Dual PanelThreats against sinners
1THIS word of the LORD came to me:
2“O man, turn and face towards Jerusalem, and utter your words against her sanctuary; prophesy against the land of Israel.
3Say to that land: The LORD says: I am against you; I shall draw my sword from the scabbard and make away with both righteous and wicked from among you.
4It is because I intend to make away with righteous and wicked alike that my sword will be drawn from the scabbard against everyone, from the Negeb northwards.
5All shall know that I, the LORD, have drawn my sword; it will never again be sheathed.
6Groan while they look on, O man, groan bitterly until you collapse.
7When they ask why you are groaning, say, ‘Because what I have heard is about to come. All hearts will melt, all hands will hang limp, all courage will fail, all knees will turn to water. See, it is coming; it is here!’ This is the word of the Lord GOD.”
8The LORD said to me:
9“Prophesy, O man, and say: This is the word of the LORD: A sword, a sword is sharpened and burnished,
10sharpened to kill and kill again, burnished to flash like lightning. (Look, the rod is brandished, my son, to defy all wooden idols!)
11The sword is given to be burnished ready for the hand to grasp. The sword is sharpened, it is burnished, ready to be given into the slayer's hand.
12“Cry aloud and wail, O man; for it falls on my people, and on all Israel's rulers who are delivered over to the sword and are slain with my people. Therefore slap your thigh in remorse.
13(When the test comes, what if the rod does not in truth defy?) This is the word of the Lord GOD.
14“But you, O man, prophesy and strike your hands together; swing the sword twice, thrice: it is the sword of slaughter, the great sword of slaughter whirling about them.
15That their hearts may be fearful and many may stumble and fall, I have set the threat of the sword at all their gates, the threat of the sword flashing like lightning and drawn to kill.
16Be sharpened, turn right; be unsheathed, turn left, wherever your point is aimed.
17“I, too, shall strike my hands together and abate my anger. I, the LORD, have spoken.”
18This word of the LORD came to me:
19“O man, trace out two roads by which the sword of the king of Babylon may come, both starting from the same land. Then make a signpost for the point where the highway forks.
20Mark a road for the sword to come to the Ammonite city of Rabbah, and a road to Judah, with Jerusalem at its heart.
21At the parting of the ways where the road divides, the king of Babylon will halt to take the omens. He will cast lots with arrows, consult household gods, and inspect the livers of beasts.
22The arrow marked ‘Jerusalem’ will fall at his right hand: here, then, he will give the command for slaughter and sound the battle cry, set battering-rams against the gates, cast up siege-ramps, and build watch-towers.
23The people will think that the auguries are groundless, the king of Babylon will remind me of their wrongdoing, and they will fall into his hand.
24Therefore the Lord GOD says: Because you have kept me mindful of your wrongdoing by your open rebellion, and your sins have been revealed in everything you do, because you have kept yourselves in my mind, you will fall into the enemy's hand.
25“And you, impious and wicked ruler of Israel, your fate has come upon you in the hour of final punishment.
26The Lord GOD says: Off with the diadem! Away with the crown! All is overturned; raise the low and bring down the high.
27Ruin! Ruin! I shall bring about such ruin as never was, until one comes who is the rightful ruler; and I shall install him.
28“O MAN, prophesy and say: The Lord GOD says to the Ammonites and to their shameful god: A sword, a sword drawn for slaughter, burnished for destruction to flash like lightning!
29Your visions are false, your auguries a lie, which bid you bring it down upon the necks of the impious and the wicked; their fate will come upon them in the hour of final punishment.
30Return the sword to the sheath. I shall judge you in the place where you were born, the land of your origin.
31I shall pour out my wrath on you; I shall fan my blazing anger over you. I shall hand you over to barbarous men, skilled in destruction.
32You will become fuel for fire, your blood will be shed within the land and you will leave no memory behind. “I, the LORD, have spoken.”