Ezekiel 21 :: Revised Standard Version (RSV)

Parable of the Sword of the LORD

Eze 21:1The word of the LORD came to me:

Eze 21:2"Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem and preach against the sanctuaries; prophesy against the land of Israel

Eze 21:3

Eze 21:3and say to the land of Israel, Thus says the LORD: Behold, I am against you, and will draw forth my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off from you both righteous and wicked.

Eze 21:4

Eze 21:4Because I will cut off from you both righteous and wicked, therefore my sword shall go out of its sheath against all flesh from south to north;

Eze 21:5

Eze 21:5and all flesh shall know that I the LORD have drawn my sword out of its sheath; it shall not be sheathed again.

Eze 21:6

Eze 21:6Sigh therefore, son of man; sigh with breaking heart and bitter grief before their eyes.

Eze 21:7

Eze 21:7And when they say to you, 'Why do you sigh?' you shall say, 'Because of the tidings. When it comes, every heart will melt and all hands will be feeble, every spirit will faint and all knees will be weak as water. Behold, it comes and it will be fulfilled,'" says the Lord GOD.

Eze 21:8

Eze 21:8And the word of the LORD came to me:

Eze 21:9

Eze 21:9"Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord, Say: A sword, a sword is sharpened and also polished,

Eze 21:10

Eze 21:10sharpened for slaughter, polished to flash like lightning! Or do we make mirth? You have despised the rod, my son, with everything of wood.

Eze 21:11

Eze 21:11So the sword is given to be polished, that it may be handled; it is sharpened and polished to be given into the hand of the slayer.

Eze 21:12

Eze 21:12Cry and wail, son of man, for it is against my people; it is against all the princes of Israel; they are delivered over to the sword with my people. Smite therefore upon your thigh.

Eze 21:13

Eze 21:13For it will not be a testing--what could it do if you despise the rod?" says the Lord GOD.

Eze 21:14

Eze 21:14"Prophesy therefore, son of man; clap your hands and let the sword come down twice, yea thrice, the sword for those to be slain; it is the sword for the great slaughter, which encompasses them,

Eze 21:15

Eze 21:15that their hearts may melt, and many fall at all their gates. I have given the glittering sword; ah! it is made like lightning, it is polished for slaughter.

Eze 21:16

Eze 21:16Cut sharply to right and left where your edge is directed.

Eze 21:17

Eze 21:17I also will clap my hands, and I will satisfy my fury; I the LORD have spoken."

The Instrument of God's Judgment

Eze 21:18

Eze 21:18The word of the LORD came to me again:

Eze 21:19

Eze 21:19"Son of man, mark two ways for the sword of the king of Babylon to come; both of them shall come forth from the same land. And make a signpost, make it at the head of the way to a city;

Eze 21:20

Eze 21:20mark a way for the sword to come to Rabbah of the Ammonites and to Judah and to Jerusalem the fortified.

Eze 21:21

Eze 21:21For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination; he shakes the arrows, he consults the teraphim, he looks at the liver.

Eze 21:22

Eze 21:22Into his right hand comes the lot for Jerusalem, to open the mouth with a cry, to lift up the voice with shouting, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up mounds, to build siege towers.

Eze 21:23

Eze 21:23But to them it will seem like a false divination; they have sworn solemn oaths; but he brings their guilt to remembrance, that they may be captured.

Eze 21:24

Eze 21:24"Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have made your guilt to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your doings your sins appear--because you have come to remembrance, you shall be taken in them.

Eze 21:25

Eze 21:25And you, O unhallowed wicked one, prince of Israel, whose day has come, the time of your final punishment,

Eze 21:26

Eze 21:26thus says the Lord GOD: Remove the turban, and take off the crown; things shall not remain as they are; exalt that which is low, and abase that which is high.

Eze 21:27

Eze 21:27A ruin, ruin, ruin I will make it; there shall not be even a trace of it until he comes whose right it is; and to him I will give it.

Eze 21:28

Eze 21:28"And you, son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD concerning the Ammonites, and concerning their reproach; say, A sword, a sword is drawn for the slaughter, it is polished to glitter and to flash like lightning--

Eze 21:29

Eze 21:29while they see for you false visions, while they divine lies for you--to be laid on the necks of the unhallowed wicked, whose day has come, the time of their final punishment.

Eze 21:30

Eze 21:30Return it to its sheath. In the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you.

Eze 21:31

Eze 21:31And I will pour out my indignation upon you; I will blow upon you with the fire of my wrath; and I will deliver you into the hands of brutal men, skilful to destroy.

Eze 21:32

Eze 21:32You shall be fuel for the fire; your blood shall be in the midst of the land; you shall be no more remembered; for I the LORD have spoken."

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Source: Transcribed from: The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version containing the Old and New Testaments, translated from the original tongues: being the version set forth A.D. 1611, revised A.D. 1881-1885 and A.D. 1901: compared with the most ancient authorities and revised A.D. 1946-52. — 2nd ed. of New Testament A.D. 1971. There should be enough in the rest of the description to identify the text.

Language: English

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Pericope

Ezekiel Chapter 21 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation New International Version English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras

Ezekiel 21 :: Revised Standard Version (RSV)

Parable of the Sword of the LORD

The Instrument of God's Judgment

Pericope

Ezekiel Chapter 21 — Additional Translations:

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