Fluent Translation · Read & Reflect
Ezekiel 21
The drawn sword
The word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, turn your face toward Jerusalem. Speak out against the sanctuaries and prophesy against the land of Israel. Tell the land of Israel: This is what the LORD says: I am against you. I will draw my sword from its sheath and cut off both righteous and wicked from you. Because I will cut off both righteous and wicked from you, my sword will leave its sheath against all flesh from south to north. All flesh will know that I, the LORD, have drawn my sword from its sheath. It will not return again. “And you, son of man, groan before their eyes, your body doubled over, groaning bitterly. When they ask, ‘Why are you groaning?’ say, ‘Because of the news that is coming. Every heart will melt, every hand hang limp, every spirit grow faint, and every knee run with water. Look, it is coming; it will happen, declares the Lord GOD.’”
The sword’s song
The word of the LORD came to me:
“Son of man, prophesy. Say, ‘This is what the Lord says:
A sword, a sword,
sharpened and polished!
Sharpened for slaughter,
polished to flash like lightning!
Or should we rejoice?
The scepter of my son—it despises every tree.
It has been given for polishing,
to be gripped in a hand.
The sword is sharpened and polished,
to be placed in a killer’s hand.
Cry out and wail, son of man!
It is against my people,
against all the princes of Israel.
They are given over to the sword with my people.
So strike your thigh!
For testing is coming.
And what if even the scepter it despises is no more?
declares the Lord GOD.
“‘And you, son of man, prophesy!
Strike your hands together.
Let the sword strike twice, three times—
a sword for the slain,
a sword for great slaughter,
closing in on them.
To melt hearts and multiply the fallen,
I have set the slaughtering sword at all their gates.
Ah, it is made to flash,
readied for slaughter!
Gather yourself, sword! Strike right!
Set yourself! Strike left!
Wherever your edge is directed.
I too will strike my hands together
and let my fury rest.
I, the LORD, have spoken.’”
The fork in the road
The word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, mark out two roads for the sword of Babylon’s king to take. Both are to start in the same land. Make a signpost where the road branches toward a city. Mark a road for the sword to reach Rabbah of the Ammonites, and another to Judah, to fortified Jerusalem. For the king of Babylon stands at the fork, where the two roads begin, to practice divination. He shakes arrows, consults the teraphim, and inspects a liver. In his right hand is the divination for Jerusalem: to set battering rams, open his mouth for slaughter, raise a battle cry, place battering rams against the gates, heap up a ramp, and build siegeworks. To those who have sworn oaths, it will look like false divination. But he will call their guilt to mind, and they will be captured. “Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: You have brought your guilt to mind by exposing your rebellions and making your sins visible in all your deeds. Because you have brought yourselves to mind, you will be seized by the hand.
The fallen crown
And you, profane and wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come, the time of final punishment,
this is what the Lord GOD says:
Remove the turban! Take off the crown!
Things will not remain as they are.
Raise what is low; bring down what is high.
A ruin, a ruin, a ruin I will make it!
Even this will not remain
until the one comes to whom judgment belongs,
and I will give it to him.
A word concerning Ammon
“And you, son of man, prophesy. Say: This is what the Lord GOD says concerning the Ammonites and their taunts:
A sword, a sword drawn for slaughter,
polished to devour, to flash like lightning!
While they see empty visions for you
and give you lying divinations,
you are laid against the necks of the slain, the wicked,
whose day has come,
the time of final punishment.
Return it to its sheath!
In the place where you were created,
in the land of your origin,
I will judge you.
I will pour out my indignation on you
and blow upon you with the fire of my fury.
I will hand you over to brutal men,
craftsmen of destruction.
You will be fuel for the fire.
Your blood will lie within the land.
You will no longer be remembered,
for I, the LORD, have spoken.”