THE BOOK OF EZEKIEL

 

Ezekiel Chapter 21

1 ¶ Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

2 Son of man, turn your face toward Jerusalem, and preach against the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel,

3 And say to the land of Israel, The LORD says; Behold, I am against you, and will draw my sword from its sheath, and will kill both the righteous and the wicked among you.

4 Because I am going to kill off the righteous and the wicked, my sword will leave its scabbard to go against everyone from the south to the north:

5 That all flesh may know that I the LORD have drawn my sword out of its sheath: and will not put it back again.

6 Groan therefore, son of man, with a breaking heart; and with bitter weeping as they watch.

7 And when they ask you, Why are you groaning? Then say, Because of the news that is coming: every heart will melt, every hand will become weak, every spirit will be discouraged, and all knees will be as weak as water: behold, it comes, and will happen, says the Lord GOD.

8 ¶ Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

9 Son of man, prophesy, and say, This is what the LORD says; Declare, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also polished:

10 It is sharpened for slaughter; it is polished that it may flash like lightning: is it fitting then to rejoice? the sword of my son despises every tree.

11 And he has had it polished, that it may be wielded: this sword is sharpened, and it is polished, to be put in the hand of the slayer.

12 Cry and wail, son of man: for it will fall upon my people, it will fall upon all the rulers of Israel: and the terror brought about by the sword will grip my people: therefore strike your thigh in grief.

13 Because it is a trial, and what if the sword despises even the scepter? The scepter will not continue, says the Lord GOD.

14 You therefore, son of man, speak the word of God, and clap your hands together, and let the sword strike twice and three times, a sword for those who are pierced: it is a sword bringing great slaughter, as it closes upon them.

15 I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, to make their hearts sink, and many fall: alas! it is ready to flash, it is kept sharp for the slaughter.

16 Slash to the right, swing to the left, wherever your blade is directed.

17 I too will clap my hands together, and I will unload my fury: I the LORD have said it.

18 ¶ The word of the LORD came to me again, saying,

19 Now, you son of man, mark out two roads, that the sword of the king of Babylon may take: both of them should start from the same country: make a sign, and put it where the road starts to go to the city.

20 Mark out a road, that the sword can take to Rabbath of the Ammonites, and to Judah, to the fortified city of Jerusalem.

21 For the king of Babylon stops at the fork in the road, at the parting of the two ways, to use divination: he shakes his arrows, he consults with images, he observes the liver.

22 Into his right hand drops the lot marked for Jerusalem, there to appoint captains, call for slaughter, raise a battle cry, direct the battering rams against the gates, heap up mounds, and build siege towers.

23 But the people will regard it as a lying divination, even though God has sworn solemn oaths: that he will call to remembrance their iniquity, so that they might be taken into captivity.

24 Therefore the Lord GOD says; Because you remind me of your sinfulness, by your open rebellion, and show your sins in all that you do; because I remember you, you will be taken by the enemy’s hand.

25 And you, O profane and wicked prince of Israel, your time will come, when your sin is finally punished,

26 The Lord GOD says; Remove the headband, and take off the crown: things will not be the same: exalt the lowly, and bring down the exalted.

27 A ruin, a ruin, I will make it a ruin: yet this will not happen until the just one comes; I have given judgement to him.

28 ¶ And you, son of man, prophesy and say, The Lord GOD says concerning the Ammonites, and concerning their reproach; you are to say, The sword, the sword is drawn: and is polished for the slaughter, to flash and consume like lightning:

29 While they offer false visions, and lying divinations about you, to lay you upon the headless bodies of those who are slain, of the wicked, for whom the day of final judgement has come.

30 Return the sword to its sheath? I will judge you in the place of your origin, in the land of your nativity.

31 And I will pour out my indignation upon you, I will blow the fire of my wrath against you, and deliver you into the hand of brutish men, skilled at destruction.

32 You will be fuel for the fire; your blood will be in the midst of the land; and no one will remember you: because I the LORD say so.