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Ezekiel 21
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word
toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel,
3 And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I am
against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of his 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 his 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 his sheath: it shall not return any more.
6 Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins;
and with bitterness sigh before their eyes.
7 And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore sighest thou?
that thou shalt answer, For the tidings; because it cometh: 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 cometh, and shall be brought to pass,
saith the Lord GOD.
8 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
9 Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the LORD; Say, A sword,
a sword is sharpened, and also furbished:
10 It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; it is furbished that
it may glitter: should we then make mirth? it contemneth the rod of my son, as
every tree.
11 And he hath 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: terrors by reason of the sword shall be
upon my people: smite therefore upon thy thigh.
13 Because it is a trial, and what if the sword contemn even the
rod? it shall be no more, saith 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:
it is the sword of the great men that are slain, which entereth into their privy
chambers.
15 I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, that
their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied: ah! it is made bright, it
is wrapped up for the slaughter.
16 Go thee one way or other, either on the right hand, or on the
left, whithersoever thy face is set.
17 I will also smite mine hands together, and I will cause my fury
to rest: I the LORD have said it.
18 The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,
19 Also, thou son of man, appoint thee two ways, that the sword of
the king of Babylon may come: both twain shall come forth out of one land: and
choose thou a place, choose it at the head of the way to the city.
20 Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rabbath of the
Ammonites, and to Judah in 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 At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to appoint
captains, to open the mouth in 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 them that have sworn oaths: but he will call to remembrance the iniquity,
that they may be taken.
24 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have made your
iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are discovered, so that
in all your doings your sins do appear; because, I say, that ye are come to
remembrance, ye shall be taken with the hand.
25 And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come,
when iniquity shall have an end,
26 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Remove the diadem, and take off the
crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is
high.
27 I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no
more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it 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 because
of the glittering:
29 Whiles they see vanity unto thee, whiles they divine a lie unto
thee, to bring thee upon the necks of them that are slain, of the wicked, whose
day is come, when their iniquity shall have an end.
30 Shall I cause it to return into his sheath? I will judge thee in
the place where thou wast created, in the land of thy nativity.
31 And I will pour out mine indignation upon thee, I will blow
against thee in the fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of brutish
men, and skilful to destroy.
32 Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire; thy blood shall be in the
midst of the land; thou shalt be no more remembered: for I the LORD have spoken
it.
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