Read & explore together
The Two Adulterous Sisters
Ezekiel 23 uses confronting sexual imagery to expose unfaithfulness to Yahweh. Two sisters become a prophetic picture of Samaria and Jerusalem, showing repeated lust, defilement, estrangement and judgement.
Understanding the passage
The setting of this message
Yahweh’s word comes to Ezekiel and explains that the two women represent Samaria and Jerusalem. The passage itself interprets the imagery, moving from Egypt to Assyria and Chaldea. It is prophecy and teaching, using symbolic language to describe corruption, idols and Yahweh’s response.
Ezekiel 23:1–21Main takeaway
This prophecy teaches that repeatedly pursuing lovers and idols brought defilement, estrangement and judgement.
Explore the message
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01Two sisters named and explainedYahweh speaks of two daughters of one mother, then identifies them: Oholah is Samaria and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
Explanation
Yahweh speaks of two daughters of one mother, then identifies them: Oholah is Samaria and Oholibah is Jerusalem. The passage says they “became mine”, yet also says their prostitution began in Egypt in their youth. The text itself presents this as a symbolic picture of unfaithfulness.
02Oholah defiles herselfOholah, meaning Samaria, lusts after Assyria. Her desire is described through attractive images of governors, rulers and horsemen.
Explanation
Oholah, meaning Samaria, lusts after Assyria. Her desire is described through attractive images of governors, rulers and horsemen. The passage joins this lust with idolatry, saying she defiled herself with the idols of those she desired. It also says she had not left the prostitution begun in Egypt.
03Judgement on OholahBecause Oholah doted on these lovers, Yahweh says he delivered her into their hand. The result is exposure, loss and death by the sword.
Explanation
Because Oholah doted on these lovers, Yahweh says he delivered her into their hand. The result is exposure, loss and death by the sword. She became a byword among women because judgements were executed on her. The imagery underlines the seriousness of her defilement.
04Oholibah becomes worseOholibah saw her sister’s outcome, yet became more corrupt. She lusted after the Assyrians, then increased her prostitution by desiring images of the Chaldeans and sending messengers to Chaldea.
Explanation
Oholibah saw her sister’s outcome, yet became more corrupt. She lusted after the Assyrians, then increased her prostitution by desiring images of the Chaldeans and sending messengers to Chaldea. After defilement, alienation follows: she is alienated from them, and Yahweh says his soul was alienated from her. Still, she multiplied her prostitution and remembered Egypt.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01How does the passage explain who Oholah and Oholibah are?
Find the verse where the symbolic names are directly identified with Samaria and Jerusalem.
02What shows that Oholah’s unfaithfulness involved idols as well as lust?
Look for the line that connects her desire for others with defilement through idols.
03Why is Oholibah presented as especially corrupt?
Notice that she saw her sister’s case, yet became more corrupt and increased her prostitution further.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Ezekiel 23:1–21
1Yahweh’s word came again to me, saying,
2“Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother.
3They played the prostitute in Egypt. They played the prostitute in their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their youthful nipples were caressed there.
4Their names were Oholah the elder, and Oholibah her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem Oholibah.
5“Oholah played the prostitute when she was mine. She doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbors,
6who were clothed with blue—governors and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses.
7She gave herself as a prostitute to them, all of them the choicest men of Assyria. She defiled herself with the idols of whomever she lusted after.
8She hasn’t left her prostitution since leaving Egypt; for in her youth they lay with her. They caressed her youthful nipples and they poured out their prostitution on her.
9“Therefore I delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians on whom she doted.
10These uncovered her nakedness. They took her sons and her daughters, and they killed her with the sword. She became a byword among women; for they executed judgments on her.
11“Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was more corrupt in her lusting than she, and in her prostitution which was more depraved than the prostitution of her sister.
12She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and rulers—her neighbors, clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men.
13I saw that she was defiled. They both went the same way.
14“She increased her prostitution; for she saw men portrayed on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with red,
15dressed with belts on their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like princes, after the likeness of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth.
16As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them into Chaldea.
17The Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their prostitution. She was polluted with them, and her soul was alienated from them.
18So she uncovered her prostitution and uncovered her nakedness. Then my soul was alienated from her, just like my soul was alienated from her sister.
19Yet she multiplied her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth, in which she had played the prostitute in the land of Egypt.
20She lusted after their lovers, whose flesh is as the flesh of donkeys, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.
21Thus you called to memory the lewdness of your youth, in the caressing of your nipples by the Egyptians because of your youthful breasts.