Ezekiel 21
1WHEREUPON a word of the Lord came to me saying,
2Therefore prophesy, son of man, set thy face against Jerusalem, and look towards their holy things, and thou shalt prophesy against the land of Israel
3and thou shalt say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the Lord: Behold I am against thee and I will draw My sword out of its sheath, and root out of thee the lawless and unjust.
4Because I will root out of thee the lawless and unjust; therefore My sword shall come forth out of its sheath against all flesh from south to north.
5And all flesh shall know, that I the Lord have drawn My sword out of its sheath. It shall not return any more.
6Therefore, son of man, heave thou convulsive groans, and sigh sorrowfully before their eyes.
7And if they say to thee, Why art thou groaning? Then thou shalt say, Because of the news: for it is coming; and every heart shall be broken, and all hands enfeebled; and all flesh and every spirit shall faint; and all thighs shall be polluted with filth. Behold it is coming! saith the Lord.
8Then a word of the Lord came to me, saying,
9Son of man, prophesy; and thou shalt say, Thus saith the Lord: Say, 0 sword, sword be sharp, and full of fury that thou mayst slaughter;
10be sharpened that thou mayst glisten; being prepared for destruction, slay! set at naught; fell every tree.
11He hath now made it ready for His hand to grasp it. The sword is sharpened. It is ready to be put into the hand of the slayer.
12Scream, son of man, and raise the mournful cry; for it is come among My people; it is among all the leaders of Israel. They shall dwell near the sword. It is among My people. Therefore give it a clap of applause with thy hand.
13Because its cause is just, what then? Must the tribe be cast off? That shall not be the case saith the Lord God.
14But, thou son of man, prophesy and clap thy hands and redouble the sword. It is the third sword of the slain, the great sword of slaughter. Therefore thou shalt strike them with terror.
15See that thy heart be not broken, though the fainthearted be multiplied at every gate. They are delivered up to the slaughter of the sword. It is well made for slaughter. I t is well made to glitter.
16Therefore pass through. Be sharp on the right and on the left; which way soever thy face may be raised up.
17And as for Me I will clap My hands and give vent to My wrath. I, the Lord, have spoken.
18Then a word of the Lord came to me, saying,
19And thou son of man, sketch out for thyself two ways for the sword of the king of Babylon to enter. From one and the same country let them both come; and let there be a hand at the head of the way to the city.
20At the head of that way thou shalt set it up for the sword to enter against Rabbath of the Ammonites, and against Judea and against Jerusalem in the midst of it.
21For the king of Babylon will halt on the old road—at the head of the two roads, to consult an oracle, to divine with an arrow and inquire by graven images and inspect a liver.
22The oracle against Jerusalem is favourable to throw up a rampart, to open his mouth with a war cry; to raise his voice with shouting, to cast up a rampart against her gates, to raise a mound and build towers for his engines.
23Now this man is to them as one consulting an oracle, while causing his usurpation to be remembered.
24Therefore thus saith the Lord, Because you have brought your iniquities into remembrance by disclosing your impieties, that your sins may be seen by all your acts of impiety and by your subterfuges—because you have brought them into remembrance, for them you shall be taken.
25And as for thee, thou profane wicked ruler of Israel, whose day is coming at the appointed season, there is an end to thy usurpation.
26Thus saith the Lord: Thou hast pulled off the coronet, and put on the imperial diadem. It shall not be such. Thou hast debased what was high and exalted what was low.
27As usurpation, usurpation, usurpation, I will expose it; alas for it! Such it shall be till he come, to whom it of right belongeth; and I will give it to him.
28Now as for thee, son of man, prophesy and thou shalt say, Thus saith the Lord, with regard to the Ammonites and their reproach even thus thou shalt say: O sword, sword, drawn for slaughter, and drawn for destruction, be lifted up that thou mayst glisten.
29By the vain vision and false prophesying concerning thee, the day came at the appointed season, for turning thee on the necks of wounded transgressors.
30There is an end of usurpation; turn back; tarry not. In the place where thou wast born, in thine own land I will judge thee.
31And I will pour out My wrath upon thee; and with the fire of Mine indignation blow upon thee, and deliver thee into the hands of barbarous men skilled in destruction.
32Thou shalt be fuel for fire and thy blood shall be in the midst of thy land. There shall no more be any remembrance of thee. I the Lord have spoken.