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Two
Adulterous Sisters
23:1 The word of the LORD came again unto me,
saying,
23:2 Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one
mother:
23:3 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.
23:4 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.
23:5 And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and
she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours,
23:6 Which were clothed with blue, captains and rulers, all
of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses.
23:7 Thus 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.
23:8 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.
23:9 Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of her
lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted.
23:10 These 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.
23:11 And 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.
23:12 She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbours, captains
and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon
horses, all of them desirable young men.
23:13 Then I saw that she was defiled, that they took both
one way,
23:14 And that she increased her whoredoms: for when she
saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the
Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion,
23:15 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:
23:16 And as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she doted
upon them, and sent messengers unto them into Chaldea.
23:17 And 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.
23:18 So she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her
nakedness: then my mind was alienated from her, like as my
mind was alienated from her sister.
23:19 Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to
remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she had played
the harlot in the land of Egypt.
23:20 For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as
the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of
horses.
23:21 Thus thou calledst to remembrance the lewdness of thy
youth, in bruising thy teats by the Egyptians for the paps
of thy youth.
23:22 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;
23:23 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.
23:24 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.
23:25 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.
23:26 They shall also strip thee out of thy clothes, and
take away thy fair jewels.
23:27 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.
23:28 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:
23:29 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.
23:30 I will do these things unto thee, because thou hast
gone a whoring after the heathen, and because thou art
polluted with their idols.
23:31 Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister; therefore
will I give her cup into thine hand.
23:32 Thus 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.
23:33 Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow,
with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of
thy sister Samaria.
23:34 Thou 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.
23:35 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.
23:36 The LORD said moreover unto me; Son of man, wilt thou
judge Aholah and Aholibah? yea, declare unto them their
abominations;
23:37 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.
23:38 Moreover this they have done unto me: they have
defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my
sabbaths.
23:39 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.
23:40 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,
23:41 And satest upon a stately bed, and a table prepared
before it, whereupon thou hast set mine incense and mine
oil.
23:42 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.
23:43 Then said I unto her that was old in adulteries, Will
they now commit whoredoms with her, and she with them?
23:44 Yet 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.
23:45 And 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.
23:46 For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will bring up a
company upon them, and will give them to be removed and
spoiled.
23:47 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.
23:48 Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land,
that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness.
23:49 And 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. |
Cults 
Why Did God Permit Sin?
