The LORD's Sharpened Sword

211 And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, 2 'Son of man, set thy face unto Jerusalem, and prophesy unto the holy places, and prophesy unto the ground of Israel; 3 and thou hast said unto the ground of Israel: Thus said Jehovah: Lo, I 'am' against thee, And have brought out My sword from its scabbard, And have cut off from thee righteous and wicked. 4 Because that I have cut off from thee righteous and wicked, Therefore go out doth My sword from its scabbard, Unto all flesh, from south to north. 5 And known have all flesh that I, Jehovah, Have brought out My sword from its scabbard, It doth not turn back any more. 6 And thou, son of man, sigh with breaking of loins, yea, with bitterness thou dost sigh before their eyes, 7 and it hath come to pass, when they say unto thee, For what art thou sighing? that thou hast said: Because of the report, for it is coming, And melted hath every heart, And feeble hath been all hands, And weak is every spirit, And all knees go—waters, Lo, it is coming, yea, it hath been, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.'

8 And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, 9 'Son of man, prophesy, and thou hast said, Thus said Jehovah, say: A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also polished. 10 So as to slaughter a slaughter it is sharpened. So as to have brightness it is polished, Desire hath rejoiced the sceptre of my son, It is despising every tree. 11 And he giveth it for polishing, For laying hold of by the hand. It is sharpened—the sword—and polished, To give it into the hand of a slayer. 12 Cry and howl, son of man, For it hath been among My people, It 'is' among all the princes of Israel, Cast unto the sword have been My people. Therefore strike on thy thigh, 13 Because 'it is' a trier, And what if even the sceptre it is despising? It shall not be, an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah. 14 And thou, son of man, prophesy, And smite hand on hand, And bent is the sword a third time, The sword of the wounded! It 'is' the sword of the wounded—the great one, That is entering the inner chamber to them. 15 To melt the heart, and to multiply the ruins, By all their gates I have set the point of a sword. Ah, it is made for brightness, Wrapt up for slaughter. 16 Take possession of the right, place thyself at the left, Whither thy face is appointed. 17 And I also, I smite My hand on my hand, And have caused My fury to rest; I, Jehovah, have spoken.'

18 And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, 19 'And thou, son of man, appoint for thee two ways, for the coming in of the sword of the king of Babylon; from one land they come forth, both of them, and a station prepare thou, at the top of the way of the city prepare 'it'. 20 A way appoint for the coming of the sword, Unto Rabbath of the sons of Ammon, And to Judah, in Jerusalem—the fenced. 21 For stood hath the king of Babylon at the head of the way, At the top of the two ways, to use divination, He hath moved lightly with the arrows, He hath asked at the teraphim, He hath looked on the liver. 22 At his right hath been the divination—Jerusalem, To place battering-rams, To open the mouth with slaughter, To lift up a voice with shouting, To place battering-rams against the gates, To pour out a mount, to build a fortification. 23 And it hath been to them as a false divination in their eyes, Who have sworn oaths to them, And he is causing iniquity to be remembered to be caught. 24 Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because of your causing your iniquity to be remembered, In your transgressions being revealed, For your sins being seen, in all your doings, Because of your being remembered, By the hand ye are caught. 25 And thou, wounded, wicked one, Prince of Israel, whose day hath come, In the time of the iniquity of the end! 26 Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Turn aside the mitre, and bear away the crown, This—not this—the low make high, And the high make low. 27 An overturn, overturn, overturn, I make it, Also this hath not been till the coming of Him, Whose 'is' the judgment, and I have given it.

Judgment on the Ammonites

28 And thou, son of man, prophesy, and thou hast said: Thus said the Lord Jehovah concerning the sons of Ammon, and concerning their reproach: and thou hast said: A sword, a sword, open for slaughter, Polished to the utmost for brightness! 29 In the seeing for thee of a vain thing, In the divining for thee of a lie, To put thee on the necks of the wounded of the wicked, whose day hath come, In the time of the iniquity of the end. 30 Turn 'it' back unto its scabbard, In the place where thou wast produced, In the land of thy birth I do judge thee. 31 And I have poured on thee Mine indignation, With fire of My wrath I blow against thee, And have given thee into the hand of brutish men—artificers of destruction. 32 To the fire thou art for fuel, Thy blood is in the midst of the land, Thou art not remembered, For I, Jehovah, have spoken!'

The Sins of Jerusalem

221 And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, 2 'And thou, son of man, dost thou judge? dost thou judge the city of blood? then thou hast caused it to know all its abominations, 3 and thou hast said: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: The city is shedding blood in its midst, For the coming in of its time, And it hath made idols on it for defilement. 4 By thy blood that thou hast shed thou hast been guilty, And by thine idols that thou hast made thou hast been defiled, And thou causest thy days to draw near, And art come in unto thine years, Therefore I have given thee a reproach to nations, And a derision to all the lands. 5 The near and the far-off from thee scoff at thee, O defiled of name—abounding in trouble. 6 Lo, princes of Israel—each according to his arm Have been in thee to shed blood. 7 Father and mother made light of in thee, To a sojourner they dealt oppressively in thy midst, Fatherless and widow they oppressed in thee. 8 My holy things thou hast despised, And My sabbaths thou hast polluted. 9 Men of slander have been in thee to shed blood, And on the mountains they have eaten in thee, Wickedness they have done in thy midst. 10 The nakedness of a father hath one uncovered in thee, The defiled of impurity they humbled in thee. 11 And each with the wife of his neighbour hath done abomination, And each his daughter-in-law hath defiled through wickedness, And each his sister, his father's daughter, hath humbled in thee. 12 A bribe they have taken in thee to shed blood, Usury and increase thou hast taken, And cuttest off thy neighbour by oppression, And Me thou hast forgotten, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah! 13 And lo, I have smitten My hand, Because of thy dishonest gain that thou hast gained, And for thy blood that hath been in thy midst. 14 Doth thy heart stand—are thy hands strong, For the days that I am dealing with thee? I, Jehovah, have spoken and have done 'it'. 15 And I have scattered thee among nations, And have spread thee out among lands, And consumed thy uncleanness out of thee. 16 And thou hast been polluted in thyself Before the eyes of nations, And thou hast known that I 'am' Jehovah.'

17 And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, 'Son of man, 18 The house of Israel hath been to Me for dross, All of them 'are' brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, In the midst of a furnace—dross hath silver been, 19 Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because of your all becoming dross, Therefore, lo, I am gathering you unto the midst of Jerusalem, 20 A gathering of silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, Unto the midst of a furnace—to blow on it fire, to melt it, So do I gather in Mine anger and in My fury, And I have let rest, and have melted you. 21 And I have heaped you up, And blown on you in the fire of My wrath, And ye have been melted in its midst. 22 As the melting of silver in the midst of a furnace, So are ye melted in its midst, And ye have known that I, Jehovah, I have poured out My fury upon you.'

23 And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying: 24 'Son of man, say to it, Thou 'art' a land, It 'is' not cleansed nor rained on in a day of indignation. 25 A conspiracy of its prophets 'is' in its midst, as a roaring lion tearing prey; The soul they have devoured, Wealth and glory they have taken, Its widows have multiplied in its midst. 26 Its priests have wronged My law, And they pollute My holy things, Between holy and common they have not made separation, And between the unclean and the clean they have not made known, And from my sabbaths they have hidden their eyes, And I am pierced in their midst. 27 Its princes in its midst 'are' as wolves, Tearing prey, to shed blood, to destroy souls, For the sake of gaining dishonest gain. 28 And its prophets have daubed for them with chalk, Seeing a vain thing, and divining for them a lie, Saying, 'Thus said the Lord Jehovah:' And Jehovah hath not spoken. 29 The people of the land have used oppression, And have taken plunder violently away, And humble and needy have oppressed, And the sojourner oppressed—without judgment. 30 And I seek of them a man making a fence, And standing in the breach before Me, In behalf of the land—not to destroy it, And I have not found. 31 And I pour out on them mine indignation, By fire of My wrath I have consumed them, Their way on their own head I have put, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah!'