The Babylonian Exile

And their names are Aholah the elder, And Aholibah her sister, And they are Mine, and bear sons and daughters. As to their names--Samaria is Aholah, And Jerusalem is Aholibah.

And go a-whoring doth Aholah under Me, And she doteth on her lovers, On the neighbouring Assyrians,

Clothed with blue--governors and prefects, Desirable young men all of them, Horsemen, riding on horses,

And she giveth her whoredoms on them, The choice of the sons of Asshur, All of them--even all on whom she doted, By all their idols she hath been defiled.

And her whoredoms out of Egypt she hath not forsaken, For with her they lay in her youth, And they dealt with the loves of her virginity, And they pour out their whoredoms on her.

Therefore I have given her into the hand of her lovers, Into the hand of sons of Asshur on whom she doted.

They have uncovered her nakedness, Her sons and her daughters they have taken, And her by sword they have slain, And she is a name for women, And judgments they have done with her.

And see doth her sister Aholibah, And she maketh her doting love more corrupt than she, And her whoredoms than the whoredoms of her sister.

On sons of Asshur she hath doted, Governors and prefects, Neighbouring ones--clothed in perfection, Horsemen, riding on horses, Desirable young men all of them.

And I see that she hath been defiled, One way is to them both.

And she doth add unto her whoredoms, And she seeth graved men on the wall, Pictures of Chaldeans, graved with red lead,

Girded with a girdle on their loins, Dyed attire spread out on their heads, The appearance of rulers--all of them, The likeness of sons of Babylon, Chaldea is the land of their birth.

And she doteth on them at the sight of her eyes, And sendeth messengers to them, to Chaldea.

And come in unto her do sons of Babylon, To the bed of loves, And they defile her with their whoredoms, And she is defiled with them, And her soul is alienated from them.

And she revealeth her whoredoms, And she revealeth her nakedness, And alienated is My soul from off her, As alienated was My soul from off her sister.

And she multiplieth her whoredoms, To remember the days of her youth, When she went a-whoring in the land of Egypt.

And she doteth on their paramours, Whose flesh is the flesh of asses, And the issue of horses--their issue.

Thou lookest after the wickedness of thy youth, In dealing out of Egypt thy loves, For the sake of the breasts of thy youth.

Therefore, O Aholibah, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I am stirring up thy lovers against thee, From whom thy soul hath been alienated, And have brought them in against thee from round about.

Sons of Babylon, and of all Chaldea, Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa, All the sons of Asshur with them, Desirable young men, governors and prefects, All of them--rulers and proclaimed ones, Riding on horses, all of them.

And they have come in against thee, With arms, rider, and wheel, And with an assembly of peoples; Target, and shield, and helmet, They do set against thee round about, And I have set before them judgment, They have judged thee in their Judgments.

And I have set My jealousy against thee, And they have dealt with thee in fury, Thy nose and thine ears they turn aside, And thy posterity by sword falleth, They, thy sons and thy daughters do take away, And thy posterity is devoured by fire.

And they have stripped thee of thy garments, And have taken thy beauteous jewels.

And I have caused thy wickedness to cease from thee, And thy whoredoms out of the land of Egypt, And thou liftest not up thine eyes unto them, And Egypt thou dost not remember again.

For thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I am giving thee into a hand that thou hast hated, Into a hand from which thou wast alienated.