Ezekiel 23:3-21 — Legacy Standard Bible

³and they played the harlot in Egypt. They ^aplayed the harlot in their youth; there their breasts were pressed, and there their virgin bosom was handled. ⁴“Their names were Oholah the elder and Oholibah her sister. And they became Mine, and they bore sons and daughters. And as for their names, Samaria is Oholah and Jerusalem is Oholibah.

⁵“Oholah played the harlot ¹while she was Mine; and she lusted after her lovers, after the ^aAssyrians, her neighbors, ⁶who were clothed in purple, ^agovernors and officials, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. ⁷“She gave her harlotries to them, all of them the choicest ¹men of Assyria; and with all whom she lusted after, with all their idols she ^adefiled herself. ⁸“She did not forsake her harlotries ^afrom the time in Egypt; for in her youth ¹men had lain with her, and they handled her virgin bosom and poured out their harlotry on her. ⁹“Therefore, I gave her into the hand of her ^alovers, into the hand of the ¹Assyrians, after whom she lusted. ¹⁰“They ^auncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters, but they killed her with the sword. Thus she became a despised name among women, and they executed judgments on her.

¹¹“Now her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was ^amore corrupt in her lust than she, and her harlotries were more than the harlotries of her sister. ¹²“She lusted after the ¹^,^aAssyrians, governors and officials, the ones near, magnificently dressed, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable choice men. ¹³“And I saw that she had defiled herself; they both took ¹the same way. ¹⁴“So she increased her harlotries. And she saw men ^aportrayed on the wall, images of the ^bChaldeans portrayed with vermilion, ¹⁵girded with belts on their loins, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, in the likeness of the ¹Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth. ¹⁶“¹And she saw them and ^alusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. ¹⁷“So the ¹^,^aBabylonians came to her to the bed of love and defiled her with their harlotry. Then she became defiled by them, and her soul became disgusted with them. ¹⁸“And she ^auncovered her harlotries and uncovered her nakedness; then My soul became ^bdisgusted with her, as My soul had become disgusted with her ^csister. ¹⁹“Yet she multiplied her harlotries, remembering the days of her youth, when she played the harlot in the land of Egypt. ²⁰“She ^alusted after their paramours, whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys and whose issue is like the issue of horses. ²¹“Thus you ¹longed for the ^alewdness of your youth, when ²the Egyptians handled your bosom because of the breasts of your youth.