1. This message came to me from the lord:
2. “Son of man, once there were two sisters who were daughters of the same mother.
3. They became prostitutes in Egypt. Even as young girls, they allowed men to fondle their breasts.
4. The older girl was named Oholah, and her sister was Oholibah. I married them, and they bore me sons and daughters. I am speaking of Samaria and Jerusalem, for Oholah is Samaria and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
5. “Then Oholah lusted after other lovers instead of me, and she gave her love to the Assyrian officers.
6. They were all attractive young men, captains and commanders dressed in handsome blue, charioteers driving their horses.
7. And so she prostituted herself with the most desirable men of Assyria, worshiping their idols and defiling herself.
8. For when she left Egypt, she did not leave her spirit of prostitution behind. She was still as lewd as in her youth, when the Egyptians slept with her, fondled her breasts, and used her as a prostitute.
9. “And so I handed her over to her Assyrian lovers, whom she desired so much.
10. They stripped her, took away her children as their slaves, and then killed her. After she received her punishment, her reputation was known to every woman in the land.
11. “Yet even though Oholibah saw what had happened to Oholah, her sister, she followed right in her footsteps. And she was even more depraved, abandoning herself to her lust and prostitution.
12. She fawned over all the Assyrian officers—those captains and commanders in handsome uniforms, those charioteers driving their horses—all of them attractive young men.
13. I saw the way she was going, defiling herself just like her older sister.
14. “Then she carried her prostitution even further. She fell in love with pictures that were painted on a wall—pictures of Babylonian military officers, outfitted in striking red uniforms.