Yehezkiel 23:36-48

23:36 The Lord said to me: “Son of man, are you willing to pronounce judgment ¹  on Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominable deeds! 23:37 For they have committed adultery and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols, and their sons, whom they bore to me, ²  they have passed through the fire as food to their idols. ³  23:38 Moreover, they have done this to me: In the very same day ⁴  they desecrated my sanctuary and profaned my Sabbaths. 23:39 On the same day they slaughtered their sons for their idols, they came to my sanctuary to desecrate it. This is what they have done in the middle of my house.

23:40 “They even sent for men from far away; when the messenger arrived, those men set out. ⁵  For them you bathed, ⁶  painted your eyes, and decorated yourself with jewelry. 23:41 You sat on a magnificent couch, with a table arranged in front of it where you placed my incense and my olive oil. 23:42 The sound of a carefree crowd accompanied her, ⁷  including all kinds of men; ⁸  even Sabeans ⁹  were brought from the desert. The sisters ¹⁰  put bracelets on their wrists and beautiful crowns on their heads. 23:43 Then I said about the one worn out by adultery, ‘Now they will commit immoral acts with her.’ 23:44 They had sex with her ¹¹  as one does with a prostitute. In this way they had sex with Oholah and Oholibah, promiscuous women. 23:45 But upright men will punish them appropriately for their adultery and bloodshed, ¹²  because they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands.

23:46 “For this is what the sovereign Lord says: Bring up an army ¹³  against them and subject them ¹⁴  to terror and plunder. 23:47 That army will pelt them with stones and slash them with their swords; they will kill their sons and daughters and burn their houses. ¹⁵  23:48 I will put an end to the obscene conduct in the land; all the women will learn a lesson from this and not engage in obscene conduct.

[23:36]  ¹ tn Heb “will you judge.” Here the imperfect form of the verb is probably used with a desiderative nuance. Addressed to the prophet, “judge” means to warn of or pronounce God’s impending judgment. See 20:4; 22:2.

[23:37]  ² sn The Lord speaks here in the role of the husband of the sisters.

[23:37]  ³ tn Heb “they have passed to them for food.” The verb is commonly taken to refer to passing children through fire, especially as an offering to the pagan god Molech. See Jer 32:35.

[23:38]  ⁴ tn Heb “in that day.”

[23:40]  ⁵ tn Heb “to whom a messenger was sent, and look, they came.” Foreign alliances are in view here.

[23:40]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew verb form is feminine singular, indicating that Oholibah (Judah) is specifically addressed here. This address continues through verse 42a (note “her”), but then both sisters are described in verse 42b, where the feminine pronouns are again plural.

[23:42]  ⁷ tn Heb “(was) in her.”

[23:42]  ⁸ tn Heb “and men from the multitude of mankind.”

[23:42]  ⁹ tn An alternate reading is “drunkards.” Sheba is located in the area of modern day Yemen.

[23:42]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “they”; the referents (the sisters) have been specified in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[23:44]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and they came to her.”

[23:45]  ¹² tn Heb “and upright men will judge them (with) the judgment of adulteresses and the judgment of those who shed blood.”

[23:46]  ¹³ tn Heb “assembly.”

[23:46]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “give them to.”

[23:47]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew text adds “with fire.”