God’s Sword of Judgment

1And the word of Jehovah will be to me, saying, 2Son of man, set thy face to Jerusalem, and drop to the holy places, and prophesy to the land of Israel; 3And say to the land of Israel, Thus said Jehovah: behold me against thee, and I brought forth my sword from its sheath, and I cut off from thee the just and the unjust. 4Because that I cut off from thee the just and the unjust, for this my sword shall go forth from its sheath against all flesh, from south to north. 5And all flesh knew that I Jehovah brought forth my sword from its sheath: it shall no more turn back. 6And thou son of man, sigh with the breaking of the loins; and with bitterness thou shalt sigh before their eyes. 7And it was when they shall say to thee, For what sighest thou? and say, For the report, because it came: and every heart melted and all hands were relaxed, and every spirit was weak, and all knees shall go into water: behold, it came, and it was, says the Lord Jehovah.

8And the word of Jehovah will be to me, saying,

9Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus said Jehovah: say, A sword, a sword was sharpened, and also polished.

10In order to slaughter a slaughter it was sharpened; in order for lightning to be to it, it was polished; then shall we exult? the rod of my son despised, every tree.

11And he will give it to be polished, to be taken in the hand: this sword was sharpened, and it was polished to give it into the hand of him slaying. 12Cry and wail, son of man, for it was upon my people, it was upon all the princes of Israel: terrors for the sword were upon my people: for this, strike upon thy thigh. 13For it is a trial, and what if also the rod was rejected? it shall not be, says the Lord Jehovah.

14And thou, son of man, prophesy, and strike hand to hand, and thou shalt double the sword the third time, the sword of the wounded: this the sword of the great wounded besieging them. 15In order to melt the heart and to multiply the ruins, I gave the turning of the sword against all their gates: Ah! it was made for lightnings, it was polished for slaughter. 16Unite thyself to the right, set thyself to the left, where thy face wavers. 17And I also will strike my hand to my hand, and I caused my wrath to cease: I Jehovah spake.

18And the word of Jehovah will be to me, saying, 19And thou son of man, set to thee two ways for the sword of the king of Babel to come: from one land shall come forth they two, and form thou a hand, form upon the head of the way of the city. 20Thou shalt set the way for the sword to come to Rabbath of the sons of Ammon, and to Judah in Jerusalem the fortified. 21For the king of Babel stood at the mother of the way in the head of the two ways, to divine a divination; he shook with the arrows, he asked in the family gods, he looked in the liver. 22In his right hand was the divination of Jerusalem, to set battering-rams, to open the mouth in breaking in pieces, to lift up the voice with a loud noise, to set battering-rams against the gates, to throw up a mound, to build a watch-tower. 23And it was to them as a divination of falsehood in their eyes, swearing an oath to them, remembering iniquity to be taken.

24For this, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because of your causing your iniquity to be remembered, in your transgressions being uncovered, for your sins to be seen in all your works; because of your causing to be remembered, ye shall be taken in hand. 25And thou profane unjust prince of Israel, to whom his day came in the time of iniquity the end. 26Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Remove the tiara, and lift up the crown: this not thus: lift up the low, and make low the high. 27Perverted, perverted, perverted, will I set her: and this was not till he came which to him the judgment; and I gave him.

28And thou son of man, prophesy and say, Thus said the Lord Jehovah to the sons of Ammon, and for their reproach; and say, The sword, the sword was loosed: for slaughter it was polished, to consume for sake of the lightning: 29In seeing vanity to thee, in divining to thee a lie to give thee, to the necks of the wounded of the unjust, to whom their day came in the time of iniquity the end. 30Turn back; thou shalt not be naked: in the place where thou wert created, in the land of thy nativity, will I judge thee. 31I poured out my wrath upon thee; in fire I made mine anger to pass over thee, and I gave thee into the hand of brutish men, machinating destruction. 32Thou shalt be to the fire for consuming; thy blood shall be in the midst of the land; thou shalt not be remembered: for I Jehovah spake.