Ezekiel 21
1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2 Son of man, let your face be turned to Jerusalem, let your words be dropped in the direction of her holy place, and be a prophet against the land of Israel;
Therefore prophesy, son of man, set your face steadfastly toward Jerusalem, and look toward their holy places, and you shall prophesy against the land of Israel,
3 And say to the land of Israel, These are the words of the Lord: See, I am against you, and I will take my sword out of its cover, cutting off from you the upright and the evil.
and you shall say to the land of Israel, Thus says the Lord; Behold, I am against you, and I will draw forth my sword out of its sheath, and I will destroy out of you the transgressor and unrighteous.
4 Because I am going to have the upright and the evil cut off from you, for this cause my sword will go out from its cover against all flesh from the south to the north:
Because I will destroy out of you the unrighteous and the transgressor, [therefore] so shall my sword come forth out of its sheath against all flesh from the south to the north:
5 And all flesh will see that I the Lord have taken my sword out of its cover: and it will never go back.
and all flesh shall know that I the Lord have drawn forth my sword out of its sheath: it shall not return any more.
6 Make sounds of grief, son of man; with body bent and a bitter heart make sounds of grief before their eyes.
And you, son of man, groan with the breaking of your loins; you shall even groan heavily in their sight.
7 And when they say to you, Why are you making sounds of grief? then say, Because of the news, for it is coming: and every heart will become soft, and all hands will be feeble, and every spirit will be burning low, and all knees will be turned to water: see, it is coming and it will be done, says the Lord.
And it shall come to pass, if they shall say to you, Therefore do you groan? that you shall say, For the report; because it comes: and every heart shall break, and all hands shall become feeble, and all flesh and every spirit shall faint, and all thighs shall be defiled with moisture: behold, it comes, says the Lord.
8 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
9 Son of man, say as a prophet, These are the words of the Lord: Say, A sword, a sword which has been made sharp and polished:
Son of man, prophesy, and you shall say, Thus says the Lord; Say, Sword, sword, be sharpened and rage,
10 It has been made sharp to give death; it is polished so that it may be like a thunder-flame: ...
that you may kill victims; be sharpened that you may be bright, ready for slaughter, kill, set at nothing, despise every tree.
11 And I have given it to the polisher so that it may be taken in the hand: he has made the sword sharp, he has had it polished, to put it into the hand of him who gives death.
And he made it ready for his hand to hold: the sword is sharpened, it is ready to put into the hand of the slayer.
12 Give loud cries and make sounds of grief, O son of man: for it has come on my people, it has come on all the rulers of Israel: fear of the sword has come on my people: for this cause give signs of grief.
Cry out and howl, son of man: for this [sword] is come upon my people, this [sword is come] upon all the princes of Israel: they shall be as strangers: [judgment] with the sword is come upon my people: therefore clap your hands, for sentence has been passed:
and what if even the tribe be rejected? it shall not be, says the Lord God.
14 So then, son of man, be a prophet, and put your hands together with a loud sound, and give two blows with the sword, and even three; it is the sword of those who are wounded, even the sword of the wounded; the great sword which goes round about them.
And you, son of man, prophesy, and clap your hands, and take a second sword: the third sword is [the sword] of the slain, the great sword of the slain: and you shall strike them with amazement, lest the heart should faint
15 In order that hearts may become soft, and the number of those who are falling may be increased, I have sent death by the sword against all their doors: you are made like a flame, you are polished for death.
and the weak ones be multiplied at every gate—they are given up to the slaughter of the sword: it is well fitted for slaughter, it is well fitted for glittering.
16 Be pointed to the right, to the left, wherever your edge is ordered.
And do you go on, sharpen yourself on the right and on the left wherever your face may set itself.
17 And I will put my hands together with a loud sound, and I will let my wrath have rest: I the Lord have said it.
And I also will clap my hands, and let loose my fury: I the Lord have spoken [it].
18 And the word of the Lord came to me again, saying,
And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
19 And you, son of man, have two ways marked out, so that the sword of the king of Babylon may come; let the two of them come out of one land: and let there be a pillar at the top of the road:
and you, son of man, appoint you two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may enter in: the two shall go forth of one country; and [there shall be] a force at the top of the way of the city, you shall set [it] at the top of the way,
20 Put a pillar at the top of the road for the sword to come to Rabbah in the land of the children of Ammon, and to Judah and to Jerusalem in the middle of her.
that the sword may enter in upon Rabbath of the children of Ammon, and upon Judea, and upon Jerusalem in the midst thereof.
21 For the king of Babylon took his place at the parting of the ways, at the top of the two roads, to make use of secret arts: shaking the arrows this way and that, he put questions to the images of his gods, he took note of the inner parts of dead beasts.
For the king of Babylon shall stand on the old way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination, to make bright the arrow, and to enquire of the graven images, and to examine [the victims].
22 At his right hand was the fate of Jerusalem, to give orders for destruction, to send up the war-cry, to put engines of war against the doors, lifting up earthworks, building walls.
On his right was the divination against Jerusalem, to cast a mound, to open the mouth in shouting, to lift up the voice with crying, to cast a mound against her gates, to cast up a heap, and to build forts.
23 And this answer given by secret arts will seem false to those who have given their oaths and have let them be broken: but he will keep the memory of evil-doing so that they may be taken.
And he was to them as one using divination before them, and he himself recounting his iniquities, that they might be borne in mind.
24 For this cause the Lord has said: Because you have made your evil-doing come to mind by the uncovering of your wrongdoing, causing your sins to be seen in all your evil-doings; because you have come to mind, you will be taken in them.
Therefore thus says the Lord, Because you have caused your iniquities to be remembered, in the discovery of your wickedness, so that your sins should be seen, in all your wickedness and in your [evil] practices; because you have caused remembrance [of them], in these shall you be taken.
25 And you, O evil one, wounded to death, O ruler of Israel, whose day has come in the time of the last punishment;
And you profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day, [even] an end, is come in a sea of iniquity, thus says the Lord;
26 This is what the Lord has said: Take away the holy head-dress, take off the crown: this will not be again: let that which is low be lifted up, and that which is high be made low.
You have taken off the mitre and put on the crown, it shall not have such [another] after it: you have abased that which was high, and exalted that which was low.
27 I will let it be overturned, overturned, overturned: this will not be again till he comes whose right it is; and I will give it to him.
Injustice, injustice, injustice, will I make it: woe to it: such shall it be until he comes to whom it belongs; and I will deliver [it] to him.
28 And you, son of man, say as a prophet, This is what the Lord has said about the children of Ammon and about their shame: Say, A sword, even a sword let loose, polished for death, to make it shining so that it may be like a flame:
And you, son of man, prophesy, and you shall say, Thus says the Lord, concerning the children of Ammon, and concerning their reproach; and you shall say, O sword, sword, drawn for slaughter, and drawn for destruction, awake, that you may gleam.
29 Your vision is to no purpose, your use of secret arts gives a false answer, to put it on the necks of evil-doers who are wounded to death, whose day has come, in the time of the last punishment.
While you are seeing vain [visions], and while you are prophesying falsehoods, to bring yourself upon the necks of ungodly transgressors, the day is come, [even] an end, in a season of iniquity.
30 Go back into your cover. In the place where you were made, in the land from which you were taken, I will be your judge.
Turn, rest not in this place wherein you were born: in your own land will I judge you.
31 And I will let loose my burning passion on you, breathing out on you the fire of my wrath: and I will give you up into the hands of men like beasts, trained to destruction.
And I will pour out my wrath upon you, I will blow upon you with the fire of my wrath, and I will deliver you into the hands of barbarians skilled in working destruction.
32 You will be food for the fire; your blood will be drained out in the land; there will be no more memory of you: for I the Lord have said it.
You shall be fuel for fire; your blood shall be in the midst of your land; there shall be no remembrance at all of you: for I the Lord have spoken [it].
