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Ezekiel 21:1-32 — The Sword of the Lord

Ezek.21.1-32

¹And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ²Son of man, turn your face toward the south, preach against the south, and prophesy against the forestland of the Negev. ³And say to the forest of the Negev, 'Hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am kindling a fire in you, and it will devour every green tree and every dry tree in you. The blazing flame will not be quenched, and every face from south to north will be scorched by it.' ⁴Then all flesh will see that I, the LORD, have kindled it; it will not be quenched. ⁵Then I said, 'Ah, Lord GOD! They are saying of me, “Is he not just speaking riddles?”' ⁶And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ⁷Son of man, turn your face toward Jerusalem, preach against the sanctuaries, and prophesy against the land of Israel. ⁸And say to the land of Israel, 'Thus says the LORD: Behold, I am against you, and I will draw my sword from its sheath and cut off from you both righteous and wicked.' ⁹Because I will cut off from you both righteous and wicked, therefore my sword will come out from its sheath against all flesh from south to north. ¹⁰Then all flesh will know that I, the LORD, have drawn my sword from its sheath; it will not return again. ¹¹And you, son of man, groan with shattered loins, and in bitterness groan before their eyes. ¹²And when they ask you, 'Why are you groaning?' you shall say, 'Because of the report, for it is coming. Every heart will melt, all hands will hang limp, every spirit will faint, and every knee will run with water. Behold, it is coming, and it will happen,' declares the Lord GOD. ¹³And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ¹⁴Son of man, prophesy and say, 'Thus says the Lord: A sword, a sword, sharpened and also polished.' ¹⁵It is sharpened for a great slaughter; it is polished to flash like lightning. Shall we rejoice? The scepter of my son despises every tree . ¹⁶It is given to be polished, to be grasped in the hand. It is a sharpened sword, and it is polished, to be placed in the hand of the slayer. ¹⁷Cry out and wail, son of man, for it has come against my people; it is against all the princes of Israel. Together with my people they are given over to the sword; therefore strike your thigh . ¹⁸For a testing is coming; and what if even the scepter that despises will cease to be? declares the Lord GOD. ¹⁹And you, son of man, prophesy, strike palm against palm, and let the sword be doubled, yes tripled—the sword for the slain, the sword for the great slain one, closing in on them. ²⁰So that hearts may melt and many may stumble, I have set the flash of the sword against all their gates. Ah! It is made to flash like lightning, polished for slaughter. ²¹Slash to the right; turn to the left—wherever your face is directed. ²²I too will strike my hands together, and I will satisfy my wrath. I, the LORD, have spoken. ²³And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ²⁴And you, son of man, mark out for yourself two roads for the sword of the king of Babylon to come. Both of them shall go out from one land. Make a signpost; make it at the head of the road to the city. ²⁵Mark out a road for the sword to come to Rabbah of the Ammonites, and another to Judah, into fortified Jerusalem. ²⁶For the king of Babylon stands at the fork of the road, at the head of the two roads, to seek an omen: he shakes the arrows, he consults the teraphim, he inspects the liver. ²⁷In his right hand is the omen for Jerusalem: to set up battering rams, to open the mouth for slaughter, to raise the voice with a war cry, to set battering rams against the gates, to heap up a siege ramp, and to build a siege wall. ²⁸It will seem to them like a false divination, to those who are bound to them by solemn oaths ; but he brings guilt to remembrance so that they may be seized. ²⁹Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have brought your guilt to remembrance, in that your transgressions are uncovered so that your sins are seen in all your deeds—because you have been remembered, you shall be seized by the hand. ³⁰And you, mortally wounded wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come at the time of final punishment— ³¹thus says the Lord GOD: Remove the turban and take off the crown. Things will not remain as they are. Exalt the lowly and bring low the exalted. ³²Ruin, ruin, ruin—I will make it. This too shall not be until the one comes to whom the judgment belongs , and I will give it to him.

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4/11/2026

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