone a whoring after the heathen, and because thou art polluted with their idols.

I'll do all this because your went whoring after the heathen,

and are polluted with their idols.

31Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister; therefore will I give her cup into thine hand.

You behaved like your sister,

so I'll punish you like I did her.

32Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou shalt drink of thy sister's cup deep and large: thou shalt be laughed to scorn and had in derision; it containeth much.

Everyone will laugh at you.

33Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of thy sister Samaria.

You'll be sad and drunk.

34Thou shalt even drink it and suck it out, and thou shalt break the sherds thereof, and pluck off thine own breasts: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.

You'll drink it and suck it out.

And pluck off your own breasts,

because I, God, have said so.

35 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back, therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.

I'll do all these things to you because you forgot me.

I'll have righteous men stone them to death
23:36-49

36 The LORD said moreover unto me; Son of man, wilt thou judge Aholah and Aholibah? yea, declare unto them their abominations;

God said to me,

Son of man, will you judge Aholah and Aholibah?

Tell them they have committed abominations.

37 That they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery, and have also caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them.

They have committed adultery with idols,

burned their children,

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

profaned my sabbaths,

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

and they did all these things in my house.

40 And furthermore, that ye have sent for men to come from far, unto whom a messenger was sent; and, lo,they came: for whom thou didst wash thyself, paintedst thy eyes, and deckedst thyself with ornaments,

They painted their eyes and wore jewelry,

41And satest upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it, whereupon thou hast set mine incense and mine oil.

sat on a nice bed,

and used my incense and oil.

42 And a voice of a multitude being at ease was with her: and with the men of the common sort were brought Sabeans from the wilderness, which put bracelets upon their hands, and beautiful crowns upon their heads.

She had sex with Sabeans,

with bracelets on their wrists,

and crowns on their heads.

43Then said I unto her that was old in adulteries, Will they now commit whoredoms with her, and she with them?

Then I said to her who had committed so many adulteries,

Will they commit even more whoredoms with you?

44Yet they went in unto her, as they go in unto a woman that playeth the harlot: so went they in unto Aholah and unto Aholibah, the lewd women.

They had sex with Aholah and Aholibah,

like they were the lewd harlots that they were.

45And the righteous men, they shall judge them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women that shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.

Righteous men should judge them as adulteresses. [4]

46For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will bring up a company upon them, and will give them to be removed and spoiled.

47 And the company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords; they shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire.

They'll stone them with stones,

finish them off with swords,

kill their children,

and burn their houses.

48Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness.

That will teach women not to be lewd,

49And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols: and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

and pay them back for their lewdness.

And you'll know that I'm God.

«
»

Copyright © 1999-2024
The Skeptic's Annotated Bible

Send comments to Steve Wells
at swwells(at)gmail.com