Ezekiel 21:15
New International Version
So that hearts may melt with fear and the fallen be many, I have stationed the sword for slaughter at all their gates. Look! It is forged to strike like lightning, it is grasped for slaughter.

New Living Translation
Let their hearts melt with terror, for the sword glitters at every gate. It flashes like lightning and is polished for slaughter!

English Standard Version
that their hearts may melt, and many stumble. At all their gates I have given the glittering sword. Ah, it is made like lightning; it is taken up for slaughter.

Berean Standard Bible
So that their hearts may melt and many may stumble, I have appointed at all their gates a sword for slaughter. Yes, it is ready to flash like lightning; it is drawn for slaughter.

King James Bible
I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, that their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied: ah! it is made bright, it is wrapped up for the slaughter.

New King James Version
I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, That the heart may melt and many may stumble. Ah! It is made bright; It is grasped for slaughter:

New American Standard Bible
so that their hearts will waver, and many fall at all their gates. I have granted the slaughter of the sword. Oh! It is made for striking like lightning, it is sharpened in readiness for slaughter.

NASB 1995
that their hearts may melt, and many fall at all their gates. I have given the glittering sword. Ah! It is made for striking like lightning, it is wrapped up in readiness for slaughter.

NASB 1977
that their hearts may melt, and many fall at all their gates. I have given the glittering sword. Ah! It is made for striking like lightning, it is wrapped up in readiness for slaughter.

Legacy Standard Bible
that their hearts may melt, and many will be stumbling blocks at all their gates. I have given the glittering sword. Ah! It is made for striking like lightning, it is wrapped up in readiness for slaughter.

Amplified Bible
so that hearts may melt, and many will fall at their gates. I have given the glittering sword. Ah! It is made [to flash] like lightning; it is pointed and sharpened for slaughter.

Christian Standard Bible
I have appointed a sword for slaughter at all their gates, so that their hearts may melt and many may stumble. Yes! It is ready to flash like lightning; it is drawn for slaughter.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
I have appointed a sword for slaughter at all their gates, so that their hearts may melt and many may stumble. Yes! It is ready to flash like lightning; it is drawn for slaughter.

American Standard Version
I have set the threatening sword against all their gates, that their heart may melt, and their stumblings be multiplied: ah! it is made as lightning, it is pointed for slaughter.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
That their heart will be broken and sorrows be multiplied in all their gates, I have delivered them the sword that is sharpened, and shining, and ready for slaughter

Brenton Septuagint Translation
and the weak ones be multiplied at every gate - they are given up to the slaughter of the sword: it is well fitted for slaughter, it is well fitted for glittering.

Contemporary English Version
They will lose all courage and stumble with fear. My slaughtering sword is waiting at every gate, flashing and ready to kill.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And languish in heart, and that multiplieth ruins. In all their gates I have set the dread of the sharp sword, the sword that is furbished to glitter, that is made ready for slaughter.

English Revised Version
I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, that their heart may melt, and their stumblings be multiplied: ah! it is made as lightning, it is pointed for slaughter.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
I have appointed my sword to slaughter people at all their gates so that their hearts will sink and many will die. Yes! It's ready to flash like lightning. It's polished to kill.

Good News Translation
It makes my people lose courage and stumble. I am threatening their city with a sword that flashes like lightning and is ready to kill.

International Standard Version
so that their hearts melt and the number of those who stumble increase. I've set in place a slaughtering sword at the entrance to all their gates. Oh, no! It's made like lightning. It's drawn to slaughter.

JPS Tanakh 1917
I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, that their heart may melt, and their stumblings be multiplied; ah! it is made glittering, it is sharpened for slaughter.

Literal Standard Version
To melt the heart, and to multiply the ruins, | I have set the point of a sword by all their gates. Aah! It is made for brightness, | Wrapped up for slaughter.

Majority Standard Bible
So that their hearts may melt and many may stumble, I have appointed at all their gates a sword for slaughter. Yes, it is ready to flash like lightning; it is drawn for slaughter.

New American Bible
That every heart may tremble; for many will be made to stumble. At all their gates I have stationed the sword for slaughter, Made it flash lightning, drawn for slaughter.

NET Bible
So hearts melt with fear and many stumble. At all their gates I have stationed the sword for slaughter. Ah! It is made to flash, it is drawn for slaughter!

New Revised Standard Version
therefore hearts melt and many stumble. At all their gates I have set the point of the sword. Ah! It is made for flashing, it is polished for slaughter.

New Heart English Bible
I have set the threatening sword against all their gates, that their heart may melt, and their stumblings be multiplied: Ah. It is made as lightning, it is pointed for slaughter.

Webster's Bible Translation
I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, that their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied: ah! it is made bright, it is sharpened for the slaughter.

World English Bible
I have set the threatening sword against all their gates, that their heart may melt, and their stumblings be multiplied. Ah! It is made as lightning. It is pointed for slaughter.

Young's Literal Translation
To melt the heart, and to multiply the ruins, By all their gates I have set the point of a sword. Ah, it is made for brightness, Wrapped up for slaughter.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The LORD's Sword of Judgment
14‘So then, son of man, prophesy and strike your hands together. Let the sword strike two times, even three. It is a sword that slays, a sword of great slaughter closing in on every side! 15So that their hearts may melt and many may stumble, I have appointed at all their gates a sword for slaughter. Yes, it is ready to flash like lightning; it is drawn for slaughter. 16Slash to the right; set your blade to the left—wherever your blade is directed.…

Cross References
Joshua 2:11
When we heard this, our hearts melted and everyone's courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in the heavens above and on the earth below.

2 Samuel 17:10
Then even the most valiant soldier with the heart of a lion will melt with fear, because all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man who has valiant men with him.

Psalm 22:14
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed. My heart is like wax; it melts away within me.

Isaiah 59:10
Like the blind, we feel our way along the wall, groping like those without eyes. We stumble at midday as in the twilight; among the vigorous we are like the dead.

Jeremiah 13:16
Give glory to the LORD your God before He brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the dusky mountains. You wait for light, but He turns it into deep gloom and thick darkness.

Jeremiah 17:27
But if you do not listen to Me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying a load while entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle an unquenchable fire in its gates to consume the citadels of Jerusalem.'"

Jeremiah 18:15
Yet My people have forgotten Me. They burn incense to worthless idols that make them stumble in their ways, leaving the ancient roads to walk on rutted bypaths instead of on the highway.


Treasury of Scripture

I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, that their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied: ah! it is made bright, it is wrapped up for the slaughter.

point.

Ezekiel 21:22
At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to appoint captains, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to appoint battering rams against the gates, to cast a mount, and to build a fort.

Ezekiel 15:7
And I will set my face against them; they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I set my face against them.

Jeremiah 17:27
But if ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.

that their

Ezekiel 21:7
And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore sighest thou? that thou shalt answer, For the tidings; because it cometh: and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it cometh, and shall be brought to pass, saith the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 20:47
And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.

it is made

Ezekiel 21:10,28
It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; it is furbished that it may glitter: should we then make mirth? it contemneth the rod of my son, as every tree…

wrapped up.

Jump to Previous
Ah Bright Brightness Death Doors Faint Fall Fallen Falling Flash Gates Glittering Grasped Heart Hearts Increased Lightning Melt Multiplied Multiply Order Point Pointed Polished Readiness Ruins Sharpened Slaughter Soft Stationed Striking Stumbling-Blocks Sword Threatening Whetted Wrapped Wrapt
Jump to Next
Ah Bright Brightness Death Doors Faint Fall Fallen Falling Flash Gates Glittering Grasped Heart Hearts Increased Lightning Melt Multiplied Multiply Order Point Pointed Polished Readiness Ruins Sharpened Slaughter Soft Stationed Striking Stumbling-Blocks Sword Threatening Whetted Wrapped Wrapt
Ezekiel 21
1. Ezekiel prophesies against Jerusalem with a sign of sighing
8. The sharp and bright sword
18. against Jerusalem
25. against the kingdom
28. and against the Ammonites














(15) The point.--The Hebrew word occurs only here. The marginal rendering comes nearer its sense, but the exact meaning is the glance or the whirl of the sword. The glancing or the whirling motion of the sword was to be everywhere, "against all their gates."

Their ruins be multiplied.--Literally, their stumbling blocks be multiplied. The thought is that in the coming desolation trouble shall be on every side and, in their perplexity, occasions for ill-advised action shall arise all around. "Bright" means "glittering." (Comp. Deuteronomy 32:41; Job 20:25; Nahum 3:3.)

It is wrapped.--The margin has sharpened, but the exact sense is drawn, "drawn out for the slaughter."

Verse 15. - For their ruins shall be multiplied, read, with the Revised Version, that their stumblings; and for wrapped up, pointed, or sharpened.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
So that
לְמַ֣עַן ׀ (lə·ma·‘an)
Conjunction
Strong's 4616: Purpose -- intent

their hearts
לֵ֗ב (lêḇ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3820: The heart, the feelings, the will, the intellect, centre

may melt
לָמ֣וּג (lā·mūḡ)
Preposition-l | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct
Strong's 4127: To melt

and many
וְהַרְבֵּה֙ (wə·har·bêh)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Infinitive absolute
Strong's 7235: To be or become much, many or great

may stumble,
הַמִּכְשֹׁלִ֔ים (ham·miḵ·šō·lîm)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 4383: A stumbling, means or occasion of stumbling, a stumbling block

I have appointed
נָתַ֖תִּי (nā·ṯat·tî)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - first person common singular
Strong's 5414: To give, put, set

at
עַ֚ל (‘al)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

all
כָּל־ (kāl-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

their gates
שַׁ֣עֲרֵיהֶ֔ם (ša·‘ă·rê·hem)
Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 8179: An opening, door, gate

a sword
חָ֑רֶב (ḥā·reḇ)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 2719: Drought, a cutting instrument, as a, knife, sword

for slaughter.
אִבְחַת־ (’iḇ·ḥaṯ-)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 19: Brandishing of a, sword

Yes,
אָ֛ח (’āḥ)
Interjection
Strong's 253: Ah!, alas!

it is ready
עֲשׂוּיָ֥ה (‘ă·śū·yāh)
Verb - Qal - QalPassParticiple - feminine singular
Strong's 6213: To do, make

to flash like lightning;
לְבָרָ֖ק (lə·ḇā·rāq)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1300: Lightning, a gleam, a flashing sword

it is drawn
מְעֻטָּ֥ה (mə·‘uṭ·ṭāh)
Adjective - feminine singular
Strong's 4593: Thinned, sharp

for slaughter.
לְטָֽבַח׃ (lə·ṭā·ḇaḥ)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2875: Tebah -- son of Nahor


Links
Ezekiel 21:15 NIV
Ezekiel 21:15 NLT
Ezekiel 21:15 ESV
Ezekiel 21:15 NASB
Ezekiel 21:15 KJV

Ezekiel 21:15 BibleApps.com
Ezekiel 21:15 Biblia Paralela
Ezekiel 21:15 Chinese Bible
Ezekiel 21:15 French Bible
Ezekiel 21:15 Catholic Bible

OT Prophets: Ezekiel 21:15 I have set the threatening sword against (Ezek. Eze Ezk)
Ezekiel 21:14
Top of Page
Top of Page