Ezekiel 23:32-49

The Lord YAHWEH says to you: “ ‘You will drink of the same cup as your sister, a large cup both deep and wide that contains much sorrow! Drink it all, for it will lead to mockery and insults! You will be drunk with misery and sorrow. It is a cup of horror and devastation, the cup of your sister Samaria. You will drain it dry. Then, in despair, you will smash the cup in pieces, gnaw on the shattered shards, and cut off your own breasts, once fondled by others. For I, Lord YAHWEH, have spoken. “ ‘And so, Lord YAHWEH says: Because you have forgotten me and have turned your back on me, you too will have to bear the consequences of your outrageous, depraved sexual immorality.’ ” And YAHWEH said to me, “Son of man, are you ready to render judgment upon Oholah and Oholibah and charge them with their detestable practices? They have been wicked adulteresses. Their hands are dripping with blood, and they have committed gross adultery with their vile images. They have even committed murder by offering up their children, who are mine, as burnt sacrifices to feed their false gods! Moreover, they have sinned against me by defiling my sanctuary and dishonoring my Sabbaths. The same day they sacrificed their children to their idols, they came into my sanctuary and made it unfit for worship. Yes, this is what they have done in my own house! “Worse still, they sent messengers to summon men from far away to come have sex with them, and they came. To meet your lovers you bathed yourselves, painted your eyes, put on your provocative clothes with your finest jewelry. You reclined on your sumptuous couch with a table spread before you with my aromatic incense and oils. The noise of your party, a carefree crowd, echoed all around—a noisy crowd of drunk nomads! They put bracelets on the women’s arms and magnificent headpieces on their heads. I thought, ‘Isn’t that woman worn out with her adultery? Let them use her as a prostitute—she’s a professional.’ “Yet the men continued to have sex with her as one does with a prostitute, just as they slept with Oholah and Oholibah—those lewd women! But there are righteous men who will declare them guilty of adultery and murder. For they are, indeed, adulteresses and their hands are stained with blood.” Lord YAHWEH says: “Gather a mob to deal with them, to rob and terrorize them! Let the mob stone them and attack them with their swords. Let their sons and daughters be slaughtered and their houses set on fire. This is how I shall purge the land of lewdness so that all women will be warned not to commit prostitution as you have done. And you two sisters, you will be punished as your sins deserve. You will bear the price for your immorality and your vile idolatry. Then you will know that I am Lord YAHWEH.”