Ezekiel 21:1-11 ▼

1 Then the word of the LORD came to me:

2 Son of man, turn your face toward Jerusalem: preach against its sanctuary, prophesy against the land of Israel.

3 Say to the land of Israel: Thus says the LORD: See! I am coming against you; I will draw my sword from its scabbard and cut off from you the righteous and the wicked.

4 Thus my sword shall come out from its scabbard against all flesh from south to north

5 and all flesh shall know that I, the LORD, have drawn my sword from its scabbard. It cannot return again.

6 As for you, son of man, groan! with shattered loins and bitter grief, groan in their sight.

7 When they ask you, “Why are you groaning?” you shall say: Because of what I heard! When it comes every heart shall melt, every hand fall helpless; every spirit will grow faint, and every knee run with water. See, it is coming, it is here!—oracle of the Lord GOD.

8 The word of the LORD came to me:

9 Son of man, prophesy! say: Thus says the LORD: A sword, a sword has been sharpened, a sword, a sword has been burnished:

10 Sharpened to make a slaughter, burnished to flash lightning! Why should I stop now? You have rejected the rod and every judgment!

11 I have given it over to the burnisher that he might hold it in his hand, A sword sharpened and burnished to be put in the hands of an executioner.