Read the Bible

¹ And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

² Son of man, set thy face against Jerusalem, and drop [words] against the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel,

³ and say to the land of Israel, Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, and I will draw forth my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.

⁴ Seeing that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of its sheath against all flesh, from the south to the north;

⁵ and all flesh shall know that I Jehovah have drawn forth my sword out of its sheath: it shall not return any more.

⁶ Sigh then, thou son of man; with breaking of the loins, and with bitterness sigh before their eyes.

⁷ And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore dost thou sigh? that thou shalt say, Because of the tidings, for it cometh; and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall languish, and all knees shall melt into water: behold, it cometh; it is here, saith the Lord Jehovah.

⁸ And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

⁹ Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith Jehovah: Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished.

¹⁰ It is sharpened for sore slaughter, it is furbished that it may glitter. Shall we then make mirth, [saying,] The sceptre of my son contemneth all wood?

¹¹ And he hath given it to be furbished that it may be handled. The sword,—it is sharpened, and it is furbished to give it into the hand of the slayer.

¹² Cry and howl, son of man; for it shall be against my people, it shall be against all the princes of Israel: they are given up to the sword along with my people: smite therefore upon the thigh.

¹³ For the trial [is made]; and what if even the contemning sceptre shall be no [more]? saith the Lord Jehovah.

¹⁴ And thou, son of man, prophesy, and smite thy hands together; for [the strokes of] the sword shall be doubled the third time: it is the sword of the slain, the sword that hath slain the great one, which encompasseth them privily.

¹⁵ In order that the heart may melt, and the stumbling-blocks be multiplied, I have set the threatening sword against all their gates: ah! it is made glittering, it is whetted for the slaughter.

¹⁶ Gather up [strength], go to the right hand, turn thee, go to the left, whithersoever thy face is appointed.

¹⁷ And I myself will smite my hands together, and I will satisfy my fury: I Jehovah have spoken [it].

¹⁸ And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

¹⁹ And thou, son of man, set thee two ways, by which the sword of the king of Babylon may come—out of one land shall they both come—and make thee a signpost, make it at the head of the way to the city.

²⁰ Appoint a way for the coming of the sword to Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and to Judah at the fenced [city] of Jerusalem.

²¹ For the king of Babylon standeth at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he shaketh [his] arrows, he inquireth of the teraphim, he looketh in the liver.

²² In his right hand is the lot of Jerusalem to appoint battering-rams, to open the mouth for bloodshed, to lift up the voice with shouting, to appoint battering-rams against the gates, to cast mounds, to build siege-towers.

²³ And this shall be a false divination in their sight, for them that have sworn oaths; but he will call to remembrance the iniquity, that they may be taken.

²⁴ Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because ye make your iniquity to be remembered in that your transgressions are discovered, so that in all your doings your sins appear; because ye are come to remembrance, ye shall be taken with the hand.

²⁵ And thou, profane, wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, at the time of the iniquity of the end,

²⁶ —thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Remove the mitre and take off the crown; what is shall be no [more]. Exalt that which is low, and abase that which is high.

²⁷ I will overturn, overturn, overturn it! This also shall be no [more], until he come whose right it is; and I will give it [to him].

²⁸ And thou, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus speaketh the Lord Jehovah concerning the children of Ammon, and concerning their reproach; and thou shalt say, A sword, a sword is drawn; for the slaughter is it furbished, that it may consume, that it may glitter:

²⁹ whilst they see vanity for thee, whilst they divine a lie unto thee, to lay thee upon the necks of the wicked that are slain, whose day is come at the time of the iniquity of the end.

³⁰ Restore [it] to its sheath. I will judge thee in the place where thou wast created, in the land of thy birth.

³¹ And I will pour out mine indignation upon thee, I will blow upon thee the fire of my wrath, and give thee into the hand of brutish men, skilful to destroy.

³² Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire; thy blood shall be in the midst of the land; thou shalt not be remembered: for I Jehovah have spoken.