|
Chapter 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. |
