21:1  And the word of the LORD came to me saying,

21:2  "Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and speak against the sanctuaries and prophesy against the land of Israel;

21:3  and say to the land of Israel, 'Thus says the LORD, "Behold, I fight against you; and I will draw My sword out of its sheath and cut off from you the righteous and the wicked.

21:4  "Because I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore My sword will go forth from its sheath against all flesh from south to north.

21:5  "Thus all flesh will know that I, the LORD, have drawn My sword out of its sheath. It will not return to its sheath again."'

21:6  "As for you, son of man, groan with breaking heart and bitter grief, groan in their sight.

21:7  "And when they say to you, 'Why do you groan?' you shall say, 'Because of the news that comes; and every heart will melt, all hands will become feeble, every spirit will faint and all knees will feel weak as water. Behold, it comes and it will happen,' declares the Lord GOD."

21:8  Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

21:9  "Son of man, prophesy and say, 'Thus says the LORD.' Say, ' A sword, a sword sharpened And also polished!

21:10  'Sharpened to make a slaughter, Polished to flash like lightning!' Or shall we rejoice, the rod of My son despising every tree?

21:11  "People receive it to polish, that they may handle it ; the sword has become sharpened and polished, to give it into the hand of the slayer.

21:12  " Cry out and wail, son of man; for it came against My people, it came against all the officials of Israel. They have become delivered over to the sword with My people, therefore strike your thigh.

21:13  "For there will come a test; and what if even the rod which despises will exist no more?" declares the Lord GOD.

21:14  "You therefore, son of man, prophesy and clap your hands together; and let the sword double the third time, the sword for the slain. We acknowledge it as the sword for the great one slain, which surrounds them,

21:15  that their hearts may melt, and many fall at all their gates. I have given the glittering sword. Ah! I have made it for striking like lightning, we wrap it up in readiness for slaughter.

21:16  "Show yourself sharp, go to the right; set yourself; go to the left, wherever your edge has become appointed.

21:17  "I will also clap My hands together, and I will appease My wrath; I, the LORD, have spoken."

21:18  The word of the LORD came to me saying,

21:19  "As for you, son of man, make two ways for the sword of the king of Babylon to come; both of them will go out of one land. And make a signpost; make it at the head of the way to the city.

21:20  "You shall mark a way for the sword to come to Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and to Judah into fortified Jerusalem.

21:21  "For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination; he shakes the arrows, he consults the household idols, he looks at the liver.

21:22  "Into his right hand came the divination, 'Jerusalem,' to set battering rams, to open the mouth for slaughter, to lift up the voice with a battle cry, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up ramps, to build a siege wall.

21:23  "And it will occur to them like a false divination in their eyes; they have sworn solemn oaths But he brings iniquity to remembrance, that someone may seize them.

21:24  "Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, 'Because you have made your iniquity something people will remember, in that your transgressions have become uncovered, so that in all your deeds your sins appear--because you have come to remembrance, someone will seize you with the hand.

21:25  'And you, O slain, wicked one, the prince of Israel, whose day has come, in the time of the punishment of the end,'

21:26  thus says the Lord GOD, 'Remove the turban and take off the crown; this will no longer remain the same Exalt that which seems low and abase that which has become high.

21:27  ' A ruin, a ruin, a ruin, I will make it This also will happen no more until He comes whose right we will have, and I will give it to Him.'

21:28  "And you, son of man, prophesy and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD concerning the sons of Ammon and concerning their reproach,' and say: 'A sword, a sword we will draw, polished for the slaughter, to cause it to consume, that it may appear like lightning--

21:29  while they see for you false visions, while they divine lies for you--to place you on the necks of the wicked who have become slain, whose day has come, in the time of the punishment of the end.

21:30  ' Return it to its sheath In the place where you had created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you.

21:31   'I will pour out My indignation on you; I will blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and I will give you into the hand of brutal men, skilled in destruction.

21:32  'You will serve as fuel for the fire; your blood will spill in the midst of the land . No one will remember you, for I, the LORD, have spoken.'"