[8][a] Ezekiel 23's metaphor of Israel and Judah as sisters married to God has attracted the attention of feminist scholars.

In Ezekiel 16, a text with some similarities but important differences as well, the metaphorical woman belongs to God from puberty, with her sexual offenses occurring only later.

[14] God punishes her relations with Assyria by giving her over to Assyrian control: they strip her naked, take her children, and kill her (9-10).

Knowing about her sister's punishment but disregarding it, Oholibah (Jerusalem, the capital city of the Southern Kingdom) continues her "whoring" [16] with the Assyrians, and then with Babylonians as well (11-17).

As a result, God proclaims that he will send Babylonian soldiers to conquer Oholibah, to disfigure her, take her children, and burn her people (22-35).