1 The word of the Lord came to me again, saying, 2 “Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother; 3 and they prostituted themselves in Egypt. They prostituted themselves in their youth; there their breasts were squeezed and there their virgin breasts were handled. 4 Their names were Oholah the elder and Oholibah her sister. And they became Mine, and they gave birth to sons and daughters. And as for their names, Samaria is Oholah and Jerusalem is Oholibah.
5 “Oholah prostituted herself while she was Mine; and she lusted after her lovers, after the Assyrians, her neighbors, 6 who were clothed in purple, governors and officials, all of them handsome young men, horsemen riding on horses. 7 She bestowed her obscene practices on them, all of whom were the choicest men of Assyria; and with all whom she lusted after, with all their idols she defiled herself. 8 She did not abandon her obscene practices from the time in Egypt; for in her youth men had slept with her, and they handled her virgin breasts and poured out their obscene practice on her. 9 Therefore, I handed her over to her lovers, to the Assyrians, after whom she lusted. 10 They uncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters, but they killed her with the sword. So she became a subject of gossip among women, and they executed judgments on her.
11 “Now her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was more corrupt in her lust than she, and her obscene practices were more than the prostitution of her sister. 12 She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and officials, the ones near, opulently dressed, horsemen riding on horses, all of them handsome young men. 13 And I saw that she had defiled herself; they both took the same way. 14 So she increased her obscene practices. And she saw men carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans drawn in bright red, 15 wearing belts around their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, like the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth. 16 And when she saw them she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. 17 And the Babylonians came to her to the bed of love and defiled her with their obscene practice. And when she had been defiled by them, she turned away from them in disgust. 18 She exposed her obscene practices and exposed her nakedness; then I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister in disgust. 19 Yet she multiplied her obscene practices, remembering the days of her youth, when she prostituted herself in the land of Egypt. 20 She lusted after their lovers, whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys and whose discharge is like the discharge of horses. 21 So you longed for the outrageous sin of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your breasts because of the breasts of your youth.
22 “Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Lord God says: ‘Behold I am going to incite your lovers against you, from whom you turned away in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side: 23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them; handsome young men, governors and officials all of them, officers and men of renown, all of them riding on horses. 24 And they will come against you with weapons, chariots, and wagons, and with a contingent of peoples. They will attack you on every side with shield, buckler, and helmet; and I will commit the judgment to them, and they will judge you according to their customs. 25 I will set My jealousy against you, so that they may deal with you in wrath. They will remove your nose and your ears; and your survivors will fall by the sword. They will take your sons and your daughters; and your survivors will be consumed by the fire. 26 They will also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewelry. 27 So I will remove from you your outrageous sin and your prostitution that you brought from the land of Egypt, so that you will not raise your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.’ 28 For this is what the Lord God says: ‘Behold, I am going to hand you over to those whom you hate, to those from whom you turned away in disgust. 29 They will deal with you in hatred, take all your property, and leave you naked and bare. And the nakedness of your prostitution will be exposed, both your outrageous sin and your obscene practices. 30 These things will be done to you because you have adulterously pursued the nations, because you have defiled yourself with their idols. 31 You have walked in the way of your sister; therefore I will put her cup in your hand.’ 32 This is what the Lord God says:
‘You will drink your sister’s cup,
Which is deep and wide.
You will be laughed at and held in derision;
Because it contains much.
33 You will be filled with drunkenness and grief,
A cup of horror and desolation,
The cup of your sister Samaria.
34 And you will drink it and drain it.
Then you will gnaw on its fragments
And tear your breasts;
for I have spoken,’ declares the Lord God. 35 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: ‘Because you have forgotten Me and discarded Me behind your back, suffer on your own part the punishment for your outrageous sin and your obscene practices.’”
36 Moreover, the Lord said to me, “Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations. 37 For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. So they have committed adultery with their idols, and even made their sons, whom they bore to Me, pass through the fire to them as food. 38 Again, they have done this to Me: they have defiled My sanctuary on the same day, and have profaned My Sabbaths. 39 For when they slaughtered their children for their idols, they entered My sanctuary on the same day to profane it; and behold, this is what they did within My house.
40 “Furthermore, they have even sent for men who come from a great distance, to whom a messenger was sent; and behold, they came—for whom you bathed, put makeup on your eyes, and adorned yourselves with jewelry; 41 and you sat on a splendid couch with a table arranged in front of it on which you had set My incense and My oil. 42 And the sound of a carefree multitude was with her; and heavy drinkers were brought from the wilderness with people from the multitude of humanity. And they put bracelets on the wrists of the women and beautiful crowns on their heads.
43 “Then I said concerning her who was worn out by adulteries, ‘Will they now commit adultery with her when she is like this?’ 44 But they went in to her as they would go in to a prostitute. This is how they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, the lewd women. 45 But they, righteous people, will judge them with the judgment of adulteresses and with the judgment of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands.
46 “For this is what the Lord God says: ‘Bring up a contingent against them and turn them over to terror and plunder. 47 The contingent will stone them with stones and cut them down with their swords; they will kill their sons and their daughters and burn their houses with fire. 48 So I will eliminate outrageous conduct from the land, so that all women will take warning and not commit outrageous sin as you have done. 49 Your outrageous conduct will be repaid to you, and you will bear the guilt for your idols; so you will know that I am the Lord God.’”
18 Now where there is forgiveness of these things, an offering for sin is no longer required.
19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, through His flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let’s approach God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let’s hold firmly to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 24 and let’s consider how to encourage one another in love and good deeds, 25 not abandoning our own meeting together, as is the habit of some people, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
26 For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has ignored the Law of Moses is put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” 31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
32 But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, 33 partly by being made a public spectacle through insults and distress, and partly by becoming companions with those who were so treated. 34 For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better and lasting possession. 35 Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.
37 For yet in a very little while,
He who is coming will come, and will not delay.
38 But My righteous one will live by faith;
And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.
39 But we are not among those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith for the safekeeping of the soul.
1 God of my praise,
Do not be silent!
2 For they have opened a wicked and deceitful mouth against me;
They have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
3 They have also surrounded me with words of hatred,
And have fought against me without cause.
4 In return for my love they act as my accusers;
But I am in prayer.
5 So they have repaid me evil for good,
And hatred for my love.
6 Appoint a wicked person over him,
And may an accuser stand at his right hand.
7 When he is judged, may he come out guilty,
And may his prayer become sin.
8 May his days be few;
May another take his office.
9 May his children be fatherless,
And his wife a widow.
10 May his children wander about and beg;
And may they seek sustenance far from their ruined homes.
11 May the creditor seize everything that he has,
And may strangers plunder the product of his labor.
12 May there be none to extend kindness to him,
Nor any to be gracious to his fatherless children.
13 May his descendants be eliminated;
May their name be wiped out in a following generation.
14 May the guilt of his fathers be remembered before the Lord,
And do not let the sin of his mother be wiped out.
15 May they be before the Lord continually,
So that He may eliminate their memory from the earth;
16 Because he did not remember to show mercy,
But persecuted the afflicted and needy person,
And the despondent in heart, to put them to death.
17 He also loved cursing, so it came to him;
And he did not delight in blessing, so it was far from him.
18 But he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment,
And it entered his body like water,
And like oil into his bones.
19 May it be to him as a garment with which he covers himself,
And as a belt which he constantly wears around himself.
20 May this be the reward of my accusers from the Lord,
And of those who speak evil against my soul.
21 But You, God, the Lord, deal kindly with me for the sake of Your name;
Because Your mercy is good, rescue me;
22 For I am afflicted and needy,
And my heart is wounded within me.
23 I am passing like a shadow when it lengthens;
I am shaken off like the locust.
24 My knees are weak from fasting,
And my flesh has grown lean, without fatness.
25 I also have become a disgrace to them;
When they see me, they shake their head.
26 Help me, Lord my God;
Save me according to Your mercy.
27 And may they know that this is Your hand;
You, Lord, have done it.
28 They will curse, but You bless;
When they arise, they will be ashamed,
But Your servant will be glad.
29 May my accusers be clothed with dishonor,
And may they cover themselves with their own shame as with a robe.
30 With my mouth I will give thanks abundantly to the Lord;
And I will praise Him in the midst of many.
31 For He stands at the right hand of the needy,
To save him from those who judge his soul.
13 Take his garment when he becomes a guarantor for a stranger;
And for a foreign woman seize a pledge from him.
