Ezekiel
Chapter 21
1 God’s message came to me, saying,
2 Human, look toward Jerusalem, speak your message to the sacred places, and tell of coming troubles for the land of Israel.
3 Tell the land of Israel, God says: I am against you, and I will pull out my sword and cut down both good and bad people from you.
4 Since I will remove both good and bad people from you, my sword will be drawn and strike everyone from the south to the north.
5 So that everyone may know that I, God, have taken out my sword from its cover: it will not be put back again.
6 So, you human, sigh deeply with sadness; let everyone see your grief.
7 When people ask you why you are sighing, you will say, “Because of the news that is coming. Everyone’s heart will melt, hands will go limp, spirits will lose courage, and knees will turn to water. Look, it’s coming and will happen,” says God.
8 God spoke to me again, saying,
9 Human, prophesy and say, This is what God says: Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened and polished.
10 It is sharpened for a terrible killing; it is polished to shine: should we then celebrate? It rejects the authority of my son, like any tree.
11 He has made it ready to be used; this sword is sharp and polished to be given to the one who will kill.
12 Weep and wail, human: it will happen to my people, it will happen to all the leaders of Israel: fears of war will be upon my people: so hit your leg in grief.
13 It’s a test, and what if the sword despises the stick? It won’t exist anymore, says God.
14 So, human, prophesy and clap your hands. Let the sword strike three times, the sword that kills the mighty; it is the sword that kills the great ones, reaching into their private rooms.
15 I have placed the sword at all their gates so that they will be scared and their destruction will increase. Oh! It is sharpened and prepared for killing.
16 Go in any direction, to the right or to the left, wherever you decide to look.
17 I will clap my hands together, and I will let my anger settle: I, God, have said it.
18 God spoke to me once more, saying,
19 You, too, must set up two roads for the king of Babylon’s army to invade. Both will start from the same country. At the start of each road leading to the city, pick a spot for a signpost.
20 Set a path for the sword to reach Rabbath of the Ammonites and Judah in fortified Jerusalem.
21 The king of Babylon stopped at the crossroads, at the start of the two paths, to practice fortune-telling: he polished his arrows, he asked idols, he examined the liver.
22 At his right side was the plan for Jerusalem: to set leaders, to begin the attack, to shout loudly, to place rams at the gates, to make a siege mound, and to construct a stronghold.
23 They will see it as a false prediction, those who make promises; but their wrongdoing will be remembered, so they can be captured.
24 So God says, because you have shown your sins and everyone sees your wrong acts, and because you are now remembered, you will be caught.
25 You, evil and unholy ruler of Israel, your time has come when your wrongdoing will stop.
26 God says, “Take off the royal headband, remove the crown: things will change: lift up the lowly, and bring down the powerful.”
27 I will completely overturn it, and it will be gone, until the one who rightfully owns it comes; then I will give it to him.
28 You, human, tell them what God says about the Ammonites and their insults: “The sword is drawn and ready for killing, polished to shine and destroy.”
29 While they show you false visions and tell you lies, to lead you to the fate of the wicked who are doomed, when their sin ends.
30 Will I put it back in its holder? I will judge you where you were born, in your homeland.
31 I will let out my anger on you, I will breathe on you with the fire of my anger, and give you to rough men who are good at destroying.
32 You will be fuel for the fire; your blood will be spread across the land; you will be forgotten because I, God, have said so.