Ezekiel, Chapter 21

1. And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,    2. Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and drop your word 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 his 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 his 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 his sheath: it shall not return any more.    6. Sigh therefore, you son of man, with the breaking of your loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes.    7. And it shall be, when they say unto you, Wherefore sigh you? 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 unto me, saying,    9. Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the LORD; Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished:    10. It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; it is furbished that it may glitter: should we then make delight? it despises the rod of my son, as every tree.    11. And he has given it to be furbished, that it may be handled: this sword is sharpened, and it is furbished, to give it into the hand of the slayer.    12. Cry and wail, 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: strike therefore upon your thigh.    13. Because it is a trial, and what if the sword contemn even the rod? it shall be no more, says the Lord GOD.    14. You therefore, son of man, prophesy, and strike yours hands together. and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain: it is the sword of the great men that are slain, which enters into their privy 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 you one way or other, either on the right hand, or on the left, anywhere your face is set.    17. I will also strike mine hands together, and I will cause my fury to rest: I the LORD have said it.    18. The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,    19. Also, you son of man, appoint you two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come: both two shall come forth out of one land: and choose you 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 defenced.    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 cast a mount, and to build a fort.    23. And it shall be unto them as a false divination in their sight, to them that have sworn oaths: but he will call to remembrance the iniquity, that they may be taken.    24. Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Because all of you 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 all of you are come to remembrance, all of you shall be taken with the hand.    25. And you, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day has 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 that is low, and bring low him that 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 him.    28. And you, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord GOD concerning the Ammonites, and concerning their reproach; even say you, The sword, the sword is drawn: for the slaughter it is furbished, to consume because of the glittering:    29. While they see vanity unto you, while they divine a lie unto you, to bring you upon the necks of them that are slain, of the wicked, whose day has come, when their iniquity shall have an end.    30. Shall I cause it to return into his sheath? I will judge you in the place where you were created, in the land of your nativity.    31. And I will pour out mine indignation upon you, I will blow against you in the fire of my wrath, and deliver you into the hand of brutish men, 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.