Ezequiel 23

¹ The worde of the Lord came againe vnto me, saying,

² Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of oneMeaning, Israel and Judah who both came out of one family.mother:

³ And they committed harlotries inThey became idolaters after the manner of the Egyptians.Egypt; they committed harlotries in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity.

⁴ And the names ofAholah signifies a mansion or dwelling in herself, meaning Samaria, which was the royal city of Israel and Aholibah signifies my mansion in her, by which is meant Jerusalem, where God's temple was.them [were] Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bore sons and daughters. Thus [were] their names; Samaria [is] Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah.

⁵ And Aholah played the harlot whenWhen the Israelites were named the people of God, they became idolaters and forsook God, and put their trust in the Assyrians.she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians [her] neighbours,

⁶ Which were clothed with blewe silke, both captaines and princes: they were all pleasant yong men, and horsemen riding vpon horses.

⁷ Thus she committed her whoredome with them, euen with all them that were the chosen men of Asshur, and with all on whome she doted, and defiled her selfe with all their idoles.

⁸ Neither left she her harlotries [brought] from Egypt: for in her youth theyThe Holy Spirit uses these terms which seem strange to chaste ears, to cause this wicked vice of idolatry to be so abhorred that no one could stand to hear the name of it.lay with her, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured their immorality upon her.

⁹ Wherefore I deliuered her into the hands of her louers, euen into the hands of the Assyrians, vpon whome she doted.

¹⁰ These uncovered her nakedness: they took her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword: and she became a byword among women; forMeaning the Assyrians.they had executed judgment upon her.

¹¹ And when her sister Aholibah sawe this, she marred her selfe with inordinate loue, more then she, and with her fornications more then her sister with her fornications.

¹² She doted vpon the Assyrians her neighbours, both captaines and princes clothed with diuers sutes, horsemen ryding vpon horses: they were all pleasant yong men.

¹³ Then I sawe that she was defiled, and that they were both after one sort,

¹⁴ And [that] she increased her harlotries: for when she saw menThis declares that no words are able to sufficiently express the rage of idolaters and therefore the Holy Spirit here compares them to those who in their raging love and filthy lusts dote on the images and paintings of them after whom they lust.portrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion,

¹⁵ And girded with girdles vpon their loynes, and with dyed attyre vpon their heads (looking all like princes after the maner of the Babylonians in Caldea, the land of their natiuitie)

¹⁶ Assoone, I say, as she sawe them, she doted vpon them, and sent messengers vnto them into Caldea.

¹⁷ Nowe when the Babylonians came to her into the bed of loue, they defiled her with their fornication, and she was polluted with them, and her lust departed from them.

¹⁸ So she discouered her fornication, and disclosed her shame: then mine heart forsooke her, like as mine heart had forsaken her sister.

¹⁹ Yet she encreased her whoredome more, and called to remembrance ye dayes of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt.

²⁰ For she doted vpon their seruants whose members are as the members of asses, and whose yssue is like the yssue of horses.

²¹ Thou calledst to remembrance the wickednes of thy youth, when thy teates were bruised by ye Egyptians: therefore ye paps of thy youth are thus.

²² Therefore, O Aholibah, thus sayeth the Lord God, Beholde, I will raise vp thy louers against thee, from whome thine heart is departed, and I will bring them against thee on euery side,

²³ The Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans,These were the names of certain princes and captains under Nebuchadnezzar.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 Euen these shal come against thee with charets, waggons, and wheeles, and with a multitude of people, which shall set against thee, buckler and shield, and helmet round about: and I will leaue the punishment vnto them, and they shall iudge thee according to their iudgements.

²⁵ And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall deal furiously with thee: they shall take away thyThey will destroy your princes and priests with the rest of your people.nose and thy ears; and thy remnant shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons and thy daughters; and thy remnant shall be devoured by the fire.

²⁶ They shal also strip thee out of thy clothes, and take away thy fayre iewels.

²⁷ Thus wil I make thy wickednes to cease from thee and thy fornication out of the land of Egypt: so that thou shalt not lift vp thine eyes vnto them, nor remember Egypt any more.

²⁸ For thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I wil deliuer thee into the hand of them, whome thou hatest: euen into the hands of them from whome thine heart is departed.

²⁹ And they shall deal with thee in hatred, and shall take away all thyAll your treasures and riches which you have gotten by labour.labour, and shall leave thee naked and bare: and the nakedness of thy harlotriesAll the world will see your shameful forsaking of God to serve idols.shall be uncovered, both thy lewdness and thy harlotries.

³⁰ I wil doe these things vnto thee, because thou hast gone a whoring after the heathen, and because thou art polluted with their idoles.

³¹ Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister; therefore will I give herI will execute the same judgments and vengeance against you and that with greater severity.cup into thy hand.

³² Thus saith ye Lord God, Thou shalt drinke of thy sisters cup, deepe and large: thou shalt be laughed to scorne and had in derision, because it containeth much.

³³ Thou shalt be filled withMeaning that it's afflictions would be so great that they would cause them to lose their senses and reason.drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of horror and desolation, with the cup of thy sister Samaria.

³⁴ Thou shalt euen drinke it, and wring it out to the dregges, and thou shalt breake the sheards thereof, and teare thine owne breasts: for I haue spoken it, sayth the Lord God.

³⁵ Therefore thus saith the Lorde God, Because thou hast forgotten me, and cast me behinde thy backe, therefore thou shalt also beare thy wickednes and thy whoredome.

³⁶ The Lord sayd moreouer vnto me, Sonne of man, wilt thou iudge Aholah & Aholibah? and wilt thou declare to them their 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 bore to me, to pass for them through [the fire], toThat is, to be sacrifices to their idols, read (Eze_16:20).devour [them].

³⁸ Moreouer, thus haue they done vnto me: they haue defiled my Sanctuarie in the same day, and haue prophaned my Sabbaths.

³⁹ For when they had slaine their children to their idoles, they came the same day into my Sanctuarie to defile it: and loe, thus haue they done in the middes of mine house.

⁴⁰ And furthermore, that ye have sent for men to come fromThey sent into other countries to have such as would teach the service of their idols.far, to whom a messenger [was] sent; and, lo, they came: for whom thou didst wash thyself, didst paint thy eyes, and didst deck thyself with ornaments,

⁴¹ And satestHe means the altar that was prepared for the idols.upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it, upon which thou hast set my incense and my oil.

⁴² And a voice of a multitude being at ease [was] with her: and with the men of the common sort [were] broughtWho would teach the manner of worshipping their gods.Sabeans from the wilderness, who put bracelets upon their hands, and beautiful crowns upon their heads.

⁴³ Then I sayd vnto her, that was olde in adulteries, Now shall she and her fornications come to an end.

⁴⁴ And they went in vnto her as they goe to a common harlot: so went they to Aholah and Aholibah the wicked women.

⁴⁵ And the righteous men, they shall judge them after the manner ofThat is worthy of death, (Eze_16:38).adulteresses, and after the manner of women that shed blood; because they [are] adulteresses, and blood [is] in their hands.

⁴⁶ Wherefore thus sayth the Lord God, I will bring a multitude vpon them, and will giue them vnto the tumult, and to the spoyle,

⁴⁷ And the multitude shall stone them with stones, and cut them with their swordes: they shal slay their sonnes, and their daughters, and burne vp their houses with fire.

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

⁴⁹ And they shall laye your wickednesse vpon you, and ye shall beare the sinnes of your idoles, and ye shall knowe that I am the Lord God.