21:1 ①And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
▷ ①Ch 21:6 in Heb
21:2 “Son of man, set your face against Jerusalem, and ①speak prophetically against the sanctuaries and prophesy against the land of Israel;
▷ ①Lit flow
21:3 and say to the land of Israel, ‘This is what the LORD says: “Behold, I am against you; and I will draw My sword from 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 out from its sheath against ①humanity from south to north.
▷ ①Lit all flesh
21:5 So ①humanity will know that I, the LORD, have drawn My sword from its sheath. It will not return to its sheath again.” ’
▷ ①Lit all flesh
21:6 As for you, son of man, groan with ①a breaking heart and bitter grief; you shall groan in their sight.
▷ ①Lit shaking hips
21:7 And when they say to you, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you shall say, ‘Because of the news, for it is coming; and every heart will melt, all hands will go limp, every spirit will be disheartened, and all ①knees will drip with water. Behold, it is coming and it will happen,’ declares the Lord ②GOD.”
▷ ①Heb idiom meaning to wet oneself ②Heb YHWH, usually rendered LORD, and so throughout the ch
21:8 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
21:9 “Son of man, prophesy and say, ‘This is what the LORD says:’ Say,
‘A sword, a sword sharpened
And also polished!
21:10 Sharpened to make a slaughter,
Polished ①to flash like lightning!’ Or shall we rejoice, the ②rod of My son despising every tree?
▷ ①Lit that lightning may be to her ②Or scepter
21:11 And it is given to be polished, so that it may be handled; the sword is sharpened and polished, to hand it over to the slaughterer.
21:12 Cry out and wail, son of man; for it is against My people, it is against all the officials of Israel. They are turned over to the sword with My people, therefore ①slap your thigh.
▷ ①I.e., in grief
21:13 For there is a testing; and what if even the ①rod which despises will cease to be?” declares the Lord GOD.
▷ ①Or scepter
21:14 “You therefore, son of man, prophesy and clap your hands; and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword for the slain. It is the sword for the great one slain, which surrounds them,
21:15 so that their hearts will waver, and many fall at all their gates. I have granted the slaughter of the sword. Oh! It is made for striking like lightning, it is sharpened in readiness for slaughter.
21:16 Prove yourself sharp, go to the right; set yourself; go to the left, wherever your ①edge is ordered.
▷ ①Lit face
21:17 I will also clap My hands, and I will satisfy My wrath; I, the LORD, have spoken.”
21:18 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
21:19 “Now as for you, son of man, ①make two ways for the sword of the king of Babylon to come; both of them will go out of one land. And ②make a signpost; ③make it at the head of the way to the city.
▷ ①Or set for yourself ②Lit cut out a hand ③Lit cut it
21:20 You shall ①mark a way for the sword to come to Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and to Judah into fortified Jerusalem.
▷ ①Lit set
21:21 For the king of Babylon stands at the ①parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination; he shakes the arrows, he consults the ②household idols, he looks at the liver.
▷ ①Lit mother ②Heb teraphim
21:22 Into his right hand came the divination, ‘Jerusalem,’ to set up battering rams, to open the mouth ①for ②slaughter, to raise the voice with a battle cry, to set up battering rams against the gates, to pile up assault ramps, to build a siege wall.
▷ ①Lit in ②Another reading is war-cry
21:23 And it will be to them like a false divination in their eyes; they have sworn solemn oaths. But he makes guilt known, so that they may be seized.
21:24 “Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because you have made your guilt known, in that your offenses are uncovered, so that in all your deeds your sins are seen—because you have come to mind, you will be seized by the hand.
21:25 And you, slain, wicked one, the prince of Israel, whose day has come, in the time of the ①punishment of the end,’
▷ ①Or wrongdoing
21:26 this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Remove the ①turban and take off the crown; this will ②no longer be the same. Exalt that which is low, and humble that which is high.
▷ ①Or headband ②Lit not this
21:27 Ruins, ruins, ruins, I will make it! This also will be no longer until He comes whose right it is, and I will give it to Him.’
21:28 “And you, son of man, prophesy and say, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says concerning the sons of Ammon and their taunting,’ and say: ‘A sword, a sword is drawn, sharpened for the slaughter, to make it ①consume, so that it may be like lightning—
▷ ①Lit finish
21:29 while they see false visions for you, while they divine lies for you—to place you on the necks of the wicked who are killed, whose day has come, in the time of the ①punishment of the end.
▷ ①Or wrongdoing
21:30 Return it to its sheath. In the place where you were 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 hand you over to brutal men, craftsmen of destruction.
21:32 You will be ①fuel for the fire; your blood will be in the midst of the land. You will not be remembered, for I, the LORD, have spoken.’ ”
▷ ①Lit food