Ezekiel 21:1–22:31
Parable of the Sword of the Lord
1 1And the word of the Lord came to me saying,
2 “Son of man, aset your face toward Jerusalem, and 1bspeak against the sanctuaries and prophesy against the land of Israel;
3 and say to the land of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, aI am against you; and I will draw My sword out of 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 forth from its sheath against aall flesh from south to north.
5 “Thus all flesh will know that I, the Lord, have drawn My sword out of its sheath. It will anot return to its sheath again.” ’
6 “As for you, son of man, groan with breaking 1heart and bitter grief, groan in their sight.
7 “And when they say to you, ‘Why do you groan?’ you shall say, ‘Because of the anews that is coming; and bevery heart will melt, all hands will be feeble, every spirit will 1faint and all knees will 2be weak as water. Behold, it comes and it will happen,’ declares the Lord 3God.”
8 Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
9 “Son of man, prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord.’ Say,
‘aA sword, a sword sharpened
And also polished!
10 ‘Sharpened to make a aslaughter,
Polished 1to flash like lightning!’
Or shall we rejoice, the 2rod of My son bdespising every tree?
11 “It is given to be polished, that it may be handled; the sword is sharpened and polished, to give it into the hand of the slayer.
12 “aCry out and wail, son of man; for it is against My people, it is against all the bofficials of Israel. They are delivered over to the sword with My people, therefore strike your thigh.
13 “For there is a testing; and what if even the 1rod which despises will be no more?” declares the Lord God.
14 “You therefore, son of man, prophesy and clap 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,
15 that their ahearts may melt, and many bfall 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 “I will also clap My hands together, and I will 1aappease My wrath; I, the Lord, have spoken.”
The Instrument of God’s Judgment
18 The word of the Lord came to me saying,
19 “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 consults 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 slaughter, to lift up the voice with a battle cry, 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 false divination in their eyes; athey have sworn solemn oaths. But he bbrings iniquity to remembrance, that they may be seized.
24 “Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘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 1punishment of the end,’
26 thus says the Lord God, ‘Remove the turban and take off the acrown; this will 1no longer be the same. bExalt that which is low and abase that which is high.
27 ‘aA ruin, a ruin, a ruin, I will make it. This also will be no more until bHe comes whose right it is, and I will give it to Him.’
28 “And you, son of man, prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God 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—
29 while they see for you afalse 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 1punishment 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 ‘I will apour out My indignation on you; I will bblow on you with the fire of My wrath, and I will give you into the hand of brutal men, 1cskilled in 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, the Lord, have spoken.’ ”
1 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2 “And you, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Then cause her to know all her abominations.
3 “You shall say, ‘Thus says the Lord 1God, “A city ashedding blood in her midst, so that her time will come, and that makes idols, contrary to her interest, for defilement!
4 “You have become aguilty by 1the blood which you have shed, and defiled by your idols which you have made. Thus you have brought your 2day near and have come to your years; therefore I have made you a breproach to the nations and a mocking to all the lands.
5 “Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you, you of ill repute, full of aturmoil.
6 “Behold, the arulers of Israel, each according to his 1power, have been in you for the purpose of shedding blood.
7 “They have atreated father and mother lightly within you. The balien they have oppressed in your midst; the cfatherless and the widow they have wronged in you.
8 “You have adespised My holy things and bprofaned My sabbaths.
9 “Slanderous men have been in you for the purpose of shedding blood, and in you they have eaten at the mountain shrines. In your midst they have acommitted acts of lewdness.
10 “In you 1they have auncovered their fathers’ nakedness; in you they have humbled her who was bunclean in her menstrual impurity.
11 “One has committed abomination with his aneighbor’s wife and another has lewdly defiled his bdaughter-in-law. And another in you has chumbled his sister, his father’s daughter.
12 “In you they have ataken bribes to shed blood; you have taken binterest and profits, and you have injured your neighbors for gain by coppression, and you have dforgotten Me,” declares the Lord God.
13 “Behold, then, I smite My hand at your adishonest gain which you have acquired and at 1the bloodshed which is among you.
14 “Can ayour heart endure, or can your hands be strong in the days that I will deal with you? bI, the Lord, have spoken and will act.
15 “I will ascatter you among the nations and I will disperse you through the lands, and I will bconsume your uncleanness from you.
16 “You will profane yourself in the sight of the nations, and you will aknow that I am the Lord.” ’ ”
17 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
18 “Son of man, the house of Israel has become adross to Me; all of them are bbronze and tin and iron and lead in the cfurnace; they are the dross of silver.
19 “Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Because all of you have become dross, therefore, behold, I am going to gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.
20 ‘As they gather silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into the afurnace to blow fire on it in order to melt it, so I will gather you in My anger and in My wrath and I will lay you there and melt you.
21 ‘I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted in the midst of it.
22 ‘As silver is melted in the furnace, so you will be melted in the midst of it; and you will know that I, the Lord, have apoured out My wrath on you.’ ”
23 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
24 “Son of man, say to her, ‘You are a land that is anot cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation.’
25 “There is a aconspiracy of her prophets in her midst like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have bdevoured lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many cwidows in the midst of her.
26 “Her apriests have done violence to My law and have bprofaned My holy things; they have made no cdistinction between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the dunclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
27 “Her princes within her are like wolves tearing the prey, by shedding blood and adestroying lives in order to get bdishonest gain.
28 “Her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, seeing afalse visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord has not spoken.
29 “The people of the land have practiced aoppression and committed robbery, and they have wronged the poor and needy and have boppressed the sojourner without justice.
30 “I asearched for a man among them who would bbuild up the wall and cstand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found 1no one.
31 “Thus I have poured out My aindignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; btheir way I have brought upon their heads,” declares the Lord God.