CHAPTER 21
1 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,
2 Thou, son of man, set thy face to Jerusalem, and drop thou thy word to the saintuaries, and prophesy thou against the earth of Israel.
3 And thou shalt say to the land of Israel, The Lord God saith these things, Lo! I to thee, and I shall cast my sword out of his sheath, and I shall slay in thee a just man and a wicked man.
4 Forsooth for that that I have slain in thee a just man and a wicked man, therefore my sword shall go out of his sheath to each man, from the south till to the north;
5 that each man know, that I the Lord have drawn out my sword from his sheath, that shall not be called again.
6 And thou, son of man, wail in [the] sorrow of loins, and in bitter-nesses thou shalt wail before them.
7 And when they shall say to thee, Why wailest thou? thou shalt say, For [the] hearing, for it cometh; and each heart shall fail, and all hands shall be made numb, and each spirit shall be feeble, and waters shall flow down by all knees; lo! it cometh, and it shall be done, saith the Lord God.
8 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,
9 Son of man, prophesy thou; and thou shalt say, The Lord God saith these things, Speak thou, The sword, the sword is made sharp, and is made bright;
10 it is made sharp to slay sacrifices; it is made bright, that it shine. Thou that movest the sceptre of my son, hast cut down each tree.
11 And I gave it to be furbished, that it be holden with hand; this sword is made sharp, and this is made bright, that it be in the hand of the slayer.
12 Son of man, cry thou, and yell, for this sword is made in my people, this in all the dukes of Israel; they that fled be given to sword with my people. Therefore smite thou on thine hip,
13 for it is proved; and this when it hath destroyed the sceptre, and it shall not be, saith the Lord God.
14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy thou, and smite thou hand to hand, and the sword be doubled, and the sword of the slayers be trebled; this is the sword of great slaying, that shall make them astonied, and to fail in heart, and multiplieth fallings.
15 In all the gates of them I gave troubling of a sword, sharp and made bright to shine, girded to slaying.
16 Be thou made sharp, go thou to the right side, either to the left side, whither ever the desire of thy face is.
17 Certainly and I shall smite with hand to hand, and I shall [ful] fill mine indignation; I the Lord spake.
18 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,
19 And thou, son of man, set to thee two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon come; both shall go out of one land, and by the hand he shall take conjecturing; he shall conjecture in the head of the way of the city,
20 setting a way, that the sword come to Rabbath of the sons of Ammon, and to Judah into Jerusalem most strong.
21 For the king of Babylon stood in the meeting of two ways, in the head of two ways, and sought divining, and meddled [or mingled] arrows; he asked idols, and took counsel at entrails.
22 Divining was made to his right side on Jerusalem, that he set engines, that he open [the] mouth in slaying, that he raise [the] voice in yelling, that he set engines against the gates, that he bear together [an heap of] earth, that he build strongholds.
23 And he shall be as counselling in a vain god’s answer before the eyes of them, and serving on the rest of sabbaths; but he shall have mind on their wickedness, to take them.
24 Therefore the Lord God saith these things, For that that ye had mind on your wickednesses, and showed your trespassings, and your sins appeared in all your thoughts, forsooth for that that ye had mind, ye shall be taken by the enemies’ hand.
25 But thou, cursed wicked duke of Israel, whose day before-determined is come in the time of wickedness,
26 the Lord God saith these things, Do away the mitre, take away the crown; whether it is not this that raised the meek man, and made low the high man?
27 Wickedness, wickedness, wicked-ness, I shall put it; and this shall not be done till he come, whose the doom it is, and I shall betake it to him.
28 And thou, son of man, prophesy, and say, The Lord God saith these things to the sons of Ammon, and to the shame of them; and thou shalt say, A! thou sword, A! thou sword, drawn out to slay, made bright, that thou slay and shine,
29 when vain things were seen to thee, and leasings were divined, that thou shouldest be given on the necks of wicked men wounded, the day of which before-determined shall come in the time of wickedness,
30 turn thou again into thy sheath, into the place in which thou were made. I shall deem thee in the land of thy birth,
31 and I shall shed out mine indignation on thee; in the fire of my strong vengeance I shall blow in thee, and I shall give thee into the hands of unwise men, and making death.
32 Thou shalt be meat to fire, thy blood shall be in the midst of earth; thou shalt be given to forgetting, for I the Lord spake.