God’s Sword of Judgment

1And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 2“Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and pour in drops toward the sanctuaries, and prophesy against the soil of Israel. 3And you shall say to the land of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, and I will cast my sword from its sheath, and I will slay the just and the impious among you. 4But in as much as I have slain among you the just and the impious, for this reason my sword will go forth from its sheath against all flesh, from the south even to the north. 5So may all flesh know that I, the Lord, have led my sword out of its sheath irrevocably. 6And as for you, son of man, groan in the breaking of your back, and groan in bitterness before them. 7And when they will say to you, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you shall say: ‘On behalf of the report, For it is approaching. And every heart will waste away, and every hand will be broken, and every spirit will be weakened, and water will flow across every knee.’ Behold, it is approaching and it will happen, says the Lord God.”

8And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

9“Son of man, prophesy, and you shall say: Thus says the Lord God: Speak: The sword! The sword has been sharpened and polished!

10It has been sharpened, so that it may cut down victims! It has been polished, so that it may shine! You are disturbing the scepter of my son. You have cut down every tree.

11And I have sent it to be made smooth, so that it may be handled. This sword has been sharpened, and it has been polished, so that it may be in the hand of the one who kills. 12Cry out and wail, O son of man! For this has been done among my people, this is among all the leaders of Israel, who have fled. They have been handed over to the sword, with my people. Therefore, slap your thigh, 13for it has been tested. And this one, when he will have overthrown the scepter, will not be, says the Lord God.

14You therefore, O son of man, prophesy, and strike hand against hand, and let the sword be doubled, and let the sword of the slain be tripled. This is the sword of the great slaughter, which causes them to be utterly stupefied, 15and to waste away in heart, and which multiplies ruin. At all their gates, I have presented the consternation of the sword, which has been sharpened and polished so as to shine, which has been dressed for the slaughter. 16Be sharpened! Go to the right or to the left, whichever way is the desire of your face. 17And then I will clap hand against hand, and I will fulfill my indignation. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

18And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 19“And as for you, son of man, set for yourself two ways, so that the sword of the king of Babylon may approach. Both shall go forth from one land. And with a hand, he will grasp and cast lots; he will cast at the head of the way of the community. 20You shall appoint a way, so that the sword may approach to Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, or to Judah, into Jerusalem, greatly fortified. 21For the king of Babylon stood at the fork, at the head of the two ways, seeking divination, shuffling arrows; he inquired of idols, and he consulted entrails. 22To his right was set the divination over Jerusalem, to place battering rams so as to open a mouth for the slaughter, to lift up the voice of wailing, to place battering rams opposite the gates, to cast up a rampart, to build fortifications. 23And he shall be, in their eyes, like someone consulting an oracle in vain, or imitating the leisure of Sabbaths. But he will call to mind iniquities, so that it will be captured.

24Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Because you have been remembered in your iniquities, and you have revealed your betrayals, and your sins have appeared within all your plans, because, I say, you have been remembered, you will be captured by a hand. 25But as for you, O impious leader of Israel, whose day has arrived that was predetermined at the time of iniquity: 26Thus says the Lord God: Take away the diadem, remove the crown. Is this not what has exalted the lowly one, and brought low the sublime one? 27Iniquity, iniquity, iniquity I will make it. And this was not done until the one arrived to whom judgment belongs, and I will hand it over to him.

28And as for you, son of man, prophesy, and say: Thus says the Lord God to the sons of Ammon, and to their disgrace, and you shall say: O sword, O sword, unsheathe yourself so as to slay; polish yourself so as to kill and to shine, 29while they look upon you in vain, and they divine lies, so that you may be given over to the necks of the wounded impious, whose day has arrived that was predetermined at the time of iniquity. 30Be returned to your sheath! I will judge you in the place where you were created, in the land of your nativity. 31And I will pour out upon you my indignation. In the fire of my fury, I will fan you, and I will give you over to the hands of cruel men, who have devised destruction. 32You will be food for the fire; your blood will be in the midst of the land; you will be delivered to oblivion. For I, the Lord, have spoken.”