Historical

The Parable of the Sword

21 The word of Adonai came to me saying: ² “Son of man, set your face toward Teman and proclaim to the South. Prophesy against the brush land of the Negev. ³ Say to the brush land of the South: ‘Hear the word of Adonai!’ Thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘Behold, I will kindle a fire in you. It will devour every moist tree in you and every dry tree. Its leaping flame will not be extinguished. All faces from the south to the north will be scorched by it. ⁴ All flesh will see that I, Adonai, have kindled it; it will not be extinguished.’”

⁵ Then I said, “Ah, Adonai! They say of me. ‘Isn’t he just speaking in parables?’”

⁶ Then the word of Adonai came to me saying: ⁷ “Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem and proclaim to the sanctuaries and prophesy against the land of Israel. ⁸ Say to the land of Israel, thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘Behold, I am against you. I will draw My sword from its sheath. I will cut off the righteous and the wicked from you. ⁹ Since I will cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked, therefore My sword will come out of its sheath against all flesh from the south to the north. ¹⁰ All flesh will know that I, Adonai, have drawn My sword from its sheath; it will not return any more. ¹¹ As for you, son of man, groan, with breaking of your sides and with bitterness you will groan before their eyes. ¹² Now when they ask you, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you will say, ‘Because of the news that is coming. Every heart will melt, every hand will be limp, every spirit will be faint, and all knees will turn to water. Behold, it is coming, and it will happen!’” It is a declaration of Adonai Elohim.

A Sword Sharpened

¹³ The word of Adonai came to me saying, ¹⁴ “Son of man, prophesy and say, thus says Adonai, and say: ‘A sword! A sword! Sharpened and also polished! ¹⁵ Sharpened to slaughter ruthlessly! Polished so it will flash like lightning! Or should we rejoice? It is the rod,^[a] My son—despising every tree! ¹⁶ It is given to be polished, to be seized. The sword is sharpened, polished, to be put into the hand of the slayer. ¹⁷ Cry and wail, son of man! For it is against My people. It is against all the leaders of Israel. They are thrown over to the sword, along with My people. Therefore strike your thigh. ¹⁸ For it is a testing. What if they scorn even the rod? It must not be!” It is a declaration of Adonai. ¹⁹ You, son of man, prophesy. Strike your hands together. The sword will strike twice, even three times, a sword for the slain, a sword for a great slaughter—it surrounds them! ²⁰ So that their hearts will melt and many will stumble and fall, I have set the point of the sword against all their gates. Alas! It is made for lightning, it is polished for slaughter. ²¹ Slash to the right, turn to the left—wherever your blade is meeting! ²² I also will clap My hands together. So I will satisfy My wrath. I, Adonai, have spoken.’”

The Sword of God’s Judgment

²³ The word of Adonai came to me saying: ²⁴ “Now you, son of man, mark two ways for the sword of the king of Babylon to come. Both of them should originate from the same land. Mark a signpost; cut it out at the start of the road to the city. ²⁵ You are to mark out a way, so the sword can come to Rabbah of the children of Ammon and to Judah in fortified Jerusalem. ²⁶ For the king of Babylon stands at the fork in the road, at the start of the two roads, to seek divination. He shakes the arrows, consults the idols,^[b] he looks in the liver. ²⁷ In his right hand is the lot for Jerusalem—to set up battering rams, to open the mouth for slaughter, to lift up the voice with a war cry, to set up battering rams against the gates, to cast up ramps, to build a siege wall. ²⁸ It will seem to them like a false divination. They have sworn solemn oaths, but he will remember their iniquity, so they may be seized.”

²⁹ Therefore thus says Adonai Elohim: “Because you have caused your iniquity to be remembered, by exposing your transgressions, so that your sins appear in all your deeds—because you have come to remembrance, you will be seized with the hand. ³⁰ So you, wicked one, prince of Israel, the day has come to be slain, the time of final punishment.”

³³ “Now you, son of man, prophesy and say, thus says Adonai Elohim concerning the children of Ammon and concerning their taunt, say:

Blood and Injustice

22 The word of Adonai came to me saying: ² “You, son of man, will you judge? Will you judge the bloody city? So explain to her all her abominations. ³ Say, thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘City that spills blood in her midst and makes idols for herself that defile—her time has come! ⁴ You have become guilty in your blood that you have spilled, and are defiled by your idols that you have made. So you have brought your days near, and have come up to your years. Therefore I have made you a disgrace to the nations and a mockery to all the lands. ⁵ Those near and far from you will mock you—with a defiled name and full of turmoil.’

⁶ “Behold, each prince of Israel has used his own arm’s strength in you to shed blood. ⁷ Father and mother have been treated with contempt; the outsider has been oppressed in your midst; the orphan and the widow have been mistreated in you. ⁸ You have despised My holy things and profaned My Shabbatot. ⁹ Slanderous men are in you in order to shed blood. They have eaten at the mountain shrines; they commit immoral acts in your midst. ¹⁰ They have uncovered their fathers’ nakedness in you; they violate women that are in niddah within you. ¹¹ One has been detestable with his neighbor’s wife; another has wickedly defiled his daughter-in-law; yet another has violated his sister, his father’s daughter, in you. ¹² They accept bribes in order to shed blood in you; you have taken usurious interest. You have greedily gained by oppressing your neighbors, and you have forgotten Me.” It is a declaration of Adonai.

¹³ “Now look, I clap My hands at your dishonest gain that you have made and at your bloodshed in your midst. ¹⁴ Will your heart’s courage stand or your hands be strong in the days when I deal with you? I, Adonai, have spoken it and will do it. ¹⁵ I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you throughout the lands. I will purge your uncleanness from you. ¹⁶ You will be defiled in the sight of the nations. Then you will know that I am Adonai.”

¹⁷ The word of Adonai came to me saying: ¹⁸ “Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me—all of them are the copper, tin, iron and lead left inside a furnace—they are the dross of silver.” ¹⁹ Therefore, thus says Adonai Elohim: “Because you have all become dross, therefore behold, I will gather you into Jerusalem. ²⁰ As one gathers silver, copper, iron, lead and tin into the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so I will gather you in My anger and in My fury. I will put you in and melt you. ²¹ I will gather you and blow the fire of My wrath upon you, so you may be melted in the midst of it. ²² As silver is melted in the furnace, so will you be melted within it. So you will know that I Adonai have poured out My fury on you.”

²³ The word of Adonai came to me saying: ²⁴ “Son of man, say to her: ‘You are a land that is not cleansed or rained upon in the day of indignation.’ ²⁵ There is a conspiracy of her prophets in her midst, like a roaring lion tearing prey. They have devoured lives, they take wealth and valuables, they multiply widows in her midst. ²⁶ Her kohanim have done violence to My Torah and have profaned My holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the profane, nor have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean. They shut their eyes to My Shabbatot. So I am profaned among them. ²⁷ Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing at prey, spilling blood and destroying lives for dishonest gain. ²⁸ Her prophets have plastered them with whitewash, seeing false visions and predicting lies to them, saying ‘Thus says Adonai Elohim,’ when Adonai has not spoken.

No One in the Breach

²⁹ “The people of the land have oppressively blackmailed, plundered in robbery, wronged the poor and needy and abused the outsider unjustly. ³⁰ I searched for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand in the breach before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it, but I found no one. ³¹ Therefore I have poured out My fury on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; I have brought their own way upon their heads.” It is a declaration of Adonai.

Jerusalem and Samaria take Lovers

23 The word of Adonai came to me saying: ² “Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother. ³ They were harlots in Egypt; they were harlots in their youth; their bosoms were caressed there and their virgin breasts were fondled. ⁴ Their names were Oholah, the older one, and Oholibah,^[c] her sister. They became Mine, and they gave birth to sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

⁵ “Oholah prostituted herself, though she was Mine. She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians, warriors, ⁶ dressed in blue, governors and rulers, all of them handsome young men, horsemen riding on horses. ⁷ She prostituted herself with them, all of the choice men of Assyria. She defiled herself with all the idols of everyone she lusted after. ⁸ She did not give up her harlotry in Egypt; for in her youth they had lain with her. They fondled her virgin breasts and poured out their lust on her. ⁹ Therefore I gave her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, whom she lusted after. ¹⁰ They stripped her naked, they took her sons and her daughters and slaughtered her with the sword. She became notorious among women. Judgments were executed upon her.

¹¹ “Now her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was more depraved in her lust than her sister and her promiscuous acts worse. ¹² She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and rulers, warriors splendidly clad, horsemen riding on horses, all of them handsome young men. ¹³ I saw that she defiled herself; they both went the same way. ¹⁴ But she kept increasing her harlotry. She saw men carved on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans carved in red, ¹⁵ girded with sashes on their loins, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them had the appearance of officers, the likeness of Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their birth. ¹⁶ As soon as she saw them she lusted after them. She sent messengers to them in Chaldea. ¹⁷ The Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and defiled her with their lust. Yet when she was defiled by them, she turned away from them in disgust. ¹⁸ When she exposed her harlotry and uncovered her nakedness, My soul was disgusted by her, just as My soul was disgusted by her sister. ¹⁹ Yet she multiplied her harlotry—remembering the days of her youth, when she was a harlot in the land of Egypt. ²⁰ She lusted after their paramours, whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys, and whose issue is like that of horses. ²¹ So you revisited the promiscuity of your youth, when the Egyptians used to fondle your bosom and youthful breasts.

²² “Therefore Oholibah, thus says Adonai Elohim, behold, I will stir up your lovers against you, from whom you turned in disgust. I will bring them against you on every side: ²³ the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, Shoa and Koa and all the Assyrians with them, handsome young men, governors and rulers all of them, commanders and officers, all of them riding on horses. ²⁴ They will come against you with armed chariots, whirling wheels and an assembly of people. They will set themselves against you on every side with armor, shield and helmet. I will delegate judgment to them, so they will judge you according to their standards of justice. ²⁵ I will vent My jealousy against you, letting them deal with you in fury. They will cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors will fall by the sword. They will take your sons and your daughters, and your survivors will be devoured by fire. ²⁶ They will strip your clothes and take your beautiful jewelry. ²⁷ I will put an end to you and your immorality brought from the land of Egypt. You will no longer lift your eyes toward them or remember Egypt anymore.”

²⁸ For thus says Adonai Elohim: “Behold, I will give you into the hand of those you hate, into the hand of those you turned away from in disgust. ²⁹ They will treat you with hatred, take all your property and leave you naked and exposed. The vulgarity of your prostitutions will be uncovered—your debauchery and your promiscuity. ³⁰ These things will be done to you, for you have gone as a harlot after the nations, so you are defiled with their idols. ³¹ You have walked in the way of your sister, so I will give her cup into your hand.”

³⁵ Therefore thus says Adonai Elohim: “Because you have forgotten Me and thrust Me behind your back, you will also bear your obscenity and your harlotry.”

³⁶ Then Adonai said to me, “Son of man, will you pass judgment on Oholah and Oholibah? Confront them with their disgusting practices. ³⁷ For they have committed adultery and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols and even offered their children, whom they bore for Me, to be devoured. ³⁸ Again, this they have done to Me—they defiled My Sanctuary on the same day and profaned My Shabbatot. ³⁹ On the same day that they slaughtered their children to their idols, they came into My Sanctuary to profane it. See, that is what they have done within My House!

⁴⁰ “Furthermore, they sent for men who come from far away. A messenger was sent to them, and look, they came! For them you bathed, painted your eyes and decked yourself with jewelry. ⁴¹ You sat on a glorious bed, with a table arranged before it, on which you set out My incense and My oil. ⁴² The sound of a carefree crowd was with her. Many of the men who came from the desert were drunkards. They put bracelets on their hands and beautiful crowns on their heads.”

⁴³ Then I said about her, worn out from harlotry: “Still they commit immorality with her—even her? ⁴⁴ They keep going to her, as they go to a prostitute. So they went to Oholah and to Oholibah—the obscene women. ⁴⁵ Righteous men would judge them as adulteresses are judged and as those who shed blood are judged. For they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands.”

⁴⁶ For thus says Adonai Elohim: “Bring up an assembly against them. Give them over to terror and plunder. ⁴⁷ The assembly will stone them to death and dispatch them with their swords. They will slaughter their sons and daughters. They will burn down their houses. ⁴⁸ So I will make obscenity cease from the land, that all women may be taught not to imitate your obscenity. ⁴⁹ They will repay you both for wickedness and you will bear the sins of your idols. So you will know that I am Adonai.”