---
title: "Ezekiel 23 – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin Vulgate · Bless"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/ezekiel/23/
description: "Under the names of the two harlots, Oolla and Ooliba, are described the… Ezekiel 23 in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin Vulgate."
---

# Ezekiel 23

Ezekiel 23 is chapter 23 of 48 in the Book of Ezekiel. Here are all 49 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

> Under the names of the two harlots, Oolla and Ooliba, are described the manifold disloyalties of Samaria and Jerusalem, with the punishment of them both.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## Ezekiel 23 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
2. “Son of man, two women were daughters of one mother,
3. and they fornicated in Egypt; they committed fornication in their youth. In that place, their breasts were conquered; the breasts of their adolescence were subdued.
4. Now their names were Oholah, the elder, and Oholibah, her younger sister. And I held them, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names: Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
5. And then, Oholah committed fornication against me, and she acted madly with her lovers, with the Assyrians who approached her,
6. who were clothed with hyacinth: rulers and magistrates, passionate youths and all of the horsemen, mounted on horses.
7. And she distributed her fornications to those chosen men, all of them sons of the Assyrians. And she defiled herself with the uncleanness of all those whom she madly desired.
8. Moreover, she also did not abandon her fornications, which she had done in Egypt. For they also slept with her in her youth, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and they poured out their fornication upon her.
9. Because of this, I have delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the sons of the Assur, whom she has lustfully desired.
10. They uncovered her shame; they took away her sons and daughters; and they slew her with the sword. And they became infamous women. And they carried out judgments in her.
11. And when her sister, Oholibah, had seen this, she was even more mad with lust than the other. And her fornication was beyond the fornication of her sister.
12. She shamelessly offered herself to the sons of the Assyrians, to the rulers and magistrates who brought themselves to her clothed with colorful garments, to the horsemen who were carried by horses, and to the youths, all of them exceptional in appearance.
13. And I saw that she had been defiled, and that they both took the same path.
14. And she increased her fornications. And when she had seen men depicted on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans, expressed in colors,
15. with belts wrapped around the waist, and with dyed headdresses on their heads, having seen the appearance of all the rulers, the likenesses of the sons of Babylon and of the land of the Chaldeans in which they were born,
16. she became mad for them with the desire of her eyes, and she sent messengers to them in Chaldea.
17. And when the sons of Babylon had gone to her, to the bed of breasts, they defiled her with their fornications, and she was polluted by them, and her soul was gorged by them.
18. Also, her fornications were uncovered, and her shame was revealed. And my soul withdrew from her, as my soul had withdrawn from her sister.
19. For she multiplied her fornications, remembering the days of her youth, in which she fornicated in the land of Egypt.
20. And she was mad with lust after lying with them, whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys, and whose flow is like the flow of horses.
21. And you have revisited the crimes of your youth, when your breasts were conquered in Egypt, and the breasts of your adolescence were subdued.
22. Because of this, Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will raise up against you all of your lovers, with whom your soul has been gorged. And I will gather them together against you all around:
23. the sons of Babylon, and all the Chaldeans, the nobles, the sovereigns and princes, all the sons of the Assyrians, youths of exceptional form, all the rulers and magistrates, the leaders among leaders, and the renowned riders of horses.
24. And they will overwhelm you, well-equipped with chariot and wheel, a multitude of peoples. They will be armed against you on every side with armor and shield and helmet. And I will give judgment to their eyes, and they will judge you with their judgments.
25. And against you, I will set my zeal, which they will execute upon you with fury. They will cut off your nose and your ears. And what remains will fall by the sword. They will seize your sons and your daughters, and your youngest will be devoured by fire.
26. And they will strip you of your vestments, and take away the articles of your glory.
27. And I will cause your wickedness to cease from you, and your fornication to cease from the land of Egypt. Neither shall you lift up your eyes toward them, and you shall no longer remember Egypt.
28. For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you have hated, into the hands by which your soul has been gorged.
29. And they will act toward you with hatred, and they will take away all your labors, and they will send you away naked and filled with disgrace. And the shame of your fornication will be revealed: your crimes and your fornications.
30. They have done these things to you, because you have fornicated after the Gentiles, among whom you were defiled by their idols.
31. You have walked in the way of your sister, and so I will give her chalice into your hand.
32. Thus says the Lord God: You will drink the chalice of your sister, deep and wide. You will be held in derision and in ridicule, to a very great extent.
33. You will be filled with inebriation and sorrow, by the chalice of grief and sadness, by the chalice of your sister Samaria.
34. And you will drink it, and you will empty it, even to the dregs. And you will consume even its particles. And you will wound your own breasts. For I have spoken, says the Lord God.
35. Because of this, thus says the Lord God: Since you have forgotten me, and you have cast me behind your body, so also will you bear your wickedness and your fornications.”
36. And the Lord spoke to me, saying: “Son of man, should you not judge Oholah and Oholibah, and announce to them their crimes?
37. For they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands, and they have fornicated with their idols. Moreover, they have offered even their children, whom they bore for me, to them to be devoured.
38. But they have done even this to me: They have defiled my sanctuary on the same day, and they have profaned my Sabbaths.
39. And when they immolated their children to their idols, they also entered my sanctuary on the same day, so that they defiled it. They have done these things, even in the midst of my house.
40. They sent for men who were coming from far away, to whom they had sent a messenger. And so, behold, they arrived, those for whom you washed yourself, and smeared cosmetics around your eyes, and were adorned with feminine ornaments.
41. You sat upon a very beautiful bed, and a table was adorned before you, on which you placed my incense and my ointment.
42. And the voice of a multitude was exulting within her. And concerning certain men, who were being led out of a multitude of persons, and who were arriving from the desert, they placed bracelets on their hands and beautiful crowns on their heads.
43. And I said about her, as she was being worn away by her adulteries, ‘Even now, she continues in her fornication!’
44. And they entered to her, as if to a kept woman. So did they enter to Oholah and Oholibah, nefarious women.
45. But there are just men; these shall judge them with the judgment of adulteresses and with the judgment of those who shed blood. For they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands.
46. For thus says the Lord God: Lead upon them a multitude, and hand them over to tumult and to pillaging.
47. And may they be stoned with the stones of the peoples, and may they be pierced with their own swords. They will put to death their sons and daughters, and they will burn their houses with fire.
48. And I will take away wickedness from the land. And all women shall learn not to act according to their wickedness.
49. And they will set your own crimes upon you, and you will bear the sins of your idols. And you shall know that I am the Lord God.”

## Ezekiel 23 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. Et factus est sermo Domini ad me, dicens:
2. Fili hominis, duæ mulieres filiæ matris unius fuerunt:
3. et fornicatæ sunt in Ægypto, in adolescentia sua fornicatæ sunt: ibi subacta sunt ubera earum, et fractæ sunt mammæ pubertatis earum.
4. Nomina autem earum, Oolla major, et Ooliba soror ejus minor: et habui eas, et pepererunt filios et filias. Porro earum nomina, Samaria Oolla, et Jerusalem Ooliba.
5. Fornicata est igitur super me Oolla, et insanivit in amatores suos, in Assyrios propinquantes,
6. vestitos hyacintho, principes et magistratus, juvenes cupidinis, universos equites, ascensores equorum.
7. Et dedit fornicationes suas super eos electos, filios Assyriorum universos: et in omnibus in quos insanivit, in immunditiis eorum polluta est.
8. Insuper et fornicationes suas, quas habuerat in Ægypto, non reliquit: nam et illi dormierunt cum ea in adolescentia ejus, et illi confregerunt ubera pubertatis ejus, et effuderunt fornicationem suam super eam.
9. Propterea tradidi eam in manus amatorum suorum, in manus filiorum Assur, super quorum insanivit libidine.
10. Ipsi discooperuerunt ignominiam ejus, filios et filias ejus tulerunt, et ipsam occiderunt gladio: et factæ sunt famosæ mulieres, et judicia perpetraverunt in ea.
11. Quod cum vidisset soror ejus Ooliba, plus quam illa insanivit libidine, et fornicationem suam super fornicationem sororis suæ:
12. ad filios Assyriorum præbuit impudenter, ducibus et magistratibus ad se venientibus, indutis veste varia, equitibus qui vectabantur equis, et adolescentibus forma cunctis egregia.
13. Et vidi quod polluta esset via una ambarum.
14. Et auxit fornicationes suas: cumque vidisset viros depictos in pariete, imagines Chaldæorum expressas coloribus,
15. et accinctos balteis renes, et tiaras tinctas in capitibus eorum, formam ducum omnium, similitudinem filiorum Babylonis, terræque Chaldæorum, in qua orti sunt,
16. insanivit super eos concupiscentia oculorum suorum, et misit nuntios ad eos in Chaldæam.
17. Cumque venissent ad eam filii Babylonis ad cubile mammarum, polluerunt eam stupris suis: et polluta est ab eis, et saturata est anima ejus ab illis.
18. Denudavit quoque fornicationes suas, et discooperuit ignominiam suam: et recessit anima mea ab ea, sicut recesserat anima mea a sorore ejus:
19. multiplicavit enim fornicationes suas, recordans dies adolescentiæ suæ, quibus fornicata est in terra Ægypti.
20. Et insanivit libidine super concubitum eorum, quorum carnes sunt ut carnes asinorum, et sicut fluxus equorum fluxus eorum.
21. Et visitasti scelus adolescentiæ tuæ, quando subacta sunt in Ægypto ubera tua, et confractæ sunt mammæ pubertatis tuæ.
22. Propterea, Ooliba, hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Ecce ego suscitabo omnes amatores tuos contra te, de quibus satiata est anima tua, et congregabo eos adversum te in circuitu:
23. filios Babylonis, et universos Chaldæos, nobiles, tyrannosque, et principes, omnes filios Assyriorum, juvenes forma egregia, duces et magistratus universos, principes principum, et nominatos ascensores equorum:
24. et venient super te instructi curru et rota, multitudo populorum: lorica, et clypeo, et galea armabuntur contra te undique: et dabo coram eis judicium, et judicabunt te judiciis suis.
25. Et ponam zelum meum in te, quem exercent tecum in furore: nasum tuum et aures tuas præcident, et quæ remanserint, gladio concident. Ipsi filios tuos et filias tuas capient, et novissimum tuum devorabitur igni:
26. et denudabunt te vestimentis tuis, et tollent vasa gloriæ tuæ.
27. Et requiescere faciam scelus tuum de te, et fornicationem tuam de terra Ægypti: nec levabis oculos tuos ad eos, et Ægypti non recordaberis amplius.
28. Quia hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Ecce ego tradam te in manus eorum quos odisti, in manus de quibus satiata est anima tua.
29. Et agent tecum in odio, et tollent omnes labores tuos, et dimittent te nudam et ignominia plenam: et revelabitur ignominia fornicationum tuarum, scelus tuum, et fornicationes tuæ.
30. Fecerunt hæc tibi, quia fornicata es post gentes inter quas polluta es in idolis earum.
31. In via sororis tuæ ambulasti, et dabo calicem ejus in manu tua.
32. Hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Calicem sororis tuæ bibes profundum et latum: eris in derisum et in subsannationem quæ est capacissima.
33. Ebrietate et dolore repleberis: calice mœroris et tristitiæ, calice sororis tuæ Samariæ.
34. Et bibes illum, et epotabis usque ad fæces: et fragmenta ejus devorabis, et ubera tua lacerabis, quia ego locutus sum, ait Dominus Deus.
35. Propterea hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Quia oblita es mei, et projecisti me post corpus tuum, tu quoque porta scelus tuum et fornicationes tuas.
36. Et ait Dominus ad me, dicens: Fili hominis, numquid judicas Oollam et Oolibam, et annuntias eis scelera earum?
37. Quia adulteratæ sunt, et sanguis in manibus earum, et cum idolis suis fornicatæ sunt: insuper et filios suos quos genuerunt mihi, obtulerunt eis ad devorandum.
38. Sed et hoc fecerunt mihi: polluerunt sanctuarium meum in die illa, et sabbata mea profanaverunt.
39. Cumque immolarent filios suos idolis suis, et ingrederentur sanctuarium meum in die illa ut polluerent illud, etiam hæc fecerunt in medio domus meæ.
40. Miserunt ad viros venientes de longe, ad quos nuntium miserant: itaque ecce venerunt quibus te lavisti, et circumlinisti stibio oculos tuos, et ornata es mundo muliebri.
41. Sedisti in lecto pulcherrimo, et mensa ornata est ante te: thymiama meum et unguentum meum posuisti super eam.
42. Et vox multitudinis exsultantis erat in ea: et in viris, qui de multitudine hominum adducebantur, et veniebant de deserto, posuerunt armillas in manibus eorum, et coronas speciosas in capitibus eorum.
43. Et dixi ei, quæ attrita est in adulteriis: Nunc fornicabitur in fornicatione sua etiam hæc.
44. Et ingressi sunt ad eam quasi ad mulierem meretricem: sic ingrediebantur ad Oollam et Oolibam, mulieres nefarias.
45. Viri ergo justi sunt: hi judicabunt eas judicio adulterarum, et judicio effundentium sanguinem: quia adulteræ sunt, et sanguis in manibus earum.
46. Hæc enim dicit Dominus Deus: Adduc ad eas multitudinem, et trade eas in tumultum et in rapinam.
47. Et lapidentur lapidibus populorum, et confodiantur gladiis eorum: filios et filias earum interficient, et domos earum igne succendent.
48. Et auferam scelus de terra, et discent omnes mulieres ne faciant secundum scelus earum.
49. Et dabunt scelus vestrum super vos, et peccata idolorum vestrorum portabitis: et scietis quia ego Dominus Deus.

## Catechism of the Catholic Church

Paragraph numbers and the Catechism's own section headings (never quoted); text at vatican.va.
- CCC ¶ 1611: Marriage in God's Plan ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))

## Bishop Challoner's notes

Bp. Richard Challoner, notes on the Douay-Rheims (1750); they comment on its older wording.
- Verse 3: “Committed fornication” … That is, idolatry.
- Verse 4: God calls the kingdom of Israel Oolla, which signifies their own habitation, because they separated themselves from his temple: and the kingdom of Juda, Ooliba, which signifies his habitation in her, because of his temple among them in Jerusalem.
- Verse 5: That is, the idols of the Assyrians: for all that is said in this chapter of the fornications of Israel and Juda, is to be understood in a spiritual sense, of their disloyalty to the Lord, by worshipping strange gods.

Source: Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain; Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592).