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.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Ezekiel 21:18-27

Commentary on Ezekiel 21:18-27

(Read Ezekiel 21:18-27)

By the Spirit of prophecy Ezekiel foresaw Nebuchadnezzar's march from Babylon, which he would determine by divination. The Lord would overturn the government of Judah, till the coming of Him whose right it is. This seems to foretell the overturnings of the Jewish nation to the present day, and the troubles of states and kingdoms, which shall make way for establishing the Messiah's kingdom throughout the earth. The Lord secretly leads all to adopt his wise designs. And in the midst of the most tremendous warnings of wrath, we still hear of mercy, and some mention of Him through whom mercy is shown to sinful men.