Ezekiel - 21

1 - And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

2 - Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem - , and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel - ,

3 - And say to the land of Israel - , Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of his sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.

4 - Seeing then that I will cut off from thee 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, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes.

7 - And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore sighest thou? that thou shalt answer, For the tidings; because it cometh: 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 cometh, and shall be brought to pass, saith the Lord GOD.

8 - Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

9 - Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith 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 mirth? it contemneth the rod of my son, as every tree.

11 - And he hath 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 howl, 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: smite therefore upon thy thigh.

13 - Because it is a trial, and what if the sword contemn even the rod? it shall be no more, saith the Lord GOD.

14 - Thou therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite thine 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 entereth 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 thee one way or other, either on the right hand, or on the left, whithersoever thy face is set.

17 - I will also smite 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, thou son of man, appoint thee two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon - may come: both twain shall come forth out of one land: and choose thou 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 saith the Lord GOD; Because ye 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 ye are come to remembrance, ye shall be taken with the hand.

25 - And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel - , whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end,

26 - Thus saith the Lord GOD; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high.

27 - I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.

28 - And thou, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning the Ammonites, and concerning their reproach; even say thou, The sword, the sword is drawn: for the slaughter it is furbished, to consume because of the glittering:

29 - Whiles they see vanity unto thee, whiles they divine a lie unto thee, to bring thee upon the necks of them that are slain, of the wicked, whose day is come, when their iniquity shall have an end.

30 - Shall I cause it to return into his sheath? I will judge thee in the place where thou wast created, in the land of thy nativity.

31 - And I will pour out mine indignation upon thee, I will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of brutish men, and skilful to destroy.

32 - Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire; thy blood shall be in the midst of the land; thou shalt be no more remembered: for I the LORD have spoken it.