Ezekiel 21
21
The Lord Has Drawn His Sword
1 # 21:1 Ch 21:6 in Hebrew The word of the Lord came to me: 2#See ch. 2:1 “Son of man, #[ch. 20:46] set your face toward Jerusalem and #See ch. 20:46preach against the sanctuaries.#21:2 Some Hebrew manuscripts, compare Septuagint, Syriac against their sanctuary Prophesy against the land of Israel 3and say to the land of Israel, Thus says the Lord: #See ch. 13:8 Behold, I am against you and will draw #ver. 19, 30; [Deut. 32:41; Jer. 47:6] my sword from its sheath and #[ch. 20:47; Job 9:22]will cut off from you both righteous and wicked. 4Because I will cut off from you both righteous and wicked, therefore my sword shall be drawn from its sheath against all flesh from south to north. 5#[ch. 20:48] And all flesh shall know that I am the Lord. I have drawn #[See ver. 3 above] my sword from its sheath; #[ver. 30]it shall not be sheathed again.
6“As for you, son of man, #[ch. 6:11; 12:18] groan; with breaking heart and bitter grief, #See ch. 12:3groan before their eyes. 7#[ch. 12:9] And when they say to you, ‘Why do you groan?’ you shall say, ‘Because of the news #[ch. 7:5, 6] that it is coming. #See Josh. 2:11 Every heart will melt, and #See ch. 7:17 all hands will be feeble; every spirit will faint, and #See ch. 7:17 all knees will be weak as water. #ch. 39:8Behold, it is #[ch. 7:5, 6] coming, and it will be fulfilled,’” declares the Lord God.
8And the word of the Lord came to me: 9#[See ver. 2 above] “Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord, say:
# See ver. 3 “A sword, a sword is sharpened
and also polished,
10 # [ver. 15, 28] sharpened for slaughter,
# [ver. 15, 28] polished to flash like lightning!
(Or #[James 5:5] shall we rejoice? You have despised the rod, my son, #[ch. 20:47]with everything of wood.)#21:10 Probable reading; Hebrew The rod of my son despises everything of wood 11So the sword is given to be polished, that it may be grasped in the hand. It is sharpened and polished #[ver. 19]to be given into the hand of the slayer. 12#[ver. 6] Cry out and wail, son of man, for it is against my people. It is against all the princes of Israel. They are delivered over to the sword with my people. #Jer. 31:19Strike therefore upon your thigh. 13For it will not be a testing—what could it do if you despise #[ver. 10]the rod?”#21:13 Or For it is a testing; and what if even the rod despises? It shall not be! declares the Lord God.
14“As for you, #See ch. 2:1 son of man, prophesy. #ch. 22:13; Num. 24:10 Clap your hands and let the sword come down twice, #[2 Kgs. 24:1, 10; 25:1]yes, three times,#21:14 Hebrew its third the sword for those to be slain. It is the sword for the great slaughter, which surrounds them, 15that their hearts may melt, and many stumble.#21:15 Hebrew many stumbling blocks At all their gates I have given the glittering sword. Ah, it is made like lightning; #ver. 10it is taken up#21:15 The meaning of the Hebrew word rendered taken up is uncertain for slaughter. 16Cut sharply to the right; set yourself to the left, wherever your face is directed. 17I also will #[See ver. 14 above] clap my hands, #See ch. 5:13 and I will satisfy my fury; #See ch. 17:24I the Lord have spoken.”
18The word of the Lord came to me again: 19“As for you, son of man, mark two ways for #ver. 11 the sword of the king of Babylon to come. Both of them shall come from the same land. And make #[ver. 21]a signpost; make it #[ver. 21]at the head of the way to a city. 20Mark a way #See ch. 25:1-5; Jer. 49:1-6; Amos 1:13-15for the sword to come to Rabbah of the Ammonites and to Judah, into Jerusalem the fortified. 21For the king of Babylon stands #[ver. 19] at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination. He shakes the arrows; he consults #See Gen. 31:19the teraphim;#21:21 Or household idols he looks at the liver. 22Into his right hand comes the divination for Jerusalem, #ch. 4:2; 26:9 to set battering rams, to open the mouth with murder, to lift up the voice with shouting, to set battering rams against the gates, #See ch. 4:2to cast up mounds, to build siege towers. 23But to them it will seem like a false divination. #[ch. 17:13] They have sworn solemn oaths, but he brings their guilt to remembrance, #[ch. 17:20]that they may be taken.
24“Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have made your guilt to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your deeds your sins appear—because you have come to remembrance, #[ch. 17:20]you shall be taken in hand. 25And you, O profane#21:25 Or slain; also verse 29 #[ch. 17:19; 2 Chr. 36:13; Jer. 52:2] wicked one, prince of Israel, #ver. 29; ch. 22:3, 4 whose day has come, #ch. 35:5the time of your final punishment, 26thus says the Lord God: Remove the turban and take off the crown. Things shall not remain as they are. #[ch. 17:24; Luke 1:52]Exalt that which is low, and bring low that which is exalted. 27A ruin, ruin, ruin I will make it. #[ver. 13] This also shall not be, #Gen. 49:10; Zech. 6:12, 13; John 1:49; [Rev. 17:14]until he comes, the one to whom judgment belongs, and I will give it to him.
28“And you, #See ch. 2:1 son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord God #See ver. 20 concerning the Ammonites and concerning their reproach; say, #[ver. 9, 10] A sword, a sword #[ver. 5]is drawn for the slaughter. #[ver. 9, 10] It is polished to consume and to flash like lightning— 29while #See ch. 13:6 they see for you false visions, while they divine lies for you—to place you on the necks of the profane wicked, #ver. 25whose day has come, the time of their final punishment. 30#[See ver. 28 above] Return it to its sheath. In the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, #ch. 16:38I will judge you. 31And #See ch. 7:8 I will pour out my indignation upon you; #ch. 22:20, 21 I will blow upon you with the fire of my wrath, and I will deliver you into the hands of #See Ps. 49:10brutish men, skillful to destroy. 32You shall be fuel for the fire. Your blood shall be in the midst of the land. #ch. 25:10 You shall be no more remembered, #See ch. 17:24for I the Lord have spoken.”
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Ezekiel 21: ESV
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