“Son of man, there were two women who were daughters of the same mother.

“‘Observe – everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb about you: “Like mother, like daughter.”

You are the daughter of your mother, who detested her husband and her sons, and you are the sister of your sisters who detested their husbands and their sons. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.

and say: “‘What a lioness was your mother among the lions! She lay among young lions; ¹  she reared her cubs.

“‘Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, ¹  planted by water. It was fruitful and full of branches because it was well-watered.

They have treated father and mother with contempt ¹  within you; they have oppressed the foreigner among you; they have wronged the orphan and the widow ²  within you.

“‘They must not come near a dead person or they will be defiled; ¹  however, for father, mother, son, daughter, brother or sister, they may defile themselves.

and say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.

They have sex with their father’s wife within you; ¹  they violate women during their menstrual period within you. ² 

She reared one of her cubs; he became a young lion. He learned to tear prey; he devoured people. ¹ 

“‘When she realized that she waited in vain, her hope was lost. She took another of her cubs ¹  and made him a young lion.

For the king of Babylon stands at the fork ¹  in the road at the head of the two routes. He looks for omens: ²  He shakes arrows, he consults idols, ³  he examines ⁴  animal livers. ⁵