Babylon Will Be God's Sword

1And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

2Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and proclaim your word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel,

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 the righteous and the wicked.

4Seeing then that I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of its sheath against all flesh from the south to the north:

5That all flesh may know that I the LORD have drawn forth my sword out of its sheath: it shall not return any more.

6Sigh therefore, you son of man, with breaking heart; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes.

7And it shall be, when they say unto you, Why sigh you? that you shall answer, For the tidings; because it comes: 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 comes, and shall be brought to pass, says the Lord GOD.

8Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

9Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the LORD; Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also polished:

10It is sharpened to make a great slaughter; it is polished that it may flash like lightning: should we then make mirth? it despised the rod of my son, like every tree.

11And he has given it to be polished, that it may be used: this sword is sharpened, and it is polished, to give it into the hand of the slayer.

12Cry and wail, son of man: for it shall be upon my people, it shall be upon all the princes of Israel: terrors by reason of the sword shall be upon my people: strike therefore upon your thigh.

13Because it is a trial, and what if the sword despise even the rod? it shall be no more, says the Lord GOD.

14You therefore, son of man, prophesy, and strike your hands together, and let the sword strike twice, even the third time, the sword of the slain: it is the sword of the great men that are slain, which enters into their private chambers.

15I 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 polished for the slaughter.

16Go you one way or the other, either on the right hand, or on the left, wherever your face is set.

17I will also strike my hands together, and I will cause my fury to rest: I the LORD have said it.

18The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,

19Also, you son of man, mark you two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come: both of the two shall come forth out of one land: and choose you a place, choose it at the head of the way to the city.

20Mark the way, that the sword may come to Rabbath of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the fortified.

21For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he shook his arrows, he consulted with images, he looked at the liver.

22At 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 set battering rams against the gates, to cast up a siege mound, and to build a wall.

23And it shall be unto them as a false divination in their sight, to them that have sworn oaths: but he will call to remembrance the iniquity, that they may be taken.

24Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Because you have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your doings your sins do appear; because, I say, that you are come to remembrance, you shall be taken with the hand.

25And you, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end,

26Thus says the Lord GOD; Remove the turban, and take off the crown: this shall not remain the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high.

27I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he comes whose right it is; and I will give it to him.

28And you, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord GOD concerning the Ammonites, and concerning their reproach; even say, The sword, the sword is drawn: for the slaughter it is polished, to consume because of the flashing:

29While they see false visions for you, while they divine a lie unto you, to bring you upon the necks of them that are slain, of the wicked, whose day has come, when their iniquity shall have an end.

30Shall I cause it to return into its sheath? I will judge you in the place where you were created, in the land of your nativity.

31And I will pour out my indignation upon you, I will blow against you in the fire of my wrath, and deliver you into the hand of brutal men, skilful to destroy.

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