Beginning

21 ¶ And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying:

² Son of man, set thy face against Jerusalem, and drop my word upon the sanctuaries, and prophesy over the land of Israel,

³ and thou shalt say to the land of Israel, Thus hath the LORD said: Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of its sheath and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.

⁴ Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked therefore shall my sword go forth out of its sheath against all flesh from the south to the north:

⁵ that all flesh may know that I the LORD have drawn forth my sword out of its sheath; it shall not return any more.

⁶ Cry out therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins; and with bitterness cry out before their eyes.

⁷ And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Why criest thou? that thou shalt answer, For the tidings that come; and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint; and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it comes and shall be brought to pass, said the Lord GOD.

⁸ ¶ Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

⁹ Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus hath the LORD said: Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished:

¹⁰ it is sharpened to slay victims; it is furbished that it may glitter; should we then make mirth? it despises the rod of my son, as every tree.

¹¹ And he has given it to be furbished, that it may be handled; this sword is sharpened, and it is furbished, to give it into the hand of the slayer.

¹² Cry and howl, son of man, for it shall be upon my people; it shall be upon all the princes of Israel; fear of the sword shall be upon my people; therefore smite the thigh

¹³ because it shall be a trial. What shall be if it does not despise the rod? said the Lord GOD.

¹⁴ Thou therefore, son of man, prophesy and smite thine hands together, and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain; this is the sword of great slaughter that shall pierce them.

¹⁵ I have set the fear of the sword in all their gates, that their heart may faint and their ruins be multiplied; ah! it is made so that it might shine; it is prepared for the slaughter.

¹⁶ Go one way or other, either on the right hand or on the left, wherever thy face is set.

¹⁷ I will also smite my hands together, and I will cause my fury to rest; I the LORD have spoken.

¹⁸ ¶ The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,

¹⁹ Also, thou son of man, show two ways from where the sword of the king of Babylon comes: both shall come forth out of the same land and draw an army; at the head of the way to the city thou shalt do this.

²⁰ Show the way that the sword will come to Rabbath of the Ammonites and to Judah against Jerusalem, the defenced.

²¹ For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way at the head of the two ways to use divination; he made his arrows bright; he consulted with images; he looked in the liver.

²² The divination was to his right hand upon Jerusalem, to appoint captains, to open the mouth for the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to appoint battering rams against the gates, to cast a mount, and to build a fort.

²³ And it shall be unto them as a false divination in their sight, to those that have sworn oaths; but he will call to remembrance the iniquity that they may be taken.

²⁴ Therefore thus hath the Lord GOD said: Because ye have made your iniquity to be remembered, manifesting your betrayals and uncovering your sins in all your doings; for which ye are come to remembrance, ye shall be taken with the hand.

²⁵ And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come in the time when the iniquity shall be brought to an end,

²⁶ thus hath the Lord GOD said: Remove the diadem and take off the crown; it shall no longer be like this; I will exalt the one that is low and abase the one that is high.

²⁷ I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it, and it shall be no more until he comes whose right it is; and I will give it unto him.

²⁸ ¶ And thou, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning the Ammonites and concerning their reproach; even say thou, The sword, the sword is drawn for the slaughter; it is furbished to consume with brightness:

²⁹ They prophesy vanity unto thee; they divine a lie unto thee, to give thee over among the necks of the wicked who are sentenced to death, whose day is come in the time when the iniquity shall be brought to an end.

³⁰ Shall I cause it to return into its sheath? I must judge thee in the place where thou wast raised, in the land of where thou hast lived.

³¹ And I will pour out my indignation upon thee; I will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath and deliver thee into the hand of fearful men who are skilful to destroy.

³² Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire; thy blood shall be in the midst of the land; thou shalt no longer be remembered: for I the LORD have spoken.

22 ¶ Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

² Now, thou son of man, wilt thou not judge, wilt thou not judge the city that spills innocent blood and cause her to know all her abominations?

³ Then thou shalt say, Thus hath the Lord GOD said, City that sheds blood in the midst of thyself, that thy time may come, and that has made idols against thyself to defile thyself!

⁴ In thy blood that thou hast shed thou hast sinned and hast defiled thyself with thine idols which thou hast made; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near and art come even unto thy years; therefore I have given thee in reproach unto the Gentiles, and in shame unto all the countries.

⁵ Those that are near and those that are far from thee shall mock thee, who art infamous and much vexed.

⁶ Behold, the princes of Israel, each one according to their power, were in thee to shed blood.

⁷ In thee they have despised father and mother; in the midst of thee they have dealt by oppression with the stranger; in thee they have vexed the fatherless and the widow.

⁸ Thou hast despised my holy things and hast profaned my sabbaths.

⁹ In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood; and in thee they eat upon the mountains; in the midst of thee they commit lewdness.

¹⁰ In thee they have discovered their fathers’ nakedness; in thee they have forced the unclean menstruous woman.

¹¹ And one has committed abomination with his neighbour’s wife; and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and another in thee has forced his sister, his father’s daughter.

¹² In thee they have taken bribes to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion and hast forgotten me, said the Lord GOD.

¹³ Behold, therefore I have smitten my hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made and at thy blood which has been in the midst of thee.

¹⁴ Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the LORD have spoken it and will do it.

¹⁵ And I will scatter thee among the Gentiles and disperse thee in the countries and will consume thy filthiness out of thee.

¹⁶ And thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself in the sight of the Gentiles, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.

¹⁷ ¶ And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

¹⁸ Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross; they are all brass and tin and iron and lead in the midst of the furnace; they are become the dross of silver.

¹⁹ Therefore thus hath the Lord GOD said: Because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.

²⁰ As they gather silver and brass and iron and lead and tin into the midst of the furnace to blow the fire upon it to melt it, so will I gather you in my anger and in my fury, and I will cause you to rest, and melt you.

²¹ I will gather you and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof.

²² As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the LORD have poured out my fury upon you.

²³ ¶ And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

²⁴ Son of man, say unto her, Thou art not clean land, nor art thou sprinkled with rain in the day of indignation.

²⁵ There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken treasures and honour; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof.

²⁶ Her priests have violated my law by force and have profaned my holy things; they have made no difference between the holy and the profane, neither have they showed the difference between the unclean and the clean and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

²⁷ Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to follow their own greed.

²⁸ And her prophets have plastered them over with loose mud, prophesying vanity and divining lies unto them, saying: Thus hath the Lord GOD said, when the LORD has not spoken.

²⁹ The people of the land have used oppression and exercised robbery and have done violence unto the poor and needy; they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.

³⁰ And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy it, but I found no one.

³¹ Therefore have I poured out my indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath; I have recompensed their own way upon their heads, said the Lord GOD.