Ezekiel 21

VIN(i) 1 The word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and preach toward the sanctuaries, and prophesy against the land of Israel. 3 And say to the land of Israel, So says the LORD: Behold, I am against you and will draw out My sword from its sheath, and I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked. 4 Because I cut off from you the just and the wicked, so my sword comes from its sheath against all flesh from the south to the north: 5 '"Then everyone will know that I, the LORD, have taken my sword from its sheath, and I will not put it back again."' 6 “Therefore sigh, you son of man. You shall sigh before their eyes with a broken heart and with bitterness. 7 It shall be, when they tell you, 'Why do you sigh?' that you shall say, Because of the news, for it is coming. Every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, every spirit shall faint and all knees shall be weak as water. It is coming, and it shall be done, says the Sovereign LORD. 8 The word of the LORD came to me, saying, 9 "Son of man, prophecy and say, 'this is what the LORD says: "A sword, a sword is sharpened and also polished! 10 '"'It is sharpened to make a slaughter and polished to flash like lightning! Shall we rejoice in the rod of my son despising every tree?'"'" 11 '"The sword was given to be polished, that it might be handled. The sword is sharpened and polished, to give it into the hand of the slayer. 12 Cry and wail, son of man, for it is against my people; it is against all of the princes of Israel. They are thrown to the sword with my people; therefore strike your thigh. 13 '"For there is testing. And what if even the rod that despises will be no more?" Declares the Sovereign LORD. 14 You therefore, son of man, prophesy, and strike your hands together, and let the sword strike twice, even the third time, the sword of the slain: it is the sword of the great men that are slain, which enters into their private chambers. 15 so that a heart melts, and the fallen multiply at all of their gates. I gave a sword for slaughter, and alas! It is made for flashing, it is grasped for slaughtering. 16 Be pointed to the right, to the left, wherever your edge is ordered. 17 I will also strike my hands together, and I will cause my wrath to rest: I, the LORD, have spoken it." 18 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 19 "And you, son of man, mark out for yourself two roads for the coming of the sword of the king of Babylon; they must both go out from the same land. And hew out a signpost; hew it at the head of the road of the city. 20 You shall set a way that the sword may enter into Rabbah of the Ammonites, and into Judah, into fortified Jerusalem. 21 For the king of Babylon stands at the fork of the road at the head of the two roads to practice divination. He shakes the arrows, he inquires with the teraphim, he examines the liver. 22 In his right hand is the divination for Jerusalem, to put up battering rams, to open a mouth for slaughter, to raise the battle cry, to put up battering rams against gates, to build a siege ramp, to build siege works. 23 It will be to them as a false divination in their sight, who have sworn oaths to them; but he brings iniquity to memory, that they may be taken. 24 "This is what the Sovereign LORD says: 'People remember how sinful you are because you openly do wrong. You show your sins in everything you do. Because of this you will be taken captive. 25 And as for you, profane one, wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come with the time of the punishment of the end, 26 Thus sayeth the LORD God: Take away the mitre, and put off the crown, and so is it away: the humble is exalted, and the proud brought low. 27 (21:32) A ruin, a ruin, a ruin, will I make it; this also shall be no more, until he come whose right it is, and I will give it him. 28 And thou son of man, prophesy and say, Thus said the Sovereign LORD to the sons of Ammon, and for their reproach; and say, The sword, the sword was loosed: for slaughter it was polished, to consume for sake of the lightning: 29 while they see for you false visions, while they divine lies to you, to lay you on the necks of the wicked who are deadly wounded, whose day has come in the time of the iniquity of the end. 30 Return it to its sheath. In the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you. 31 "You will feel my anger when I turn it loose on you like a blazing fire. And I will hand you over to brutal men, experts at destruction. 32 You will be for fuel to the fire. Your blood will be in the middle of the land. You will be remembered no more; for I, the LORD, have spoken it.”'”