1Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:
2Son of man, set your face toward the south; preach against the southland, and prophesy against the forest land of the Negev.
3And say to the forest of the Negev: Hear the word of Yahweh! Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am about to kindle a fire in you, and it will devour every green tree in you and every dry tree. The blazing flame will not be quenched, and by it every face from the Negev to the north will be scorched.
4And all flesh will see that I, Yahweh, have kindled it; it will not be quenched.
5Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! They are saying of me, ‘Is he not just a maker of parables?’”
6Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:
7Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and preach against the sanctuaries, and prophesy against the land of Israel.
8And say to the land of Israel: Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I am against you. I will draw my sword from its sheath and cut off from you the righteous and the wicked.
9Because I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore my sword will come out of its sheath against all flesh from the Negev to the north.
10And all flesh will know that I, Yahweh, have drawn my sword from its sheath; it will not return again.
11As for you, son of man, groan! With breaking loins and in bitterness, groan before their eyes.
12And when they say to you, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you shall say, ‘Because of the report—for it is coming, and every heart will melt and all hands go slack, every spirit will grow faint and all knees will run with water. Behold, it is coming and it will be done, declares the Lord Yahweh.’
13Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:
14Son of man, prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord: Say: A sword, a sword! It is sharpened and also polished.
15To slaughter a slaughter it is sharpened, so it may flash like lightning it is polished. Or shall we rejoice? The scepter of my son despises every tree.
16He has given it to be polished, so that it may be grasped in the hand; it is sharpened—a sword—and it is polished, to be given into the hand of a slayer.
17Cry out and wail, son of man, for it was against my people; it was against all the princes of Israel. They were handed over to the sword along with my people. Therefore strike your thigh!
18For it is a testing—and what if even the scepter that despises should be no more? declares the Lord Yahweh.
19As for you, son of man, prophesy and strike palm against palm. Let the sword be doubled a third time—the sword of the slain! It is the sword of the great slain one that closes in upon them.
20So that hearts may melt and the stumbling blocks be many, at all their gates I have set the flashing of the sword. Ah! It is made to flash like lightning, sharpened for slaughter.
21Unite yourself; go to the right; set yourself; go to the left—wherever your edge is directed!
22And I too will strike my palm against my palm, and I will satisfy my wrath. I, Yahweh, have spoken.
23Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:
24As for you, son of man, mark out for yourself two roads for the sword of the king of Babylon to come; both of them will come out from one land. And carve a signpost; carve it at the head of the road to a city.
25Mark out a road for the sword to come against Rabbah of the Ammonites, and against Judah in fortified Jerusalem.
26For the king of Babylon has halted at the parting of the way, at the head of the two roads, to seek an omen: he shakes the arrows, he consults the teraphim, he examines the liver.
27In his right hand is the omen for Jerusalem: to set battering rams, to open the mouth with a slaughter-cry, to raise the voice with a war cry, to set battering rams against the gates, to throw up a siege ramp, to build a siege wall.
28But it will seem to them like a false omen in their eyes—they who have sworn solemn oaths. Yet he brings their guilt to remembrance, so that they will be captured.
29Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because you have brought your guilt to remembrance, when your transgressions are uncovered so that your sins appear in all your deeds—because you have come to remembrance, you will be seized by the hand.
30And you, O slain and wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come, at the time of the iniquity of the end—
31Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Remove the turban and lift off the crown! This will not remain as it is. Exalt the lowly and bring low the exalted.
32A ruin, a ruin, a ruin I will make it! Even this shall not be, until he comes to whom the judgment belongs, and to him I will give it.
33And you, son of man, prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord Yahweh concerning the Ammonites and concerning their reproach; and say: A sword, a sword drawn for slaughter, polished to consume, to flash like lightning—
34while they see false visions for you and divine lies for you—to lay you on the necks of the slain, the wicked, whose day has come, at the time of final punishment.
35Return it to its sheath! In the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you.
36I will pour out my indignation upon you; with the fire of my wrath I will blow upon you, and I will give you into the hand of brutish men, craftsmen of destruction.
37You shall be fuel for the fire; your blood shall be in the midst of the land; you shall not be remembered, for I, Yahweh, have spoken.
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