1    2   These were the words of the Lord to me: Man, turn and face towards Jerusalem, and pour out your words against her sanctuary; ^note prophesy against the land of Israel. 3   Say to the land of Israel, These are the words of the Lord: I am against you; I will draw my sword from the scabbard and cut off from you both righteous and wicked. 4   It is because I would cut off your righteous and your wicked equally that my sword will be drawn from the scabbard against all men, from the Negeb northwards. 5   All men shall know that I the Lord have drawn my sword; it shall never again be sheathed. 6   Groan in their presence, man, groan bitterly until your lungs are bursting. 7   When they ask you why you are groaning, say to them, ‘I groan at the thing I have heard; when it comes, all hearts melt, all courage fails, all hands fall limp, all men's knees run with urine. It is coming. It is here.’ This is the very word of the Lord God.

8    9   These were the words of the Lord to me: Prophesy, man, and say, This is the word of the Lord:

  A sword, a sword is sharpened and burnished,
     10   sharpened to kill and kill again,
    burnished to flash ^note like lightning.
  Ah! the club is brandished, my son,
      to defy all wooden idols! ^note
     11   The sword is given to be burnished
      ready for the hand to grasp.
    The sword—it is sharpened,
      it is burnished,
    ready to be put into the slayer's hand.

12   Cry, man, and howl; for all this falls on my people, it falls on Israel's princes who are delivered over to the sword and are slain with my people. 13   Therefore beat your breast ^note in remorse, for it is the test—and what if it is not in truth the club of defiance? This is the very word of the Lord God.

Jerusalem's downfall certain

   14   But you, man, prophesy and clap your hands together;
    swing the sword twice, thrice:
      it is the sword of slaughter,
  the great sword of slaughter whirling about them.
   15   That their hearts may be troubled and many stumble and fall,
  I have set the threat of the sword at all their gates,
    the threat of the sword ^note made to flash like lightning
      and drawn to kill.
   16   Be sharpened, ^note turn right; be unsheathed, turn left,
    wherever your point is aimed.

17   I, too, will clap my hands together and abate my anger. I, the Lord, have spoken.

18    19   These were the words of the Lord to me: Man, trace out two roads by which the sword of the king of Babylon may come, starting both of them from the same land. Then carve a signpost, carve it at the point where the highway forks. 20   Mark out a road for the sword to come to ^note the Ammonite city of Rabbah, to ^note Judah, and to Jerusalem at the heart of it. 21   For the king of Babylon halts to take the omens at the parting of the ways, where the road divides. He casts lots with arrows, consults teraphim ^note and inspects the livers of beasts. 22   The augur's arrow marked ‘Jerusalem’ falls at his right hand: here, then, ^note he must raise a shout ^note and sound the battle-cry, set battering-rams against the gates, pile siege-ramps and build watch-towers. 23   It may well seem to the people that the auguries are false, ^note whereas they will put me in mind of their wrongdoing, and they will fall into the enemies' hand. 24   These therefore are the words of the Lord God: Because you have kept me mindful of your wrongdoing by your open rebellion, and your sins have been revealed in all your acts, because you have kept yourselves in my mind, you will fall into the enemies' hand by force.

25   You, too, you impious and wicked prince of Israel, your fate has come upon you in the hour of final punishment. 26   These are the words of the Lord God: Put off your diadem, lay aside your crown. All is changed; raise the low and bring down the high. 27   Ruin! Ruin! I will bring about such ruin as never was before, until the rightful sovereign comes. Then I will give him all.

28   Man, prophesy and say, These are the words of the Lord God to the Ammonites and to their shameful god:

  A sword, a sword drawn for slaughter,
      burnished for destruction, ^note

Jerusalem's downfall certain
      to flash like lightning!
   29   Your visions are false, your auguries a lie,
      which bid you bring it ^note down
    upon the necks of impious and wicked men,
      whose fate has come upon them
      in the hour of final punishment.
       30   Sheathe it again.
  I will judge you in the place where you were born,
      the land of your origin.
     31   I will pour out my rage upon you;
  I will breathe out my blazing wrath over you.
    I will hand you over to brutal men,
      skilled in destruction.
     32   You shall become fuel for fire,
    your blood shall be shed within the land
      and you shall leave no memory behind.

For I, the Lord, have spoken.

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