Ezekiel 21
Evangelical Heritage Version
The Lord’s Punishing Sword Is Drawn
21 The word of the Lord came to me.[a]
2 Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem. Preach against the sanctuaries, and prophesy against the land of Israel. 3 Say this to the land of Israel.
This is what the Lord says. Hear this! I am against you, and I will draw my sword out of its scabbard, and I will cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked. 4 Because I have resolved to cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked, therefore my sword will come out of its scabbard against everyone from south to north. 5 Then all flesh will know that I, the Lord, have drawn my sword from its scabbard. It will not return to its sheath again. 6 Now you, son of man, groan as though you were doubled up in pain. Groan in front of them as though in bitter anguish. 7 When they ask you, “Why are you groaning?” say, “Because of the news that is coming.” Then every heart will melt, all hands will hang limp, and all knees will run with water.[b] It is coming, and it will take place, declares the Lord God.
8 The word of the Lord came to me.
9 Son of man, prophesy and say that this is what the Lord says.
A sword, a sword has been sharpened.
It has also been polished.
10 It has been made very sharp for slaughter.
It has been polished to flash like lightning.
So shall we rejoice in the scepter of my son?
The sword despises every such stick of wood.[c]
11 The sword has been set aside to be polished,
to be grasped by the hand.
It has been sharpened, and it has been polished,
to be put into the hand of a killer.
12 Cry out and wail, son of man,
because the sword is against my people.
It is against all the princes of Israel.
They have been thrown to the sword together with my people.
Therefore, slap your thigh.[d]
13 Yes, testing is sure to come.
What if the scepter, which the sword despises, is no more?[e]
This is the declaration of the Lord God.
14 Now you, son of man, prophesy.
Clap your hands together.[f]
Let the sword strike two times or even three.
It is a sword for those who are to be slain,
a sword for great slaughter,[g]
a sword that pursues even to the inner room,[h]
15 so that hearts melt,
and those who stumble will be many.
At all their gates I have placed the point[i] of the sword.
Yes, it is made to flash like lightning,
unsheathed for slaughter.
16 Slash to the right. Thrust to the left—
wherever your blade is directed.
17 Then I myself will clap my hands.[j]
I will bring my wrath to an end.
I, the Lord, have spoken.
Two Roads for the Sword
18 The word of the Lord came to me.
19 Now you, son of man, draw a map with two roads for the sword of the king of Babylon to follow. Both of them should start from the same country. Make a signpost. Place it at the fork of the road to the city. 20 Draw a road for the sword to come either to Rabbah of the Ammonites or to Judah, to fortified Jerusalem, 21 because the king of Babylon will stand at the fork of the road, where the two roads branch off, in order to read the omens. He will shake the arrows, consult his family gods,[k] and examine animal livers for omens. 22 In his right hand he will receive the omen for Jerusalem—to set up battering rams, to shout the command to slaughter, to sound the battle cry, to set battering rams against the gates, to throw up a ramp, to build a siege wall. 23 But to the people of Jerusalem it will seem like a false omen. They swore solemn oaths to him, so he will remind them of their guilt, and they will be captured. 24 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says. Because you brought your guilt into the open by displaying your rebellious acts, so that your sins are revealed by all your deeds—because you have brought your guilt out into the open, you will be taken in hand.
25 You corpse, you wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come for the time of final punishment, 26 this is what the Lord God says. Remove the turban. Take off the crown. Everything will be changed. Raise what is low. Bring down the high. 27 Ruin, ruin, ruin I will make it. This ruin will not end[l] until the one comes to whom judgment belongs, the one to whom I will give it.
28 Now you, son of man, prophesy and say that this is what the Lord God says concerning the Ammonites and their taunts. Say this:
Sword, O sword, unsheathed for slaughter, polished to consume, to flash like lightning! 29 Though empty visions were seen about you,[m] though omens made deceptive forecasts about you, you will be applied to the necks of the corpses of wicked men, whose day has come for the time of final punishment.
30 Return, sword, to your scabbard. In the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you. 31 I will pour out my wrath on you. I will blow the fire of my fury upon you. I will deliver you into the hands of brutal men, expert destroyers. 32 You will be fuel for the fire. Your blood will flow all over the land, and you will no longer be remembered, for I, the Lord, have spoken.
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 21:1 English verses 21:1-32 are 21:6-37 in Hebrew.
- Ezekiel 21:7 Terror will cause them to wet themselves.
- Ezekiel 21:10 This line seems to interrupt the Lord’s poem, which resumes in the next verse. The verse is difficult, and the meaning is uncertain. It seems to mean that no king of Judah can stand before the sword of Babylon. See verse 13.
- Ezekiel 21:12 Apparently an expression of grief
- Ezekiel 21:13 The verse is difficult, and the meaning is uncertain. It seems to be asking, “When the kings of Judah have been destroyed, how can the promise to David come true?” See verse 10 and verse 27.
- Ezekiel 21:14 Apparently a signal to begin the slaughter. Compare 21:17.
- Ezekiel 21:14 Or to slaughter the great
- Ezekiel 21:14 The meaning of this line is uncertain.
- Ezekiel 21:15 The meaning of this word is uncertain.
- Ezekiel 21:17 To signal the end of the slaughter
- Ezekiel 21:21 Hebrew teraphim
- Ezekiel 21:27 Or will not be completed. The expression is quite difficult, but this verse points to the Messiah who was foretold in Genesis 49:10 as the one to whom it belongs. This verse answers the question posed in verse 13. When the kings of Judah are gone, the Messiah will come and fulfill the promise to David. It is uncertain whether the point is that the depressed status of Israel will end only when the Messiah comes, or that even after the Messiah comes, in 70 ad Jerusalem will fall again.
- Ezekiel 21:29 The Hebrew construction is difficult. The word you, which is the subject of the whole statement, must refer to the sword. The same applies to the word you in the next paragraph.
Ezekiel 21
King James Version
21 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.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.