Babylon, the Sword of God

21 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ^2 (A)“Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, ^(B)preach^[a] against the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel; ³ and say to the land of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I am ^(C)against you, and I will draw My sword out of its sheath and cut off both ^(D)righteous and wicked from you. ⁴ Because I will cut off both righteous and wicked from you, therefore My sword shall go out of its sheath against all flesh ^(E)from south to north, ⁵ that all flesh may know that I, the Lord, have drawn My sword out of its sheath; it ^(F)shall not return anymore.” ’ ^6 (G)Sigh therefore, son of man, with ^[b]a breaking heart, and sigh with bitterness before their eyes. ⁷ And it shall be when they say to you, ‘Why are you sighing?’ that you shall answer, ‘Because of the news; when it comes, every heart will melt, ^(H)all hands will be feeble, every spirit will faint, and all knees will be weak as water. Behold, it is coming and shall be brought to pass,’ 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!’ Say:

says the Lord God.

¹⁸ The word of the Lord came to me again, saying: ¹⁹ “And son of man, appoint for yourself two ways for the sword of the king of Babylon to go; both of them shall go from the same land. Make a sign; put it at the head of the road to the city. ²⁰ Appoint a road for the sword to go to ^(T)Rabbah of the Ammonites, and to Judah, into fortified Jerusalem. ²¹ For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the road, at the fork of the two roads, to use divination: he shakes the arrows, he consults the ^[e]images, he looks at the liver. ²² In his right hand is the divination for Jerusalem: to set up battering rams, to call for a slaughter, to ^(U)lift the voice with shouting, ^(V)to set battering rams against the gates, to heap up a siege mound, and to build a wall. ²³ And it will be to them like a false divination in the eyes of those who ^(W)have sworn oaths with them; but he will bring their iniquity to remembrance, that they may be taken.

²⁴ “Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Because you have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your doings your sins appear—because you have come to remembrance, you shall be taken in hand.

²⁵ ‘Now to you, O ^(X)profane, wicked prince of Israel, ^(Y)whose day has come, whose iniquity shall end, ²⁶ thus says the Lord God:

A Sword Against the Ammonites

²⁸ “And you, son of man, prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God ^(AC)concerning the Ammonites and concerning their reproach,’ and say:

Sins of Jerusalem

22 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “Now, son of man, ^(AM)will you judge, will you judge ^(AN)the bloody city? Yes, show her all her abominations! ³ Then say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “The city sheds ^(AO)blood in her own midst, that her time may come; and she makes idols within herself to defile herself. ⁴ You have become guilty by the blood which you have ^(AP)shed, and have defiled yourself with the idols which you have made. You have caused your days to draw near, and have come to the end of your years; ^(AQ)therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all countries. ⁵ Those near and those far from you will mock you as ^[h]infamous and full of tumult.

⁶ “Look, ^(AR)the princes of Israel: each one has used his ^[i]power to shed blood in you. ⁷ In you they have ^(AS)made light of father and mother; in your midst they have ^(AT)oppressed the stranger; in you they have mistreated the ^[j]fatherless and the widow. ⁸ You have despised My holy things and ^(AU)profaned My Sabbaths. ⁹ In you are ^(AV)men who slander to cause bloodshed; ^(AW)in you are those who eat on the mountains; in your midst they commit lewdness. ¹⁰ In you men ^(AX)uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are ^(AY)set apart during their impurity. ¹¹ One commits abomination ^(AZ)with his neighbor’s wife; ^(BA)another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; and another in you violates his sister, his father’s ^(BB)daughter. ¹² In you ^(BC)they take bribes to shed blood; ^(BD)you take usury and increase; you have made profit from your neighbors by extortion, and ^(BE)have forgotten Me,” says the Lord God.

¹³ “Behold, therefore, I ^(BF)beat My fists at the dishonest profit which you have made, and at the bloodshed which has been in your midst. ^14 (BG)Can your heart endure, or can your hands remain strong, in the days when I shall deal with you? ^(BH)I, the Lord, have spoken, and will do it. ^15 (BI)I will scatter you among the nations, disperse you throughout the countries, and ^(BJ)remove your filthiness completely from you. ¹⁶ You shall defile yourself in the sight of the nations; then ^(BK)you shall know that I am the Lord.” ’ ”

Israel in the Furnace

¹⁷ The word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁸ “Son of man, ^(BL)the house of Israel has become dross to Me; they are all bronze, tin, iron, and lead, in the midst of a ^(BM)furnace; they have become dross from silver. ¹⁹ Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Because you have all become dross, therefore behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. ²⁰ As men gather silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin into the midst of a furnace, to blow fire on it, to ^(BN)melt it; so I will gather you in My anger and in My fury, and I will leave you there and melt you. ²¹ Yes, I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you shall be melted in its midst. ²² As silver is melted in the midst of a furnace, so shall you be melted in its midst; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have ^(BO)poured out My fury on you.’ ”

Israel’s Wicked Leaders

²³ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ²⁴ “Son of man, say to her: ‘You are a land that is ^(BP)not ^[k]cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation.’ ^25 (BQ)The conspiracy of her ^[l]prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they ^(BR)have devoured ^[m]people; ^(BS)they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst. ^26 (BT)Her priests have ^[n]violated My law and ^(BU)profaned My holy things; they have not ^(BV)distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. ²⁷ Her ^(BW)princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, to shed blood, to destroy ^[o]people, and to get dishonest gain. ^28 (BX)Her prophets plastered them with untempered mortar, ^(BY)seeing false visions, and divining ^(BZ)lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord had not spoken. ²⁹ The people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy; and they wrongfully ^(CA)oppress the stranger. ^30 (CB)So I sought for a man among them who would ^(CC)make a wall, and ^(CD)stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. ³¹ Therefore I have ^(CE)poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed ^(CF)their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God.

Animal Sacrifices Insufficient

10 For the law, having a ^(A)shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, ^(B)can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. ² For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once ^[a]purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. ³ But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. ⁴ For ^(C)it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

Christ’s Death Fulfills God’s Will^(D)

⁵ Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:

⁸ Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), ⁹ then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, ^[b]O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. ^10 (F)By that will we have been ^[c]sanctified ^(G)through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Christ’s Death Perfects the Sanctified

¹¹ And every priest stands ^(H)ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. ^12 (I)But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down ^(J)at the right hand of God, ¹³ from that time waiting ^(K)till His enemies are made His footstool. ¹⁴ For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being ^[d]sanctified.

¹⁵ But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before,

^16 (L)“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” ¹⁷ then He adds, ^(M)“Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

Assurance of God’s Victory over Enemies^(A)

A Song. A Psalm of David.