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Babylon as God’s Sword of Judgment
21:1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
21:2 Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop
thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the
land of Israel,
21:3 And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the LORD;
Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth my sword out
of his sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and
the wicked.
21:4 Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the
righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth
out of his sheath against all flesh from the south to the
north:
21:5 That all flesh may know that I the LORD have drawn
forth my sword out of his sheath: it shall not return any
more.
21:6 Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of
thy loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes.
21:7 And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore
sighest thou? that thou shalt answer, For the tidings;
because it cometh: and every heart shall melt, and all hands
shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees
shall be weak as water: behold, it cometh, and shall be
brought to pass, saith the Lord GOD.
21:8 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
21:9 Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the LORD;
Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished:
21:10 It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; it is
furbished that it may glitter: should we then make mirth? it
contemneth the rod of my son, as every tree.
21:11 And he hath given it to be furbished, that it may be
handled: this sword is sharpened, and it is furbished, to
give it into the hand of the slayer.
21:12 Cry and howl, son of man: for it shall be upon my
people, it shall be upon all the princes of Israel: terrors
by reason of the sword shall be upon my people: smite
therefore upon thy thigh.
21:13 Because it is a trial, and what if the sword contemn
even the rod? it shall be no more, saith the Lord GOD.
21:14 Thou therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite thine
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 privy chambers.
21:15 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 wrapped up for the
slaughter.
21:16 Go thee one way or other, either on the right hand,
or on the left, whithersoever thy face is set.
21:17 I will also smite mine hands together, and I will
cause my fury to rest: I the LORD have said it.
21:18 The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,
21:19 Also, thou son of man, appoint thee two ways, that
the sword of the king of Babylon may come: both twain shall
come forth out of one land: and choose thou a place, choose
it at the head of the way to the city.
21:20 Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rabbath of
the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the defenced.
21:21 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.
21:22 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 mount, and to build a fort.
21:23 And it shall be unto 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.
21:24 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.
21:25 And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day
is come, when iniquity shall have an end,
21:26 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.
21:27 I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall
be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give
it him.
21:28 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 furbished, to consume because of the
glittering:
21:29 Whiles they see vanity unto thee, whiles they divine
a lie unto 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.
21:30 Shall I cause it to return into his sheath? I will
judge thee in the place where thou wast created, in the land
of thy nativity.
21:31 And I will pour out mine indignation upon thee, I
will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath, and deliver
thee into the hand of brutish men, and skilful to destroy.
21:32 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. |
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