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¹ And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,² Son of man, set thy face towards Jerusalem, and drop [thy word] towards 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 its sheath, and will cut off from thee the 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 from its sheath against all flesh from the south to the north:⁵ That all flesh may know that I the LORD have drawn my sword out of its sheath: it shall not return any more.⁶ Sigh 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 to thee, Why 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.

⁸ Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,⁹ Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the LORD; Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished:¹⁰ It is sharpened to make a grievous slaughter; it is furbished that it may glitter: should we then make mirth? it contemneth the rod of my son, [as] every tree.¹¹ And he hath given it to be furbished, that it may be handled: the sword 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 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.¹³ Because [it is] a trial, and what if [the sword] contemneth even the rod? it shall be no [more], saith the Lord GOD.¹⁴ Thou therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite [thy] 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 private chambers.¹⁵ 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] sharpened for the slaughter.¹⁶ Go thee one way or other, [either] on the right hand, [or] on the left, whithersoever thy face [is] set.¹⁷ I will also smite my hands together, and I will cause my fury to rest: I the LORD have said [it].

¹⁸ The word of the LORD came to me again, saying,¹⁹ Also, thou son of man, appoint thee two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come: both [ways] shall come forth from 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 Rabbah of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the fortified.²¹ 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.²² 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.²³ And it shall be to 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.²⁴ Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are disclosed, 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, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose 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: exalt [him that is] low, and abase [him that is] high.²⁷ I will overturn, overturn, overturn it: and it shall be no [more], until he cometh whose right it is; and I will give it [him].

²⁸ And thou, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning 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 While they see vanity to thee, while they divine a lie to 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.³⁰ Shall I cause [it] to return into its sheath? I will judge thee in the place where thou wast created, in the land of thy nativity.³¹ And I will pour out my indignation upon thee, I will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of brutish men, [and] skillful to destroy.³² 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].