Ezekiel 21

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

Son of man, set your face firmly toward Thaiman, and look toward Darom, and prophesy against the forest, the leader of Nageb,

and you shall say to the forest of Nageb: Hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord, the Lord says: Behold, I am kindling a fire in you, and it shall devour in you every green tree and every dry tree; the flame that has been kindled shall not be quenched, and every face shall be burned up in it from the east to the north.

And all flesh shall recognize that I the Lord have kindled it, and it shall not be quenched.

And I said: By no means, O Lord, Lord! They say of me: Is not this a parable that is being told?

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

Therefore prophesy, son of man, and set your face firmly toward Ierousalem, and look toward their holy things, and you shall prophesy against the land of Israel,

and you shall say to the land of Israel: This is what the Lord says: Behold, I am against you, and I will draw my dagger out of its sheath, and I will utterly destroy from you the unrighteous and the lawless.

Because I will utterly destroy from you the unrighteous and the lawless, so my dagger shall go out of its sheath against all flesh from the east to the north.

And all flesh shall recognize that I the Lord have drawn my dagger out of its sheath, and it shall not turn back any more.

And you, son of man, groan deeply with the breaking of your loins, and with pains you shall groan before their eyes.

And it shall be, if they say to you, Why are you groaning? then you shall say: Because of the report, for it is coming; and every heart shall be crushed, and all hands shall go slack, and every flesh and every spirit shall faint, and all thighs shall be defiled with moisture. Behold, it is coming and it shall be, says the Lord, the Lord.

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

Son of man, prophesy and say: This is what the Lord says: Say: A sword, a sword! Be sharpened and be enraged,

that you may slaughter victims. Be sharpened, that you may become a flashing thing, ready to strike down. Slay, set at naught, thrust aside every tree.

And he made it ready for his hand to grasp. The sword has been whetted; it is ready to be given into the hand of the one who stabs.

Cry out and wail, son of man, for it has come upon my people, it upon all the leaders of Israel; they shall live as sojourners because of the sword. It has come upon my people; therefore clap your hand.

For it has been justified. And what if even a tribe has been thrust away? It shall not be, says the Lord, the Lord.

And you, son of man, prophesy and clap hand upon hand, and let the sword be doubled. The third sword is the sword of the slain, the great sword of the slain, and it shall dismay them,

that the heart may be crushed and those who are weak be multiplied at every gate of theirs. They have been handed over to the slaughters of the sword. It has been made well for slaughter, it has been made well for flashing.

Go through, be sharpened, to the right and to the left, wherever your face may be roused.

And I too will clap my hand against my hand and will let loose my wrath. I the Lord have spoken.

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

And you, son of man, mark out for yourself two roads for the sword of the king of Babylon to come in; the two shall go out from one country. And a hand at the head of the road of a city, at the head

of the road you shall mark it out, so that the sword may come against Rabbath of the sons of Ammon, and against Judea, and against Ierousalem in her midst.

For the king of Babylon shall stand at the ancient road, at the head of the two roads, to divine a divination: to shake up a rod, and to inquire by the carved images, and to inspect the liver on his right.

The oracle came concerning Ierousalem: to cast up a siege wall, to open the mouth with a shout, to lift up the voice with a cry, to cast up a siege wall against her gates, and to heap up a mound and to build emplacements for engines.

And to them he is as one divining a divination before them; yet he is the one who calls his iniquity to remembrance, that it may be remembered.

Therefore this is what the Lord says: Because you have brought your iniquities to remembrance, in that your impieties have been uncovered, so that your sins are seen in all your impieties and in your practices — because you have brought them to remembrance, by these you shall be caught.

And you, profane and lawless leader of Israel, whose day has come, at the time of iniquity, an end.

This is what the Lord says: You have taken off the turban and put on the crown. This shall not be as it was. You have brought low the high and lifted up the low.

Iniquity, iniquity I will make it; neither shall this be as it was, until he comes to whom it belongs, and I will hand it over to him.

And you, son of man, prophesy and say: This is what the Lord says concerning the sons of Ammon and concerning their reproach; and you shall say: A sword, a sword, drawn for slaughter and drawn for annihilation, rouse yourself that you may flash,

in your vain vision and in your divining of lies, to deliver you upon the necks of the slain, of the lawless ones, whose day has come, at the time of iniquity, an end.

Turn back! Do not lodge in this place where you were born; in your own land I will judge you.

And I will pour out my wrath upon you; with the fire of my anger I will blow upon you, and I will hand you over into the hands of barbarous men who craft destruction.

You shall be fuel for the fire; your blood shall be in the midst of your land; there shall be no remembrance of you, for I the Lord have spoken.