Eze 21 | EngLXX | STEP | And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

‏ Ezekiel 21

1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 Therefore prophesy, son of man, set your face steadfastly toward Jerusalem, and look towardtheir holy places, and you shall prophesy against the land of Israel, 3 and you shall say to the land of Israel, Thus says the Lord; Behold, I am against you,and I will draw forth my sword out of its sheath, and I will destroy out of you the transgressor and unrighteous. 4 Because I will destroy out of you the unrighteous and the transgressor,therefore so shall my sword come forth out of its sheath against all flesh from the south tothe north: 5 and all flesh shall know that I the Lord have drawn forth my sword out of its sheath:it shall not return any more. 6 And you, son of man, groan with the breaking of your loins; you shall even groan heavilyin their sight. 7 And it shall come to pass, if they shall say to you, Wherefore do you groan? that youshall say, For the report; because it comes: and every heart shall break, and all hands shall become feeble,and all flesh and every spirit shall faint, and all thighs shall be defiled with moisture: behold, itcomes, says the Lord. 8 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 9 Son of man, prophesy, and you shall say, Thus says the Lord; Say, Sword, sword, be sharpenedand rage, 10 that you may kill victims; be sharpened that you may be bright, ready for slaughter,kill, set at nothing, despise every tree. 11 And he made it ready for his hand to hold: the sword is sharpened, it is ready to putinto the hand of the slayer. 12 Cry out and howl, son of man: for thissword is come upon my people, thissword is come upon all the princes of Israel: they shall be as strangers:judgment with the sword is come upon my people: therefore clap your hands, for sentence hasbeen passed: 13 and what if even the tribe be rejected? it shall not be, says the Lord God. 14 And you, son of man, prophesy, and clap your hands, and take a second sword: the thirdsword isthe sword of the slain, the great sword of the slain: and you shall strike them with amazement,lest the heart should faint 15 and the weak ones be multiplied at every gate—they are given up to the slaughter of thesword: it is well fitted for slaughter, it is well fitted for glittering. 16 And do you go on, sharpen yourself on the right and on the left wherever your face mayset itself. 17 And I also will clap my hands, and let loose my fury: I the Lord have spokenit. 18 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 19 and you, son of man, appoint you two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon mayenter in: the two shall go forth of one country; andthere shall be a force at the top of the way of the city, you shall setit at the top of the way, 20 that the sword may enter in upon Rabbath of the children of Ammon, and upon Judea, andupon Jerusalem in the midst thereof. 21 For the king of Babylon shall stand on the old way, at the head of the two ways, to usedivination, to make bright the arrow, and to enquire of the graven images, and to examinethe victims. 22 On his right was the divination against Jerusalem, to cast a mound, to open the mouthin shouting, to lift up the voice with crying, to cast a mound against her gates, to cast up a heap, andto build forts. 23 And he was to them as one using divination before them, and he himself recounting hisiniquities, that they might be borne in mind. 24 Therefore thus says the Lord, Because you⌃ have caused your iniquities to be remembered,in the discovery of your wickedness, so that your sins should be seen, in all your wickedness and in yourevil practices; because you⌃ have caused remembranceof them, in these shall you⌃ be taken. 25 And you profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day,even an end, is come in a sea of iniquity, thus says the Lord; 26 You have taken off the mitre and put on the crown, it shall not have suchanother after it: you have abased that which was high, and exalted that which was low. 27 Injustice, injustice, injustice, will I make it: woe to it: such shall it be until hecomes to whom it belongs; and I will deliverit to him. 28 And you, son of man, prophesy, and you shall say, Thus says the Lord, concerning thechildren of Ammon, and concerning their reproach; and you shall say, O sword, sword, drawn for slaughter,and drawn for destruction, awake, that you may gleam. 29 While you are seeing vainvisions, and while you are prophesying falsehoods, to bring yourself upon the necks of ungodlytransgressors, the day is come,even an end, in a season of iniquity. 30 Turn, rest not in this place wherein you were born: in your own land will I judge you. 31 And I will pour out my wrath upon you, I will blow upon you with the fire of my wrath,and I will deliver you into the hands of barbarians skilled in working destruction. 32 You shall be fuel for fire; your blood shall be in the midst of your land; there shallbe no remembrance at all of you: for I the Lord have spokenit.