A reading from the book of Ezekiel.

The Word of the Lord came to me.

Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother.

They played the whore in Egypt.

They played the whore in their youth.

There their breasts were pressed, and their virgin bosoms handled.

Ahola was the name of the elder and Aholaba the name of her sister.

They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters.

As for their names, Ahola is Samaria and Aholaba is Jerusalem. Ahola played the whore while she was mine,

and she lusted after her lovers the Assyrians, warriors clothed in purple, governors and commanders,

all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. She bestowed her hoaring upon them,

the choicest men of Assyria, all of them, and she defiled herself with all the idols of

everyone after whom she lusted. She did not give up her hoaring that she had begun in Egypt,

for in her youth men had lain with her and handled her virgin bosom and poured out their hoaring lust upon her.

Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians,

after whom she lusted.

These uncovered her nakedness. They seized her sons and her daughters,

and as for her they killed her with the sword, and she became a byword among women, when judgment

had been executed on her. Her sister, Aholaba, saw this, and she became more corrupt than her sister, in her lust,

and in her hoaring, which was worse than that of her sister. She lusted after the Assyrians,

governors and commanders, warriors clothed in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable

young men.

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