Ezekiel 20:45–21:32

⁴⁵¹Now the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

⁴⁶“Son of man, set your face toward ¹Teman and speak, dripping out words, against the ^asouth and ^bprophesy against the ^cforest ²land of the Negev

⁴⁷and say to the forest of the Negev, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh: thus says Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I am about to ^akindle a fire in you, and it will consume every ¹green tree in you, as well as every dry tree; the blazing flame will not be quenched, and ^2bthe whole surface from south to north will be scorched by it.

⁴⁸“And all flesh will see that I, Yahweh, have made it burn; it shall ^anot be quenched.” ’ ”

⁴⁹Then I said, “Ah Lord Yahweh! They are saying of me, ‘Is he not just speaking ^aparables?’”

CHAPTER 21

The Prophecy of Yahweh’s Sword

¹¹And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

²“Son of man, ^aset your face toward Jerusalem and ^bspeak, dripping out words against the sanctuaries and prophesy against the land of Israel

³and say to the land of Israel, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Behold, ^aI am against you; and I will bring out My sword from its sheath and cut off from you the ^brighteous and the wicked.

⁴“Because I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore My sword will go out from its sheath against ^aall flesh from south to north.

⁵“Thus all flesh will know that I, Yahweh, have brought out My sword from its sheath. It will ^anot return to its sheath again.” ’

⁶“Now as for you, son of man, groan with breaking ¹heart and bitter grief, groan in their sight.

⁷“And it will be that when they say to you, ‘Why do you groan?’ you shall say, ‘Because of the ^areport that is coming; and ^bevery heart will melt, all hands will fall limp, every spirit will ¹faint, and all knees will ²be weak as water. Behold, it is coming, and it will happen,’ declares Lord Yahweh.”

⁸Again the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

⁹“Son of man, prophesy and say, ‘Thus says ¹the Lord.’ Say,

‘^aA sword, a sword sharpened

And also polished!

¹⁰‘Sharpened to make a ^aslaughter,

Polished ¹to flash like lightning!’

Or shall we ²rejoice in the ³scepter of My son? The sword ^bdespises every tree.

¹¹“It is given to be polished, that it may be seized by the ¹hand; the sword is sharpened and polished, to give it into the hand of the one who kills.

¹²“^aCry out and wail, son of man; for it is against My people; it is against all the ^bprinces of Israel. They are delivered over to the sword with My people; therefore slap your thigh.

¹³“For there is a testing; and what if even the ¹scepter ²which the sword despises will be no more?” declares Lord Yahweh.

¹⁴“You therefore, son of man, prophesy and strike your hands together; and let the sword be ^adoubled the third time, the sword for the slain. It is the sword for the great one slain, which surrounds them,

¹⁵that their ^ahearts may melt, and many will be ^bstumbling blocks at all their ^cgates. I have given the glittering sword. Ah! It is made for striking like lightning, it is wrapped up in readiness for slaughter.

¹⁶“¹Show yourself sharp, go to the right; set yourself; go to the left, wherever your ²edge is appointed.

¹⁷“And I will also strike My hands together, and I will ^1acause My wrath to be at rest; I, Yahweh, have spoken.”

A Sword for Slaughter

¹⁸And the word of Yahweh came to me saying,

¹⁹“Now as for you, son of man, ^1amake two ways for the sword of the king of Babylon to come; both of them will go out of one land. And ²make a signpost; ³make it at the head of the way to the city.

²⁰“You shall ¹mark a way for the sword to come to ^aRabbah of the sons of Ammon and to Judah into ^bfortified Jerusalem.

²¹“For the king of Babylon stands at the ¹parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use ^adivination; he ^bshakes the arrows; he asks the ^2chousehold idols; he looks at the liver.

²²“Into his right hand came the divination, ‘Jerusalem,’ to ^aset battering rams, to open the mouth ¹for killing, to lift up the voice with a shout of war, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up ramps, to build a siege wall.

²³“And it will be to them like a worthless divination in their eyes; ^athey have sworn solemn oaths. But he ^bbrings iniquity to remembrance, that they may be seized.

²⁴“Therefore, thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Because you have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your deeds your sins appear—because you have come to remembrance, you will be seized with the hand.

²⁵‘And you, O slain, wicked one, the prince of Israel, whose ^aday has come, in the time of the iniquity of the end,’

²⁶thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Remove the turban and take off the ^acrown; this will ¹no longer be the same. ^bMake high that which is low and make low that which is high.

²⁷‘^aA ruin, a ruin, a ruin, I will make it. This also will be no more until ^bHe comes to whom the legal judgment belongs, and I will give it to Him.’

²⁸“Now as for you, son of man, prophesy and say, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh concerning the sons of Ammon and concerning their ^areproach,’ and say: ‘A sword, a sword is drawn, polished for the slaughter, to cause it ¹to ^bconsume, that it may be like lightning—

²⁹while they behold for you ^aworthless visions, while they divine lies for you—to place you on the necks of the wicked who are slain, whose day has come, in the ^btime of the iniquity of the end.

³⁰‘^aReturn it to its sheath. In the ^bplace where you were created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you.

³¹‘And I will ^apour out My indignation on you; I will ^bblow on you with the fire of My fury, and I will give you into the hand of brutal men, ^ccraftsmen of destruction.

³²‘You will be ^1afuel for the fire; your blood will be in the midst of the land. You will ^bnot be remembered, for I, Yahweh, have spoken.’”