Beginning
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.’”
22 Moreover, the Word of the LORD came to me, saying:
2 “Now, you son of man, will you judge? Will you judge this bloody city? Will you show her all her abominations?
3 “Then say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “The city sheds blood in the midst of herself, so that her time may come, and makes idols near herself, to pollute herself.
4 “You have offended in your blood, so that you have shed, and have polluted yourself in your idols which you have made. And you have caused your days to draw near and have come to your term. Therefore, I have made you a reproach to the heathen, and a mockery to all countries.
5 “Those who are near and those who are far from you shall mock you, vile in name and great in affliction.
6 “Behold the princes of Israel. Each has used his power to shed blood.
7 “In you they have despised father and mother. In the midst of you they have oppressed the stranger. In you they have troubled the fatherless and the widow.
8 “You have despised My holy things and have polluted My Sabbaths.
9 “In you are men who carry tales to shed blood. In you are those who eat upon the mountains. In your midst they commit abomination.
10 “In you they have discovered their fathers’ shame. In you have they defiled her who was polluted in her impurity.
11 “And everyone has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife, and everyone has wickedly defiled his daughter-in-law, and in you has every man forced his own sister, his father’s daughter.
12 “In you they have taken bribes to shed blood. You have taken interest and the increase, and you have defrauded your neighbors by extortion, and have forgotten Me,” says the Lord GOD.
13 “Behold, therefore, I have stricken My Hands at your covetousness that you have used, and upon the blood which has been in your midst.
14 “Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong in the days that I shall have to do with you? I, the LORD, have spoken it and will do it.
15 “And I will scatter you among the heathen, and disperse you in the countries, and will cause your filthiness to cease from you.
16 “And you shall take your inheritance in yourself in the sight of the heathen. And you shall know that I am the LORD.”’”
17 And the Word of the LORD came to me, saying:
18 “Son of man, the House of Israel is to me as dross. All of them are bronze, tin, iron, and lead in the midst of the furnace. They are the dross of silver.”
19 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Because you are all like dross, behold, therefore, I will gather you in the midst of Jerusalem.
20 “As they gather silver and bronze, and iron, and lead, and tin into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it to melt it, so I will gather you in My anger and in My wrath and will put you there and melt you.
21 “I will gather you, I say, and blow the fire of My wrath upon you. And you shall be melted in its midst.
22 “As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall you be melted in its midst. And you shall know that I, the LORD, have poured out My wrath upon you.”
23 And the Word of the LORD came to me, saying:
24 “Son of man, say to her, ‘You are the land that is unclean, not rained upon on the day of wrath.’
25 “A conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion, ravening the prey. They have devoured souls. They have taken the riches and precious things. They have made her many widows in her midst.
26 “Her priests have broken My Law and have defiled My holy things. They have put no difference between the holy and profane or discerned between the unclean and the clean. They have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
27 “Her princes in her midst are like wolves, ravening the prey to shed blood, to destroy souls for their own unjust gain.
28 “And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing vanities, and divining lies to them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD,’ when the LORD had not spoken.
29 “The people of the land have violently oppressed by plundering and robbing and have violently mistreated the poor and the needy. Yea, they have wrongfully oppressed the stranger.
30 “And I sought for a man among them who would make up the hedge and stand in the gap before Me, for the land, so that I would not destroy it. But I found none.
31 “Therefore, I have poured out My indignation upon them, and consumed them with the fire of My wrath. I have rendered their own ways upon their heads,” says the Lord GOD.
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