< Ezekiel 21 >
1 And there is a word of YHWH to me, saying,
2 “Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and prophesy to the holy places, and prophesy to the ground of Israel;
3 and you have said to the ground of Israel, Thus said YHWH: Behold, I [am] against you, And have brought out My sword from its scabbard, And have cut off righteous and wicked from you.
4 Because that I have cut off righteous and wicked from you, Therefore My sword goes out from its scabbard, To all flesh, from south to north.
5 And all flesh has known that I, YHWH, Have brought out My sword from its scabbard, It does not turn back anymore.
6 And you, son of man, sigh with breaking of loins, indeed, sigh before their eyes with bitterness,
7 and it has come to pass, when they say to you, Why are you sighing? That you have said: Because of the report, for it is coming, And every heart has melted, And all hands have been feeble, And every spirit is weak, And all knees go [as] waters, Behold, it is coming, indeed, it has been, A declaration of Lord YHWH.”
8 And there is a word of YHWH to me, saying,
9 “Son of man, prophesy, and you have said, Thus said YHWH: Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also polished.
10 It is sharpened so as to slaughter a slaughter. It is polished so as to have brightness, Or do we rejoice? It is despising the scepter of My son [as] every tree.
11 And He gives it for polishing, For laying hold of by the hand. It is sharpened—the sword—and polished, To give it into the hand of a slayer.
12 Cry and howl, son of man, For it has been among My people, It [is] among all the princes of Israel, My people have been cast to the sword. Therefore strike on your thigh,
13 Because [it is] a trier, And what if it is even despising the scepter? It will not be, a declaration of Lord YHWH.
14 And you, son of man, prophesy, And strike hand on hand, And the sword is bent a third time, The sword of the wounded! It [is] the sword of the wounded—the great one, That is entering the inner chamber to them.
15 To melt the heart, and to multiply the ruins, I have set the point of a sword by all their gates. Aah! It is made for brightness, Wrapped up for slaughter.
16 Take possession of the right, place yourself at the left, To where your face is appointed.
17 And I also, I strike My hand on My hand, And have caused My fury to rest; I, YHWH, have spoken.”
18 And there is a word of YHWH to me, saying,
19 “And you, son of man, appoint two ways for yourself, for the coming in of the sword of the king of Babylon; they come forth from one land, both of them. And create a station; create [it] at the top of the way of the city.
20 Appoint a way for the coming of the sword, To Rabbath of the sons of Ammon, And to Judah, in fortified Jerusalem.
21 For the king of Babylon has stood at the head of the way, At the top of the two ways, to use divination, He has moved lightly with the arrows, He has inquired of the teraphim, He has looked on the liver.
22 The divination [for] Jerusalem has been at his right, To place battering-rams, To open the mouth with slaughter, To lift up a voice with shouting, To place battering-rams against the gates, To pour out a mound, to build a fortification.
23 And it has been to them as a false divination in their eyes, Who have sworn oaths to them, But he is causing iniquity to be remembered [so they] are caught.
24 Therefore, thus said Lord YHWH: Because of your causing your iniquity to be remembered, In your transgressions being revealed, For your sins being seen, in all your doings, Because of your being remembered, You are caught by the hand.
25 And you, wounded, wicked one, Prince of Israel, whose day has come, In the time of the iniquity of the end,
26 Thus said Lord YHWH: Turn aside the turban, and carry away the crown, This—not this—make high the low, And make low the high.
27 An overturn, overturn, overturn, I make it, Also this has not been until the coming of Him, Whose [is] the judgment, and I have given it.
28 And you, son of man, prophesy, and you have said, Thus said Lord YHWH concerning the sons of Ammon, and concerning their reproach, and you have said: A sword, a sword, open for slaughter, Polished to the utmost for brightness!
29 In seeing a vain thing for you, In divining a lie for you, To put you on the necks of the wounded of the wicked, whose day has come, In the time of the iniquity of the end.
30 Turn [it] back to its scabbard; I judge you In the place where you were produced, In the land of your birth.
31 And I have poured My indignation on you, I blow against you with [the] fire of My wrath, And have given you into the hand of brutish men—craftsmen of destruction.
32 You are fuel for the fire, Your blood is in the midst of the land, You are not remembered, For I, YHWH, have spoken!”