Ezekiel 21

Revised Geneva Translation

21 The Word of the LORD came to me again, saying:

² “Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and drop your Word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel,

³ “and say to the land of Israel, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Behold, I come against you, and will draw My sword out of its sheath and cut off both the righteous and the wicked from you.

⁴ “Seeing then that I will cut off the righteous and wicked from you, therefore My sword shall go out of its sheath against all flesh, from the South to the North,

⁵ “so that all flesh may know that I, the LORD, have drawn My sword out of its sheath and it shall not return anymore.

⁶ “Sigh, therefore, you son of man, as in the crushing of loins, and sigh bitterly before them.

⁷ “And if they say to you, ‘Why do you sigh?’ Then answer, ‘Because of the news. For it comes, and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be weak, and all minds shall faint, and all knees shall fall away, as water. Behold, it comes and shall be done,’ says the Lord GOD.”

⁸ Again, the Word of the LORD came to me, saying:

⁹ “Son of man, prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD.’ Say, “A sword, a sword, both sharp and polished.

¹⁰ “It is sharpened to make a great slaughter. It is polished so that it may glisten. How shall we rejoice? It despises the rod of My son, as all other trees.

¹¹ “And it has been given to be polished, so that it may be handled. This sword is sharp, and is polished, so that it may be given into the hand of the slayer.

¹² “Cry and howl, son of man! For this shall come to My people. It shall come to all the princes of Israel. The terrors of the sword shall be upon My people. Strike, therefore, upon your thigh.

¹³ “For it is a trial. And what shall this be if the sword despises even the rod? It shall be no more,” says the Lord GOD.

¹⁴ “You, therefore, son of man, prophesy and strike your hands together, and let the sword be doubled. Let the sword, which has killed, return a third time. It is the sword of the great slaughter, entering into their private chambers.

¹⁵ “I have brought the fear of the sword into all their gates, to make their heart faint, and to multiply their ruins. Ah, it is made bright! It is dressed for a slaughter.

¹⁶ Sharpen yourselves in the same direction! Go to the right or to the left, wherever your face is turned.

¹⁷ I will also strike My Hands together and cause My wrath to cease. I, the LORD, have said it.”

¹⁸ The Word of the LORD came to me again, saying:

¹⁹ “Also, you son of man, appoint yourself two ways for the sword of the king of Babel to come. Both of them shall come out of the same land. And make a map at the head of the way of the city,

²⁰ “so that the sword may come to Rabbah of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the strong.”

²¹ And the king of Babel stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, consulting by divination, and made his arrows swift. He consulted with idols and looked at the liver.

²² At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to appoint captains to open their mouths in the slaughter, and to lift up their voices with shouting, to lay engines of war against the gates, to cast a siege mound, and to build a fortress.

²³ And it shall be to them as a false divination in their sight, for the oaths made to them. But he will call their iniquity to remembrance, to the intent that they would be taken.

²⁴ Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Because you have made your iniquity be remembered in discovering your rebellion, so that in all your works your sins might appear, because you have come to remembrance, you shall be taken with the hand.

²⁵ “And you, prince of Israel, polluted, wicked, whose day has come in the iniquity of the end,

²⁶ “thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Take away the turban and take off the crown. This shall no longer be the same. I will exalt the humble and will abase him who is high.

²⁷ “I will overturn, overturn, overturn it! And it shall no longer be until He comes Whose right it is. And I will give it Him.’

²⁸ “And you, son of man, prophesy, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD to the children of Ammon and to their blasphemy:’ and say, “The sword! The sword is drawn forth, polished for the slaughter, to consume, because of the lightning,

²⁹ “while they saw empty visions for you, and prophesied a lie to you, to bring you upon the necks of the wicked who are slain, whose day has come in the iniquity of the end.

³⁰ “Shall I cause it to return into its sheath? I will judge you in the place where you were created, in the land of your habitation.

³¹ “And I will pour out My indignation upon you and will blow against you in the fire of My wrath, and deliver you into the hand of beastly men, skillful to destroy.

³² “You shall be in the fire, to be devoured. Your blood shall be in the midst of the land. You shall be remembered no more.” For I, the LORD, have spoken it.’”