3and say to them, 'This is what the LORD says: Look, I am against you. I will draw my sword from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked.
7When they ask you, 'Why are you groaning?' you will reply, 'Because of the report that has come. Every heart will melt with fear and every hand will be limp; everyone will faint and every knee will be wet with urine.' Pay attention--it is coming and it will happen, declares the sovereign LORD."
10It is sharpened for slaughter, it is polished to flash like lightning! "'Should we rejoice in the scepter of my son? No! The sword despises every tree!
12Cry out and moan, son of man, for it is wielded against my people; against all the princes of Israel. They are delivered up to the sword, along with my people. Therefore, strike your thigh.
14"And you, son of man, prophesy, and clap your hands together. Let the sword strike twice, even three times! It is a sword for slaughter, a sword for the great slaughter surrounding them.
15So 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!
19"You, son of man, mark out two routes for the king of Babylon's sword to take; both of them will originate in a single land. Make a signpost and put it at the beginning of the road leading to the city.
21For the king of Babylon stands at the fork in the road at the head of the two routes. He looks for omens: He shakes arrows, he consults idols, he examines animal livers.
22Into his right hand comes the portent for Jerusalem--to set up battering rams, to give the signal for slaughter, to shout out the battle cry, to set up battering rams against the gates, to erect a siege ramp, to build a siege wall.
23But those in Jerusalem will view it as a false omen. They have sworn solemn oaths, but the king of Babylon will accuse them of violations in order to seize them.
24"Therefore this is what the sovereign LORD says: 'Because you have brought up your own guilt by uncovering your transgressions and revealing your sins through all your actions, for this reason you will be taken by force.
28"As for you, son of man, prophesy and say, 'This is what the sovereign LORD says concerning the Ammonites and their coming humiliation; say: "'A sword, a sword drawn for slaughter, polished to consume, to flash like lightning--
29while seeing false visions for you and reading lying omens for you--to place that sword on the necks of the profane wicked, whose day has come, the time of final punishment.