Ezekiel 21
21
The sword
1 # 21.1 21:6 in Heb The LORD’s word came to me: 2Human one, face Jerusalem, preach against their sanctuary, and prophesy against Israel’s fertile land. 3Say to Israel’s fertile land, The LORD proclaims: I’m now against you! I will draw my sword from its sheath and cut off both the righteous and the wicked from you. 4In order to cut off the righteous and wicked from you, my sword will go out from its sheath against everyone from south to north. 5And everyone will know that I, the LORD, have taken my sword out of its sheath. It won’t be put away again.
6You, human one, groan in their sight; groan bitterly with trembling knees. 7If they ask you why you’re groaning, say to them, “Because of the news.” When it comes, every heart will despair, every hand will hang lifeless, every spirit will be listless, and urine will run down every leg. It’s coming! It will happen! This is what the LORD God says.
The sword dance
8The LORD’s word came to me: 9Human one, prophesy! Say, The Lord proclaims! Say:
A sword! A sharp and polished sword!
10For utter slaughter it is sharpened,
polished to flash like lightning.
Let’s not rejoice, because no one will escape the purge.#21.10 Heb uncertain
11He appoints it for polishing, to seize in the hand.
The sword is sharpened, it is polished;
it is ready for the destroyer’s hand.
12Human one, cry aloud, and wail,
for it comes against my people,
against all of Israel’s princes,
handed over to the sword along with my people.
Therefore, strike your thigh. 13He’s testing.
When even the rod rejects,
will it not certainly happen?#21.13 Heb uncertain
This is what the LORD God says.
14And you, human one, prophesy!
Strike hand to hand.
Let the sword strike twice, three times!
It’s a deadly sword,
a great deadly sword.
It whirls around them
15to make hearts shudder,
to make many stumble and fall.
I’ve set the slaughtering sword
against all their gates.
Oh! It’s crafted to flash like lightning,
polished for slaughter!
16Stab again and again! Plunge right,
plunge left, wherever your edge goes.
17It is I who strike hand to hand!
I’ll satisfy my wrath! I, the LORD, have spoken.
Guilt remembered
18The LORD’s word came to me: 19You, human one, mark two roads for the coming of the sword of the king of Babylon. They should diverge from a single country. Where the road to the city begins, set up a sign, 20and point out the way for the sword to come: “To Rabbah of the Ammonites” or “To Judah in its stronghold Jerusalem.” 21The king of Babylon stands at the fork in the road where the two roads begin and performs his divinations. He shakes the arrows, consults the divine images, and inspects the liver. 22On his right side appeared the omen for Jerusalem: to put battering rams in place, to proclaim war and raise the alarm, to place battering rams against the gates, and to set up siege ramps and build towers. 23It seems to them like a lying divination, because solemn pledges had been sworn to them. But he will remind them of their guilt, and they will be captured.
24So the LORD God proclaims: Now that you have remembered your guilt and your treacheries are exposed, your sins can be seen in everything you do. Because you have brought your guilt to light, you will be captured! 25But you vile, wicked prince of Israel whose day has come, the time of final punishment, 26this is what the LORD God says: Remove the turban, take off the crown! Nothing will be as it was. Bring down the exalted, and exalt the lowly. 27A ruin, ruin, ruin, I’ll make it! Such a thing has never happened! Even before the rightful judge comes, I’ve handed it over to him.
Avenging Ammon’s disgrace
28You, human one, prophesy and say, The LORD God proclaims to the Ammonites concerning their disgrace. Say, Sword! Sword unsheathed for slaughter, burnished, battle-ready,#21.28 Or to take in the hand flashing like lightning: 29False visions and lying divinations set you against the necks of vile, wicked men whose day had come, the time of final punishment. 30Return it to its sheath. In the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you. 31I will pour out my wrath against you. With a raging fire I will blow against you, and I will hand you over to those who burn and forge destruction. 32Fire will consume you, your blood will sink into the earth, and you will no longer be remembered. I, the LORD, have spoken.
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Ezekiel 21: CEB
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
Ezekiel 21
21
1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
2 "Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and pour in drops toward the sanctuaries, and prophesy against the soil of Israel.
3 And you shall say to the land of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, and I will cast my sword from its sheath, and I will slay the just and the impious among you.
4 But in as much as I have slain among you the just and the impious, for this reason my sword will go forth from its sheath against all flesh, from the south even to the north.
5 So may all flesh know that I, the Lord, have led my sword out of its sheath irrevocably.
6 And as for you, son of man, groan in the breaking of your back, and groan in bitterness before them.
7 And when they will say to you, 'Why are you groaning?' you shall say: 'On behalf of the report, For it is approaching. And every heart will waste away, and every hand will be broken, and every spirit will be weakened, and water will flow across every knee.' Behold, it is approaching and it will happen, says the Lord God."
8 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
9 "Son of man, prophesy, and you shall say: Thus says the Lord God: Speak: The sword! The sword has been sharpened and polished!
10 It has been sharpened, so that it may cut down victims! It has been polished, so that it may shine! You are disturbing the scepter of my son. You have cut down every tree.
11 And I have sent it to be made smooth, so that it may be handled. This sword has been sharpened, and it has been polished, so that it may be in the hand of the one who kills.
12 Cry out and wail, O son of man! For this has been done among my people, this is among all the leaders of Israel, who have fled. They have been handed over to the sword, with my people. Therefore, slap your thigh,
13 for it has been tested. And this one, when he will have overthrown the scepter, will not be, says the Lord God.
14 You therefore, O son of man, prophesy, and strike hand against hand, and let the sword be doubled, and let the sword of the slain be tripled. This is the sword of the great slaughter, which causes them to be utterly stupefied,
15 and to waste away in heart, and which multiplies ruin. At all their gates, I have presented the consternation of the sword, which has been sharpened and polished so as to shine, which has been dressed for the slaughter.
16 Be sharpened! Go to the right or to the left, whichever way is the desire of your face.
17 And then I will clap hand against hand, and I will fulfill my indignation. I, the Lord, have spoken."
18 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
19 "And as for you, son of man, set for yourself two ways, so that the sword of the king of Babylon may approach. Both shall go forth from one land. And with a hand, he will grasp and cast lots; he will cast at the head of the way of the community.
20 You shall appoint a way, so that the sword may approach to Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, or to Judah, into Jerusalem, greatly fortified.
21 For the king of Babylon stood at the fork, at the head of the two ways, seeking divination, shuffling arrows; he inquired of idols, and he consulted entrails.
22 To his right was set the divination over Jerusalem, to place battering rams so as to open a mouth for the slaughter, to lift up the voice of wailing, to place battering rams opposite the gates, to cast up a rampart, to build fortifications.
23 And he shall be, in their eyes, like someone consulting an oracle in vain, or imitating the leisure of Sabbaths. But he will call to mind iniquities, so that it will be captured.
24 Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Because you have been remembered in your iniquities, and you have revealed your betrayals, and your sins have appeared within all your plans, because, I say, you have been remembered, you will be captured by a hand.
25 But as for you, O impious leader of Israel, whose day has arrived that was predetermined at the time of iniquity:
26 Thus says the Lord God: Take away the diadem, remove the crown. Is this not what has exalted the lowly one, and brought low the sublime one?
27 Iniquity, iniquity, iniquity I will make it. And this was not done until the one arrived to whom judgment belongs, and I will hand it over to him.
28 And as for you, son of man, prophesy, and say: Thus says the Lord God to the sons of Ammon, and to their disgrace, and you shall say: O sword, O sword, unsheathe yourself so as to slay; polish yourself so as to kill and to shine,
29 while they look upon you in vain, and they divine lies, so that you may be given over to the necks of the wounded impious, whose day has arrived that was predetermined at the time of iniquity.
30 Be returned to your sheath! I will judge you in the place where you were created, in the land of your nativity.
31 And I will pour out upon you my indignation. In the fire of my fury, I will fan you, and I will give you over to the hands of cruel men, who have devised destruction.
32 You will be food for the fire; your blood will be in the midst of the land; you will be delivered to oblivion. For I, the Lord, have spoken."
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