of the sword shall be upon my people: smite therefore upon thy thigh. [1]
13 Because it is a trial, and what if the sword despise even the rod? it shall be no more, saith the Lord GOD. [2]
14 Thou therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite thy hands together, and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain: it is the sword of the great men that are slain, which entereth into their private chambers. [3]
15 I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, that their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied: ah! it is made bright, it is sharpened for the slaughter. [4] [5]
16 Go thee one way or other, either on the right hand, or on the left, wherever thy face is set. [6]
17 I will also smite my hands together, and I will cause my fury to rest: I the LORD have said it .
18 The word of the LORD came to me again, saying,
19 Also, thou son of man, mark two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come: both ways shall come forth from one land: and choose thou a place, choose it at the head of the way to the city.
20 Mark a way, that the sword may come to Rabbah of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the fortified.
21 For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he made his arrows bright, he consulted with images, he looked in the liver. [7] [8] [9]
22 At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to appoint captains, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to appoint battering rams against the gates, to cast a siege mound, and to build a fort. [10]
23 And it shall be to them as a false divination in their sight, to them that have sworn oaths: but he will call to remembrance the iniquity, that they may be taken. [11]
24 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are discovered, so that in all your doings your sins do appear; because, I say, that ye are come to remembrance, ye shall be taken with the hand.
25 And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end,
26 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high.
27 I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he cometh whose right it is; and I will give it him . [12]
28 And thou, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning the Ammonites, and concerning their reproach; even say thou, The sword, the sword is drawn: for the slaughter it is polished, to consume because of the glittering:
29 While they see vanity to thee, while they divine a lie to thee, to bring thee upon the necks of them that are slain, of the wicked, whose day is come, when their iniquity shall have an end.
30 Shall I cause it to return into its sheath? I will judge thee in the place where thou wast created, in the land of thy nativity. [13]
31 And I will pour out my indignation upon thee, I will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of cruel men, and skilful to destroy. [14]
32 Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire; thy blood shall be in the midst of the land; thou shalt be no more remembered: for I the LORD have spoken it .
CHAP. 22.
Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
2 Now, thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the bloody city? yea, thou shalt show her all her abominations. [15] [16] [17]
3 Then say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD, The city sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that her time may come, and maketh idols against herself to defile herself.
4 Thou art become guilty in thy blood that thou hast shed; and hast defiled thyself by thy idols which thou hast made; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come even to thy years: therefore have I made thee a reproach to the heathen, and a mocking to all countries.
5 Those that are near, and those that are far from thee, shall mock thee, who art infamous and much troubled. [18]
6 Behold, the princes of Israel, every one were in thee to their power to shed blood. [19]
7 In thee have they set light by father and mother: in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in thee have they oppressed the fatherless and the widow. [20]
8 Thou hast despised my holy things, and hast profaned my sabbaths.
9 In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit lewdness. [21]
10 In thee have they uncovered their fathers’ nakedness: in thee have they humbled her that was set apart for pollution.
11 And one hath committed abomination with his neighbour’s wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter in law; and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father’s daughter. [22] [23] [24]
12 In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken interest and
- ↑ terrors...: or, they are thrust down to the sword with my people
- ↑ Because...: or, When the trial hath been, what then? shall they not also belong to the despising rod?
- ↑ hands...: Heb. hand to hand
- ↑ point: or, glittering, or, fear
- ↑ wrapped up: or, sharpened
- ↑ or on...: Heb. set thyself, take the left hand
- ↑ parting of: Heb. mother of
- ↑ arrows: or, knives
- ↑ images: Heb. teraphim
- ↑ captains: or, battering rams: Heb. rams
- ↑ to them...: or, for the oaths made unto them
- ↑ I will overturn...: Heb. Perverted, perverted, perverted, will I make it
- ↑ Shall...: or, Cause it to return
- ↑ brutish: or, burning
- ↑ judge: or, plead for
- ↑ bloody...: Heb. city of bloods?
- ↑ shew her: Heb. make her know
- ↑ infamous...: Heb. polluted of name, much in vexation
- ↑ power: Heb. arm
- ↑ oppression: or, deceit
- ↑ that...: Heb. of slanders
- ↑ one: or, every one
- ↑ another: or, every one
- ↑ lewdly: or, by lewdness
