2 Kings 17:19

²²Judah did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, above all that their fathers had done. ²³For they also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.

³But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and even made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel.

⁵¹Samaria hasn’t committed half of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters by all your abominations which you have done. ⁵²You also bear your own shame yourself, in that you have given judgment for your sisters; through your sins that you have committed more abominable than they, they are more righteous than you. Yes, be also confounded, and bear your shame, in that you have justified your sisters.

⁸I saw when, for this very cause, that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce, yet treacherous Judah, her sister, had no fear, but she also went and played the prostitute. ⁹Because she took her prostitution lightly, the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with wood. ¹⁰Yet for all this her treacherous sister, Judah, has not returned to me with her whole heart, but only in pretense,” says the LORD.

¹¹The LORD said to me, “Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.

¹³but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the prostitute like Ahab’s house did, and also have slain your brothers of your father’s house, who were better than yourself,

¹¹Moreover he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and made the inhabitants of Jerusalem play the prostitute, and led Judah astray.

²“You, son of man, will you judge? Will you judge the bloody city? Then cause her to know all her abominations. ³You shall say, ‘The Lord GOD says: “A city that sheds blood within herself, that her time may come, and that makes idols against herself to defile her! ⁴You have become guilty in your blood that you have shed, and are defiled in your idols which you have made! You have caused your days to draw near, and have come to the end of your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mocking to all the countries. ⁵Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you, you infamous one, full of tumult.

⁶“‘“Behold, the princes of Israel, everyone according to his power, have been in you to shed blood. ⁷In you have they treated father and mother with contempt. ^[+] Among you they have oppressed the foreigner. In you they have wronged the fatherless and the widow. ⁸You have despised my holy things, and have profaned my Sabbaths. ⁹Slanderous men have been in you to shed blood. In you they have eaten on the mountains. They have committed lewdness among you. ¹⁰In you have they uncovered their fathers’ nakedness. In you have they humbled her who was unclean in her impurity. ¹¹One has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife, and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law. Another in you has humbled his sister, his father’s daughter. ¹²In you have they taken bribes to shed blood. You have taken interest and increase, and you have greedily gained of your neighbors by oppression, and have forgotten me,” says the Lord GOD.

¹³“‘“Behold, therefore I have struck my hand at your dishonest gain which you have made, and at the blood which has been shed within you. ¹⁴Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I will deal with you? I, the LORD, have spoken it, and will do it. ¹⁵I will scatter you among the nations, and disperse you through the countries. I will purge your filthiness out of you. ¹⁶You will be profaned in yourself in the sight of the nations. Then you will know that I am the LORD.”’”

¹⁸He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did Ahab’s house, for he married Ahab’s daughter. He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight.

²⁸“But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble, for you have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah.

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.