Ezekiel 21

Ezekiel 21:1  
Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,

Ezekiel 21:2  
“Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and preach toward the sanctuaries, and prophesy against the land of Israel.

Ezekiel 21:3  
Tell the land of Israel, ‘Yahweh says: “Behold, I am against you, and will draw my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked.

Ezekiel 21:4  
Seeing then that I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore my sword will go out of its sheath against all flesh from the south to the north.

Ezekiel 21:5  
All flesh will know that I, Yahweh, have drawn my sword out of its sheath. It will not return any more.” ’

Ezekiel 21:6  
“Therefore sigh, you son of man. You shall sigh before their eyes with a broken heart and with bitterness.

Ezekiel 21:7  
It shall be, when they ask you, ‘Why do you sigh?’ that you shall say, ‘Because of the news, for it comes! Every heart will melt, all hands will be feeble, every spirit will faint, and all knees will be weak as water. Behold, it comes, and it shall be done, says the Lord Yahweh.’ ”

Ezekiel 21:8  
Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,

Ezekiel 21:9  
“Son of man, prophesy, and say, ‘Yahweh says: “A sword! A sword! It is sharpened, and also polished.

Ezekiel 21:10  
It is sharpened that it may make a slaughter. It is polished that it may be as lightning. Should we then make mirth? The rod of my son condemns every tree.

Ezekiel 21:11  
It is given to be polished, that it may be handled. The sword is sharpened. Yes, it is polished to give it into the hand of the killer.” ’

Ezekiel 21:12  
Cry and wail, son of man; for it is on my people. It is on all the princes of Israel. They are delivered over to the sword with my people. Therefore beat your thigh.

Ezekiel 21:13  
“For there is a trial. What if even the rod that condemns will be no more?” says the Lord Yahweh.

Ezekiel 21:14  
“You therefore, son of man, prophesy, and strike your hands together. Let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the fatally wounded. It is the sword of the great one who is fatally wounded, which enters into their rooms.

Ezekiel 21:15  
I have set the threatening sword against all their gates, that their heart may melt, and their stumblings be multiplied. Ah! It is made as lightning. It is pointed for slaughter.

Ezekiel 21:16  
Gather yourselves together. Go to the right. Set yourselves in array. Go to the left, wherever your face is set.

Ezekiel 21:17  
I will also strike my hands together, and I will cause my wrath to rest. I, Yahweh, have spoken it.”

Ezekiel 21:18  
Yahweh’s word came to me again, saying,

Ezekiel 21:19  
“Also, you son of man, appoint two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come. They both will come out of one land, and mark out a place. Mark it out at the head of the way to the city.

Ezekiel 21:20  
You shall appoint a way for the sword to come to Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and to Judah in Jerusalem the fortified.

Ezekiel 21:21  
For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination. He shook the arrows back and forth. He consulted the teraphim. He looked in the liver.

Ezekiel 21:22  
In his right hand was the lot for Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up mounds, and to build forts.

Ezekiel 21:23  
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.

Ezekiel 21:24  
“Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Because you have caused your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your doings your sins appear; because you have come to memory, you will be taken with the hand.

Ezekiel 21:25  
“ ‘You, deadly wounded wicked one, the prince of Israel, whose day has come, in the time of the iniquity of the end,

Ezekiel 21:26  
the Lord Yahweh says: “Remove the turban, and take off the crown. This will not be as it was. Exalt that which is low, and humble that which is high.

Ezekiel 21:27  
I will overturn, overturn, overturn it. This also will be no more, until he comes whose right it is; and I will give it.” ’

Ezekiel 21:28  
“You, son of man, prophesy and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says this concerning the children of Ammon, and concerning their reproach: “A sword! A sword is drawn! It is polished for the slaughter, to cause it to devour, that it may be as lightning;

Ezekiel 21:29  
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.

Ezekiel 21:30  
Cause it to return into its sheath. In the place where you were created, in the land of your birth, I will judge you.

Ezekiel 21:31  
I will pour out my indignation on you. I will blow on you with the fire of my wrath. I will deliver you into the hand of brutish men, skillful to destroy.

Ezekiel 21:32  
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, Yahweh, have spoken it.” ’ ”


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