XXI. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, aset thy face toward Jerusalem, and adrop thy word toward the holy places, and aprophesy against the land of Israel, 3 and say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of bhis sheath, and cwill cut off from thee dthe righteous and the wicked. 4 Seeing then that cI will cut off from thee dthe righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of bhis sheath against all flesh efrom the south to the north: 5 that all flesh may know that I the Lord have drawn forth my sword out of bhis sheath: fit shall not return any more. 6 Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins; and with bitterness sigh ffbefore their eyes. 7 And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore sighest thou? that thou shalt answer, For the tidings; because it cometh: and gevery heart shall melt, and hall hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and hall knees * shall be weak as water: hhbehold, it cometh, and shall be brought to pass, saith the Lord God.

8 Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 9 Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the Lord; Say, iA sword, a sword jis sharpened, and also kfurbished: 10 jit is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; kit is furbished that it may ilglitter: should mwe then make mirth? * it contemneth nthe rod of nomy son, as every tree. 11 And he hath given it kto be furbished, that it may be handled: jthis sword is sharpened, and kit is furbished, to give it into the hand of pthe slayer. 12 Cry and howl, son of man: for it shall be upon my people, it shall be upon all the princes of Israel: * terrors by reason of the sword shall be upon my people: qsmite therefore upon thy thigh. 13 * Because it is a trial, and rwhat if the sword contemn even the rod? it sshall be no more, saith the Lord God. 14 Thou therefore, son of man, prophesy, and qtsmite thine * hands together, and let the sword be doubled uthe third time, the sword of the slain: it is the sword of the great men that are slain, vwhich entereth into their privy chambers. 15 I have set the * point of the sword against all their gates, that their heart may faint, and their wruins be multiplied: ah, it is made lbright, it is * wrapt up for the slaughter. 16 xGo thee one way or other, either on the right hand, * or on the left, ywhithersoever thy face is set. 17 I will also qtsmite mine hands together, and zI will cause my fury to rest: zzI the Lord have said it.

18 The word of the Lord came unto me again, saying, 19 Also, thou son of man, appoint thee two ways, that the sword of athe king of Babylon may come: both twain shall come forth out of one land: and bchoose thou ca place, bchoose it, dat the head of the way to the city. 20 Appoint a way, that ethe sword may come to efRabbath of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the defenced. 21 For the king of Babylon stood at gthe * parting of the way, dat the head of the two ways, hto use divination: he imade his * arrows bright, he consulted with * images, he looked in the liver. 22 At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to appoint * * captains, to open the mouth lin the slaughter, mto lift up the voice with shouting, kto appoint battering rams against the gates, kto cast a mount, and kto build a fort. 23 And it shall be unto them as a false divination in their sight, * nto them that have sworn oaths: but he will call to remembrance the iniquity, othat they may be taken. 24 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are discovered, so that in all your doings your sins do appear; because, I say, that ye are come to remembrance, oye shall be taken with the hand.

25 And thou, pprofane qwicked prince of Israel, rwhose day is come, rrwhen iniquity shall have an end, 26 thus saith the Lord God; Remove sthe diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: texalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. 27 * I will overturn, overturn, overturn it: and uit shall be no more, vuntil he come whose right it is; and wI will give it him.

28 And thou, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord God xconcerning the Ammonites, and xconcerning their reproach; even say thou, yThe sword, the sword is yydrawn: for the slaughter it is yfurbished, to consume because of the yglittering: 29 whiles zthey see vanity unto thee, whiles zthey divine a lie unto thee, to bring thee upon the necks of them that are slain of the wicked, rwhose day is come, rrwhen their iniquity shall have an end. 30 * Shall I cause it to return into ahis sheath? bI will judge thee in the place where thou wast created, in the land of cthy nativity. 31 And dI will pour out mine indignation upon thee, eI will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of * fbrutish men, and skilful to destroy. 32 Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire; thy blood shall be in the midst of the land; gthou shalt be no more remembered: zzfor I the Lord have spoken it.