Ezekiel 21
The LORD's Sharpened Sword |
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And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
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Son of man, set thy face toward
Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and
prophesy against the land of Israel,
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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.
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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:
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that all flesh may know that I the LORD have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath: it
shall not return any more.
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Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the
breaking of thy loins; and with bitterness sigh before their
eyes.
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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.
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Again the word of the LORD came unto me saying,
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Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith
the LORD; Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened,
and also furbished:
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Because it is a trial, and what if the sword contemn even the rod? it shall be no more, saith the Lord GOD.
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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.
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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.
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Go thee one way or other, either on the right hand, or on the left, whithersoever thy face is set.
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I will also smite mine hands together,
and I will cause my fury to rest: I the LORD have said it.
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The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,
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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.
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Appoint a way, that the sword may come to
Rabbath of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the
defensed.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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And thou, profane wicked prince of
Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an
end,
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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.
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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.
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Judgment on the
Ammonites |
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And thou, son of man, prophesy and say,
Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning the
Ammonites, Jer. 49.1-6 · Ezek. 25.1-7 · Amos 1.13-15 · 2.8-11 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:
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while they see vanity unto thee, while
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.
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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.
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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.
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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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