1 The Lord's sword
1 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
2 ch. 20:46Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and Amos 7:16drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel,
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 Job 9:22the righteous and the wicked.
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 ch. 20:47from the south to the north:
5 That all flesh may know that I the Lord have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath: it Is. 45:23;& 55:11shall not return any more.
6 Is. 22:4Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes.
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 ch. 7:17all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees [a]shall be weak as water: behold, it cometh, and shall be brought to pass, saith the Lord God.
8 Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
9 Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the Lord; Say, ver. 15,28;Deut. 32:41A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished:
10 It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; it is furbished that it may glitter: should we then make mirth? [b]it contemneth the rod of my son, as every tree.
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 ver. 19the slayer.
12 Cry and howl, son of man: for it shall be upon my people, it shall be upon all the princes of Israel: [c]terrors by reason of the sword shall be upon my people: Jer. 31:19smite therefore upon thy thigh.
13 [d]Because it is Job 9:23;2 Cor. 8:2a trial, and what if the sword contemn even the rod? ver. 27it shall be no more, saith the Lord God.
14 Thou therefore, son of man, prophesy, and Num. 24:10smite thine [e]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 1 Ki. 20:30privy chambers.
15 I have set the [f]point of the sword against all their gates, that their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied: ah, ver. 10,28it is made bright, it is [g]wrapt up for the slaughter.
16 ch. 14:17Go thee one way or other, either on the right hand, [h]or on the left, whithersoever thy face is set.
17 I will also ver. 14;ch. 22:13smite mine hands together, and ch. 5:13I will cause my fury to rest: I the Lord have said it.
18 The word of the Lord came unto me again, saying,
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.
20 Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Jer. 49:2;Amos 1:14Rabbath of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the defenced.
21 For the king of Babylon stood at the [i]parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he made his [j]arrows bright, he consulted with [k]images, he looked in the liver.
22 At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to appoint [l][m]captains, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to Jer. 51:14lift up the voice with shouting, ch. 4:2to appoint battering rams against the gates, to cast a mount, and to build a fort.
23 And it shall be unto them as a false divination in their sight, [n]to them that ch. 17:13have sworn oaths: but he will call to remembrance the iniquity, that they may be taken.
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, Jer. 52:2profane wicked prince of Israel, ver. 29whose 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: Luke 1:52exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high.
27 [o]I will overturn, overturn, overturn it: Gen. 49:10;Luke 1:32and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.
28 And thou, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord God ch. 25:2,3concerning 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:
29 Whiles they ch. 12:24see vanity unto thee, whiles they divine a lie unto thee, to bring thee upon the necks of them that are slain of the wicked, Job 18:20;Ps. 37:13whose day is come, when their iniquity shall have an end.
30 Jer. 47:6,7[p]Shall I cause it to return into his sheath? Gen. 15:14I will judge thee in the place where thou wast created, ch. 16:3in the land of thy nativity.
31 And I will ch. 7:8pour out mine indignation upon thee, I will ch. 22:20blow against thee in the fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of [q]brutish men, and skilful to destroy.
32 Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire; thy blood shall be in the midst of the land; ch. 25:10thou shalt be no more remembered: for I the Lord have spoken it.
33 The indictment of Jerusalem
