Ezekiel, Chapter 21

1. And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,    2. Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and let your word drop toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel,    3. And say to the land of Israel, Thus says the LORD; Behold, I am against you, and will draw forth my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked.    4. Seeing then that I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of its sheath against all flesh from the south to the north:    5. That all flesh may know that I the LORD have drawn forth my sword out of its sheath: it shall not return any more.    6. Sigh therefore, you son of man, with the anguish of your loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes.    7. And it shall be, when they say to you, Why do you sigh? that you shall answer, For the tidings; because it comes: and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it comes, and shall be brought to pass, says the Lord GOD.    8. Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,    9. Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the LORD; Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also polished:    10. It is sharpened to make a great slaughter; it is polished that it may glitter: should we then be glad? it despises the rod of my son, as it does every tree.    11. And he has given it to be polished, that it may be handled: this sword is sharpened, and it is polished, to give it into the hand of the 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 because of the sword shall be upon my people: strike therefore upon your thigh.    13. Because it is a trial, and what if the sword despises even the rod? it shall be no more, says the Lord GOD.    14. You therefore, son of man, prophesy, and strike your hands together, and let the sword be repeated 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. I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, that their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied: ah! it is made bright, it is wrapped up for the slaughter.    16. Go one way or the other, either on the right hand, or on the left, wherever your face is set.    17. I will also strike my hands together, and I will cause my fury to rest: I the LORD have said it.    18. The word of the LORD came to me again, saying,    19. Also, you son of man, appoint two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come: both of them shall come forth out of one land: and choose a place, choose it at the head of the way to the city.    20. Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rabbath of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the defense.    21. For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he made 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 in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to appoint battering rams against the gates, to build up a mound, and to build a fort.    23. And it shall be to them as a false divination in their sight, to those who have sworn oaths: but he will call to remembrance the iniquity, that they may be taken.    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 doings your sins do appear; because, I say, that you have come to remembrance, you shall be taken with the hand.    25. And you, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end,    26. Thus says the Lord GOD; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him who is low, and abase him who is high.    27. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he 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 Ammonites, and concerning their reproach; even say, The sword, the sword is drawn: for the slaughter it is polished, to consume because of the glittering:    29. While they see vanity for you, while they divine a lie for you, to bring you upon the necks of those who are slain, of the wicked, whose day has come, when their iniquity shall have an end.    30. Shall I cause it to return into its sheath? I will judge you in the place where you were created, in the land of your nativity.    31. And I will pour out my indignation upon you, I will blow against you in the fire of my wrath, and deliver you into the hand of men like beasts, and skilful to destroy.    32. You shall be for fuel to the fire; your blood shall be in the midst of the land; you shall be no more remembered: for I the LORD have spoken it.