Beginning

The Prophecy of Yahweh’s Sword

21 ^[a]And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, ² “Son of man, ^(A)set your face toward Jerusalem and ^(B)speak, dripping out words against the sanctuaries and prophesy against the land of Israel ³ and say to the land of Israel, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Behold, ^(C)I am against you; and I will bring out My sword from its sheath and cut off from you the ^(D)righteous and the wicked. ⁴ Because I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore My sword will go out from its sheath against ^(E)all flesh from south to north. ⁵ Thus all flesh will know that I, Yahweh, have brought out My sword from its sheath. It will ^(F)not return to its sheath again.”’ ⁶ Now as for you, son of man, groan with breaking ^[b]heart and bitter grief, groan in their sight. ⁷ And it will be that when they say to you, ‘Why do you groan?’ you shall say, ‘Because of the ^(G)report that is coming; and ^(H)every heart will melt, all hands will fall limp, every spirit will ^[c]faint, and all knees will ^[d]be weak as water. Behold, it is coming, and it will happen,’ declares Lord Yahweh.”

⁸ Again the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, ⁹ “Son of man, prophesy and say, ‘Thus says ^[e]the Lord.’ Say,

Or shall we ^[g]rejoice in the ^[h]scepter of My son? The sword ^(K)despises every tree. ¹¹ It is given to be polished, that it may be seized by the ^[i]hand; the sword is sharpened and polished, to give it into the hand of the one who kills. ^12 (L)Cry out and wail, son of man; for it is against My people; it is against all the ^(M)princes of Israel. They are delivered over to the sword with My people; therefore slap your thigh. ¹³ For there is a testing; and what if even the ^[j]scepter ^[k]which the sword despises will be no more?” declares Lord Yahweh.

¹⁴ “You therefore, son of man, prophesy and strike your hands together; and let the sword be ^(N)doubled the third time, the sword for the slain. It is the sword for the great one slain, which surrounds them, ¹⁵ that their ^(O)hearts may melt, and many will be ^(P)stumbling blocks at all their ^(Q)gates. I have given the glittering sword. Ah! It is made for striking like lightning, it is wrapped up in readiness for slaughter. ^16 [l]Show yourself sharp, go to the right; set yourself; go to the left, wherever your ^[m]edge is appointed. ¹⁷ And I will also strike My hands together, and I will ^[n](R)cause My wrath to be at rest; I, Yahweh, have spoken.”

A Sword for Slaughter

¹⁸ And the word of Yahweh came to me saying, ¹⁹ “Now as for you, son of man, ^[o](S)make two ways for the sword of the king of Babylon to come; both of them will go out of one land. And ^[p]make a signpost; ^[q]make it at the head of the way to the city. ²⁰ You shall ^[r]mark a way for the sword to come to ^(T)Rabbah of the sons of Ammon and to Judah into ^(U)fortified Jerusalem. ²¹ For the king of Babylon stands at the ^[s]parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use ^(V)divination; he ^(W)shakes the arrows; he asks the ^[t](X)household idols; he looks at the liver. ²² Into his right hand came the divination, ‘Jerusalem,’ to ^(Y)set battering rams, to open the mouth ^[u]for killing, to lift up the voice with a shout of war, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up ramps, to build a siege wall. ²³ And it will be to them like a worthless divination in their eyes; ^(Z)they have sworn solemn oaths. But he ^(AA)brings iniquity to remembrance, that they may be seized.

²⁴ “Therefore, thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Because you have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your deeds your sins appear—because you have come to remembrance, you will be seized with the hand. ²⁵ And you, O slain, wicked one, the prince of Israel, whose ^(AB)day has come, in the time of the iniquity of the end,’ ²⁶ thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Remove the turban and take off the ^(AC)crown; this will ^[v]no longer be the same. ^(AD)Make high that which is low and make low that which is high. ^27 (AE)A ruin, a ruin, a ruin, I will make it. This also will be no more until ^(AF)He comes to whom the legal judgment belongs, and I will give it to Him.’

²⁸ “Now as for you, son of man, prophesy and say, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh concerning the sons of Ammon and concerning their ^(AG)reproach,’ and say: ‘A sword, a sword is drawn, polished for the slaughter, to cause it ^[w]to ^(AH)consume, that it may be like lightning— ²⁹ while they behold for you ^(AI)worthless visions, while they divine lies for you—to place you on the necks of the wicked who are slain, whose day has come, in the ^(AJ)time of the iniquity of the end. ^30 (AK)Return it to its sheath. In the ^(AL)place where you were created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you. ³¹ And I will ^(AM)pour out My indignation on you; I will ^(AN)blow on you with the fire of My fury, and I will give you into the hand of brutal men, ^(AO)craftsmen of destruction. ³² You will be ^[x](AP)fuel for the fire; your blood will be in the midst of the land. You will ^(AQ)not be remembered, for I, Yahweh, have spoken.’”

The Abominations of Israel

22 Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, ² “Now as for you, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the city of blood? Then you shall cause her to know all her abominations. ³ And you shall say, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “A city ^(AR)shedding blood in her midst, so that her time will come; and she makes idols against herself for defilement! ⁴ You have become ^(AS)guilty by ^[y]the blood which you have shed, and defiled by your idols which you have made. Thus you have brought your ^[z]day near and have come to your years; therefore I have made you a ^(AT)reproach to the nations and a mocking to all the lands. ⁵ Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you, you of unclean name, full of ^(AU)turmoil.

⁶ “Behold, the ^(AV)princes of Israel, each according to his ^[aa]power, have been in you for the purpose of shedding blood. ⁷ They have ^(AW)treated father and mother with contempt within you. The ^(AX)sojourner they have oppressed in your midst; the ^(AY)fatherless and the widow they have mistreated in you. ⁸ You have ^(AZ)despised My holy things and ^(BA)profaned My sabbaths. ⁹ Slanderous men have been in you for the purpose of shedding blood, and in you they have eaten at the mountain shrines. In your midst they have ^(BB)done acts of lewdness. ¹⁰ In you ^[ab]they have ^(BC)uncovered their fathers’ nakedness; in you they have humbled her who was ^(BD)unclean in her menstrual impurity. ¹¹ One has also done what is an abomination with his ^(BE)neighbor’s wife, and another has lewdly defiled his ^(BF)daughter-in-law. And another in you has ^(BG)violated his sister, his father’s daughter. ¹² In you they have ^(BH)taken bribes for the purpose of shedding blood; you have taken ^(BI)interest and profits, and you have injured your neighbors for gain by ^(BJ)oppression, and you have ^(BK)forgotten Me,” declares Lord Yahweh.

¹³ “Now behold, I have struck My hand at your ^(BL)greedy gain which you have acquired and at ^[ac]the bloodshed which is among you. ¹⁴ Can ^(BM)your heart stand, or can your hands be strong in the days that I will act against you? ^(BN)I, Yahweh, have spoken and will act. ¹⁵ I will ^(BO)scatter you among the nations, and I will disperse you through the lands, and I will ^(BP)put an end to your uncleanness from you. ¹⁶ You will profane yourself in the sight of the nations, and you will ^(BQ)know that I am Yahweh.”’”

¹⁷ And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, ¹⁸ “Son of man, the house of Israel has become ^(BR)dross to Me; all of them are ^(BS)bronze and tin and iron and lead in the ^(BT)furnace; they are the dross of silver. ¹⁹ Therefore, thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Because all of you have become dross, therefore, behold, I am going to gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. ²⁰ As they gather silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into the ^(BU)furnace to blow fire on it in order to melt it, so I will gather you in My anger and in My wrath, and I will lay you there and melt you. ²¹ And I will collect you together and blow on you with the fire of My fury, and you will be melted in the midst of it. ²² As silver is melted in the furnace, so you will be melted in the midst of it; and you will know that I, Yahweh, have ^(BV)poured out My wrath on you.’”

²³ And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, ²⁴ “Son of man, say to her, ‘You are a land that is ^(BW)not cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation.’ ²⁵ There is a ^(BX)conspiracy of her prophets in her midst like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have ^(BY)devoured lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many ^(BZ)widows in the midst of her. ²⁶ Her ^(CA)priests have done violence to My law and have ^(CB)profaned My holy things; they have made no ^(CC)separation between the holy and the profane, and they have not made known the difference between the ^(CD)unclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. ²⁷ Her princes within her are like wolves tearing the prey by shedding blood and ^(CE)destroying lives in order to get ^(CF)greedy gain. ²⁸ And her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, beholding ^(CG)worthless visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh,’ when Yahweh has not spoken. ²⁹ The people of the land have practiced ^(CH)oppression and committed robbery, and they have mistreated the afflicted and needy and have ^(CI)oppressed the sojourner without justice. ³⁰ And I ^(CJ)searched for a man among them who would ^(CK)build up the wall and ^(CL)stand in the breach before Me for the land, so that I would not bring it to ruin; but I found ^[ad]no one. ³¹ Thus I have poured out My ^(CM)indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My fury; ^(CN)their way I have brought upon their heads,” declares Lord Yahweh.