Beginning
Chapter 21[a]
The Unsheathed Sword. 1 Then the word of the Lord was addressed to me: 2 Son of man, turn your face in the direction of Jerusalem; preach against the sanctuaries and prophesy against the land of Israel. 3 Say to the land of Israel: Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am coming against you. I will draw my sword from its sheath and cut off from you both the upright and the wicked.
4 Because I will cut off from you both the upright and the wicked, my sword shall be unsheathed against everyone from south to north, 5 and all people will know that I, the Lord, have drawn my sword from its sheath, and it will never again be sheathed.
Symbols of the City’s Fall. 6 As for you, son of man, groan. With a breaking heart grieve bitterly as they look on. 7 And when they ask you why you are groaning, you shall reply: Because of the news that is about to come. Every heart will melt and every hand will become feeble; every spirit will grow faint and all knees will turn to water. Behold, it is coming now. It will surely take place, says the Lord God.
Song of the Sword. 8 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 9 Prophesy, son of man, and say: Thus says the Lord:
A sword, a sword has been sharpened;
it has also been burnished.
10 It is sharpened for slaughter,
burnished to flash like lightning.
11 The sword has been polished to be wielded
and to be placed in the slayer’s hand.
12 Cry out and wail, son of man,
for it will be wielded against my people.
All of Israel’s princes
will fall by the sword.
And so slap your thigh, my people,
13 for the sword has been tested.
And why should it not be so,
says the Lord God,
since you have spurned the rod?
14 As for you, son of man, prophesy,
and strike your hands together.
Let the sword strike twice,
even three times.
It is a sword for killing,
a sword for great slaughter,
that threatens their enemies on every side.
15 Therefore, make their hearts melt
and cause many to fall.
I have posted at the gates
the sword for slaughter.
The great sword of slaughter
will flash like lightning.
16 Be prepared on the right,
be ready on the left—
wherever your sword is needed.
17 I, too, will strike my hands together
and satisfy my fury.
I, the Lord, have spoken.
18 The King of Babylon at the Crossroads. The following word of the Lord was addressed to me: 19 Son of man, mark out two roads for the sword of the king of Babylon to take. Both roads shall begin from the same land. Then put up a signpost for the place where the roads diverge. 20 Indicate the route which the sword should take for Rabbah of the Ammonites, and the one for Judah and the fortress of Jerusalem.
21 For the king of Babylon will stand at the fork where the two roads divide to seek an omen. He will shake the arrows, consult the household gods, and inspect the liver. 22 Into his right hand the arrow marked Jerusalem will fall. Here, then, he will issue the command for slaughter, sound the battle cry, post battering rams at the gates, cast up siege-ramps, and build siege-towers. 23 The inhabitants who have sworn allegiance[b] to him will believe that this is a false omen, but he will remind them of their guilt and take them captive.
24 Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Because your open rebellion has caused us to remember your guilt, in that you have paraded your misdeeds and flaunted your sins in all your deeds, you shall be taken into captivity.
25 As for you,
O vile and wicked ruler of Israel,
the day of your doom is approaching,
the time of your final punishment.
26 Thus says the Lord:
Remove your diadem; take off your crown;
everything is destined to be changed.
The lowly will be exalted
and the exalted will be brought low.
27 A ruin! A ruin!
I will make it all a ruin
until the rightful ruler comes.
28 The Ammonites’ Punishment. As for you, son of man, prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord in regard to the Ammonites and their insults:
A sword, a sword, drawn for slaughter,
burnished to consume and to flash like lightning.
29 In spite of false visions about you
as well as lying divinations,
that sword will be laid on the necks
of the wicked who are to be slain—
those whose day has come,
the hour of final punishment.
30 Return it to its sheath.
I will judge you
in the place where you were created,
in the land of your origin.
31 I will pour forth my wrath upon you
with the fire of my blazing anger.
I will hand you over to barbarous men
who are skilled in the art of destruction.
32 You will serve as fuel for the fire,
and your blood shall flow throughout the land.
You shall remember no more,
for I, the Lord, have spoken.
Chapter 22
The Sins of Jerusalem. 1 This word of the Lord came to me: 2 Son of man, are you ready to judge? Will you judge this city renowned for its bloodshed and confront her with all of her abominable deeds?
3 Say to her: Thus says the Lord: Woe to the city that sheds blood within itself. You thus hasten your doom, having made idols and thereby defiling yourself. 4 You have incurred guilt by the blood that you have shed, and you have become defiled by the gods that you have fashioned. Thus, you have shortened your lifespan; the end of your years are at hand. This is why you are now regarded by the nations as a disgrace. You have become a laughingstock to all foreign lands. 5 Those who are near you and those who are far off shall mock you because you have become infamous for your great perversity.
6 The princes of Israel who dwell in your land are there only for the purpose of shedding blood. 7 The fathers and the mothers within your borders are treated with contempt. The resident aliens are forced to endure extortion. Orphans and widows are oppressed. 8 You have spurned what is holy to me, and you have profaned my Sabbaths.
9 In you are those whose slander incites to bloodshed; in you are those who eat[c] on the mountains and revel in their lewdness. 10 In you are men who have exposed the nakedness of their fathers and who violate women during their menstrual periods. 11 In you are men who engage in abominable practices with their neighbors’ wives and lewdly defile their daughters-in-law. Still others among you ravish their sisters, the daughters of their fathers. 12 In you are those who take bribes to shed blood. Others lend for profit and charge interest. Still others profit from extortion against their neighbors. You have forgotten about me, says the Lord God.
13 I will strike my hands together because of the unjust profits you have made and the unending bloodshed in your midst. 14 Will your courage endure and your hands remain strong in the days when I will deal with you? I, the Lord, have spoken, and I intend to act. 15 I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you throughout foreign countries, and I will thereby purge you of your filthiness. 16 When I shall be profaned through you in the sight of the nations, you will know that I am the Lord.
17 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 18 Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross in my eyes; all of them are nothing more than copper and tin, iron and lead, that have become dross in the midst of a furnace.
19 Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Because all of you have become dross, I will gather you together inside Jerusalem. 20 As one gathers silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin and smelts it in a blazing furnace, so I will gather you in my furious wrath and cause you to be melted down. 21 When I have assembled you, I will blow upon you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted down within the city. 22 As silver is smelted in a furnace, so shall you be melted down within the city, and you will know that I, the Lord, have poured forth my wrath upon you.
23 This word of the Lord came to me: 24 Son of man, say to the land: You are a land that has not been cleansed or rained upon in the day of my anger. 25 Your princes have been like a roaring lion tearing apart its prey. They have devoured people, absconded with their wealth and precious treasures, and caused many women within it to become widows.
26 Your priests have violated my law and made profane my holy things. They have failed to make any distinction between the sacred and the profane, nor have they taught the difference between the clean and the unclean. They have completely ignored my Sabbaths, and I have been profaned in their midst. 27 Your priests are like wolves tearing apart their prey, shedding blood, and killing people in the pursuit of dishonest gain. 28 Your prophets whitewash their deeds by revealing false visions and offering lying prophecies asserting that the Lord God has spoken when the Lord has not spoken. 29 Meanwhile the people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy and forced resident aliens to submit to injustice.
30 I searched among my people for someone who could build a barricade and stand before me in the breach to keep me from destroying the land, but I found no one. 31 Therefore, I poured forth my fury upon them and consumed them with my fiery wrath. I have brought down their conduct upon their heads, says the Lord God.
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