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¹ And the Word of Jehovah was to me, saying,² Son of man, set your face against Jerusalem and drop a word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel.³ And say to the land of Israel, So says Jehovah: Behold, I am against you and My sword goes out from its sheath, and I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked.⁴ Because I will cut off the righteous and the wicked from you, therefore, My sword shall go out from its sheath against all flesh, from the Negeb to the north.⁵ And all flesh shall know that I, Jehovah, have brought out My sword from its sheath; it shall not return any more.⁶ And you, son of man, groan with the breaking of your loins, and groan with bitterness before their eyes.⁷ And it will be, when they say to you, For what do you groan? Then you shall say, Because of the news that is coming. And every heart will melt, and all hands will become feeble. And every spiritwill faint and all knees will go down as water. Behold, it comes, and it shall be, declares the Lord Jehovah.

⁸ And the Word of Jehovah was to me, saying,⁹ Son of man, prophesy and say, So says the Lord: Say, A sword! A sword is sharpened and also is polished!¹⁰ It is sharpened in order to slaughter a slaughter. It is polished so that there may be a flash to it. Or shall we rejoice? You are despising the rod of My son, as if it were every tree.¹¹ And He has given it to be polished, to be taken by the hand. The sword, it is sharpened, and it is polished, to give it into the hand of the slayer.¹² Cry out and howl, son of man. For it shall be on My people. It shall be on all the rulers of Israel; they are thrown to the sword with My people, so slap your thigh,¹³ because it is a test. And what if even the despising rod shall not be? declares the Lord Jehovah.¹⁴ And you, son of man, prophesy and strike hand to hand. And let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain. It is the sword of the slain, the great one that surrounds them,¹⁵ so that their heart may melt and many stumble at all their gates. I have given the slaughter by the sword. Ah! It is made like lightning, it is wrapped for a slaughter.¹⁶ Sharpen yourself on the right! Set yourself on the left, wherever your face is appointed.¹⁷ And also I, I will strike My hand to My hand, and I will cause My fury to rest. I, Jehovah, have spoken.

¹⁸ And the Word of Jehovah was to me, saying,¹⁹ And you, son of man, set for yourself two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come. Both of them shall come out from one land. And create a hand at the head of the way to the city, create it.²⁰ You shall set a way that the sword may enter into Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and into Judah, into fortified Jerusalem.²¹ For the king of Babylon shall stand at the mother of the way, at the head of the two ways to practice divination. He shall shake arrows, he shall ask household idols; he shall look at the liver.²² At his right shall be the divining for Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to set battering rams against the gates, to pour out a mound, and to build a siege wall.²³ And it shall be to them an empty divining before their eyes, those who have sworn oaths to them. But he will remember iniquity, that they may be taken.²⁴ So the Lord Jehovah says this: Because you made remembrance of your iniquity, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that your sins are seen in all your doings, because you have been remembered, you shall be taken with the hand.²⁵ And you, O slain, wicked prince of Israel, of whom has come his day in the time of iniquity of the end,²⁶ so says the Lord Jehovah: Remove the diadem and lift off the crown. This shall not be as this was . Lift up the low one, and make the high one low.²⁷ Ruin, ruin, ruin! I will appoint it! Also this shall not be until the coming of Him to whom is the right, and I will give it.

²⁸ And you, son of man, prophesy and say, So says the Lord Jehovah concerning the sons of Ammon, and as to their reproach, even say, The sword, the sword is loosened. It is polished for slaughter to make an end, so that it may be likelightning.²⁹ While they see vain visions for you, while they divine a lie to you, to put you on the necks of the slain, of the wicked (of whom their day has come), in the time of iniquity it shall have an end.³⁰ Return it to its sheath. In the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you.³¹ And I will pour out on you My disgust; with the fire of My wrath I will blow against you and give you into the hand of burning men, skilled in destruction.³² You shall be to the fire for food. Your blood shall be in the midst of the land. You shall not be remembered. For I, Jehovah, have spoken.