Ezekiel 21

¹ And there is a word of Yahweh unto me, saying, ² "Son of man, set your face unto Jerusalem, and prophesy unto the holy places, and prophesy unto the ground of Israel; ³ and you have said unto the ground of Israel: Thus said Yahweh: Lo, I [am] against you, And have brought out My sword from its scabbard, And have cut off from you righteous and wicked. ⁴ Because that I have cut off from you righteous and wicked, Therefore go out does My sword from its scabbard, Unto all flesh, from south to north. ⁵ And known have all flesh that I, Yahweh, Have brought out My sword from its scabbard, It does not turn back any more. ⁶ And you, son of man, sigh with breaking of loins, yea, with bitterness you do sigh before their eyes, ⁷ and it has come to pass, when they say unto you, For what are you sighing? that you have said: Because of the report, for it is coming, And melted has every heart, And feeble has been all hands, And weak is every spirit, And all knees go - waters, Lo, it is coming, yea, it has been, An affirmation of the Lord Yahweh." ⁸ And there is a word of Yahweh unto me, saying, ⁹ "Son of man, prophesy, and you have said, Thus said Yahweh, say: A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also polished. ¹⁰ So as to slaughter a slaughter it is sharpened. So as to have brightness it is polished, Desire has rejoiced the sceptre of my son, It is despising 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, Cast unto the sword have been My people. Therefore strike on your thigh, ¹³ Because [it is] a trier, And what if even the sceptre it is despising? It shall not be, an affirmation of the Lord Yahweh. ¹⁴ And you, son of man, prophesy, And smite hand on hand, And bent is the sword 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, By all their gates I have set the point of a sword. Ah, it is made for brightness, Wrapped up for slaughter. ¹⁶ Take possession of the right, place yourself at the left, Whither your face is appointed. ¹⁷ And I also, I smite My hand on my hand, And have caused My fury to rest; I, Yahweh, have spoken." ¹⁸ And there is a word of Yahweh unto me, saying, ¹⁹ "And you, son of man, appoint for you two ways, for the coming in of the sword of the king of Babylon; from one land they come forth, both of them, and a station prepare you, at the top of the way of the city prepare [it]. ²⁰ A way appoint for the coming of the sword, Unto Rabbath of the sons of Ammon, And to Judah, in Jerusalem - the fenced. ²¹ For stood has the king of Babylon 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 asked at the teraphim, He has looked on the liver. ²² At his right has been the divination - Jerusalem, 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 mount, to build a fortification. ²³ And it has been to them as a false divination in their eyes, Who have sworn oaths to them, And he is causing iniquity to be remembered to be caught. ²⁴ Therefore, thus said the Lord Yahweh: 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, By the hand you are caught. 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 the Lord Yahweh: Turn aside the mitre, and bear away the crown, This - not this - the low make high, And the high make low. ²⁷ An overturn, overturn, overturn, I make it, Also this has not been till 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 the Lord Yahweh 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 the seeing for you of a vain thing, In the divining for you of a lie, 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 unto its scabbard, In the place where you wast produced, In the land of your birth I do judge you. ³¹ And I have poured on you Mine indignation, With fire of My wrath I blow against you, And have given you into the hand of brutish men - artificers of destruction. ³² To the fire you are for fuel, Your blood is in the midst of the land, You are not remembered, For I, Yahweh, have spoken!"