Ezekiel 21

MKJV^{(i) 1} And the Word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ² Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and drop a word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel. ³ And say to the land of Israel, So says Jehovah: Behold, I am against you, and will draw out My sword out of its sheath and will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked. ⁴ Since then I will cut off the righteous and the wicked from you, therefore My sword shall be drawn from its sheath against all flesh from the south to the north, ⁵ so that all flesh may know that I Jehovah have drawn out My sword from its sheath. It shall not return any more. ⁶ And you, son of man, groan with the breaking of your loins; and groan with bitterness before their eyes. ⁷ And it will be when they say to you, Why do you groan? You shall answer, Because of the news that it is coming; 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 comes, and it shall be, says the Lord Jehovah. ⁸ And the Word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ⁹ Son of man, prophesy and say, So says Jehovah. Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened and also polished. ¹⁰ It is sharpened in order to slaughter; it is polished so that there may be a flash to it. Or shall we rejoice? You are despising the rod of My son, as if it were every tree. ¹¹ And He has given it to be polished, to be taken by the hand. The sword, it is sharpened, and it it polished, to give it into the hand of the slayer. ¹² Cry and howl, son of man; for it shall be on My people; it shall be on all the rulers of Israel. They are thrown to the sword with My people; Therefore slap your thigh. ¹³ Because it is a trial, and what if even the despising rod shall not be? says the Lord Jehovah. ¹⁴ And you, son of man, prophesy and strike your hands together; and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain. It is the sword of the slain, the great one that surrounds them; ¹⁵ so that their heart may melt, and many stumble at all their gates. I have given the threatening sword. Ah! It is made like lightning; it is wrapped for a slaughter. ¹⁶ Sharpen yourself on the right! Set yourself on the left, wherever your face is set. ¹⁷ And also I, I will also strike My hands together, and I will cause My fury to rest. I Jehovah have spoken. ¹⁸ The Word of Jehovah came to me again, saying, ¹⁹ And you, son of man, set for yourself two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come. Both of them shall come out of one land. And create a hand at the head of the way to the city; create it. ²⁰ You shall set a way that the sword may enter into Rabbah of the Ammonites, and into Judah, into fortified Jerusalem. ²¹ For the king of Babylon shall stand at the parting of the way, at the head of the two highways, to practice divination. He shall shake arrows; he shall ask household idols; he shall look at the liver. ²² At his right shall be the divining 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 pour out and to build a siege wall. ²³ And it shall be to them an empty divining before their eyes, those who have sworn oaths to them. But He will remember iniquity, that they may be taken. ²⁴ So the Lord Jehovah says this: Because you have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are discovered, in that your sins are revealed in all your deeds; because you have been remembered, you shall be taken with the hand. ²⁵ And you, O slain, wicked king of Israel, of whom has come his day in the time of iniquity of the end. ²⁶ So says the Lord Jehovah: Remove the diadem, and take off the crown. This shall not be as it was. Lift up the low one, and put down the high one. ²⁷ Ruin, ruin, ruin, I will appoint it. Also this shall not be until the coming of Him whose is the right. And I will give it to Him. ²⁸ And you, son of man, prophesy and say, So says the Lord Jehovah concerning the Ammonites, and concerning their shame. Even say: The sword, the sword is drawn, polished for slaughter to make an end, that it may be like lightning; ²⁹ while they see false visions for you, while they divine a lie to you, to put you on the necks of the slain of the wicked whose day has come in the day of iniquity; it shall have an end. ³⁰ Return it to its sheath. In the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you. ³¹ And I will pour out My disgust on you; with the fire of My wrath I will blow against you, and give you into the hand of burning men, able to destroy. ³² You shall be for food to the fire. Your blood shall be in the midst of the land. You shall be remembered no more; for I Jehovah have spoken.