Ezekiel 21:1-17

Common English Bible

The sword

21 ^[a] The Lord’s word came to me: ²Human one, face Jerusalem, preach against their sanctuary, and prophesy against Israel’s fertile land. ³Say to Israel’s fertile land, The Lord proclaims: I’m now against you! I will draw my sword from its sheath and cut off both the righteous and the wicked from you. ⁴In order to cut off the righteous and wicked from you, my sword will go out from its sheath against everyone from south to north. ⁵And everyone will know that I, the Lord, have taken my sword out of its sheath. It won’t be put away again.

⁶You, human one, groan in their sight; groan bitterly with trembling knees. ⁷If they ask you why you’re groaning, say to them, “Because of the news.” When it comes, every heart will despair, every hand will hang lifeless, every spirit will be listless, and urine will run down every leg. It’s coming! It will happen! This is what the Lord God says.

The sword dance

⁸The Lord’s word came to me: ⁹Human one, prophesy! Say, The Lord proclaims! Say:

A sword! A sharp and polished sword!
¹⁰    For utter slaughter it is sharpened,
    polished to flash like lightning.
Let’s not rejoice, because no one will escape the purge.^[b]
¹¹He appoints it for polishing, to seize in the hand.
    The sword is sharpened, it is polished;
    it is ready for the destroyer’s hand.
¹²Human one, cry aloud, and wail,
    for it comes against my people,
    against all of Israel’s princes,
        handed over to the sword along with my people.
    Therefore, strike your thigh. ¹³He’s testing.
When even the rod rejects,
    will it not certainly happen?^[c]
    This is what the Lord God says.

¹⁴And you, human one, prophesy!
Strike hand to hand.
    Let the sword strike twice, three times!
It’s a deadly sword,
    a great deadly sword.
It whirls around them
¹⁵    to make hearts shudder,
    to make many stumble and fall.
I’ve set the slaughtering sword
    against all their gates.
Oh! It’s crafted to flash like lightning,
    polished for slaughter!
¹⁶Stab again and again! Plunge right,
    plunge left, wherever your edge goes.
¹⁷It is I who strike hand to hand!
    I’ll satisfy my wrath! I, the Lord, have spoken.