Ezekiel 21:1-22

The Sword of Judgment

21:1 (21:6) ¹  The word of the Lord came to me: 21:2 “Son of man, turn toward ²  Jerusalem ³  and speak out against the sanctuaries. Prophesy against the land of Israel 21:3 and say to them, ⁴  ‘This is what the Lord says: Look, ⁵  I am against you. ⁶  I will draw my sword ⁷  from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked. ⁸  21:4 Because I will cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked, my sword will go out from its sheath against everyone ⁹  from the south ¹⁰  to the north. 21:5 Then everyone will know that I am the Lord, who drew my sword from its sheath – it will not be sheathed again!’

21:6 “And you, son of man, groan with an aching heart ¹¹  and bitterness; groan before their eyes. 21:7 When 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 ¹²  will faint and every knee will be wet with urine.’ ¹³  Pay attention – it is coming and it will happen, declares the sovereign Lord.”

21:8 The word of the Lord came to me: 21:9 “Son of man, prophesy and say: ‘This is what the Lord says:

“‘A sword, a sword is sharpened,

and also polished.

21:10 It 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! ¹⁴ 

21:11 “‘He gave it to be polished,

to be grasped in the hand –

the sword is sharpened, it is polished –

giving it into the hand of the executioner.

21:12 Cry 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. ¹⁵ 

21:13 “‘For testing will come, and what will happen when the scepter, which the sword despises, is no more? ¹⁶  declares the sovereign Lord.’

21:14 “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.

21:15 So 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!

21:16 Cut sharply on the right!

Swing to ¹⁷  the left,

wherever your edge ¹⁸  is appointed to strike.

21:17 I too will clap my hands together,

I will exhaust my rage;

I the Lord have spoken.”

21:18 The word of the Lord came to me: 21:19 “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. 21:20 Mark out the routes for the sword to take: “Rabbah of the Ammonites” and “Judah with Jerusalem in it.” ¹⁹  21:21 For the king of Babylon stands at the fork ²⁰  in the road at the head of the two routes. He looks for omens: ²¹  He shakes arrows, he consults idols, ²²  he examines ²³  animal livers. ²⁴  21:22 Into his right hand ²⁵  comes the portent for Jerusalem – to set up battering rams, to give the signal ²⁶  for slaughter, to shout out the battle cry, ²⁷  to set up battering rams against the gates, to erect a siege ramp, to build a siege wall.

[21:1]  ¹ sn Ezek 21:1 in the English Bible is 21:6 in the Hebrew text (BHS). See the note at 20:45.

[21:2]  ² tn Heb “set your face toward.”

[21:2]  ³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[21:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “the land of Israel.”

[21:3]  ⁵ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) draws attention to something and has been translated here as a verb.

[21:3]  ⁶ tn Or “I challenge you.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:201-2, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘h!nn#n' ?l?K>,’” ZAW 45 (1933): 101-8.

[21:3]  ⁷ sn This is the sword of judgment, see Isa 31:8; 34:6; 66:16.

[21:3]  ⁸ sn Ezekiel elsewhere pictures the Lord’s judgment as discriminating between the righteous and the wicked (9:4-6; 18:1-20; see as well Pss 1 and 11) and speaks of the preservation of a remnant (3:21; 6:8; 12:16). Perhaps here he exaggerates for rhetorical effect in an effort to subdue any false optimism. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:25-26; D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:669-70; and W. Zimmerli, Ezekiel (Hermeneia), 1:424-25.

[21:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “all flesh” (also in the following verse).

[21:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Negev.” The Negev is the south country.

[21:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “breaking loins.”

[21:7]  ¹² tn Heb “every spirit will be dim.”

[21:7]  ¹³ sn This expression depicts in a very vivid way how they will be overcome with fear. See the note on the same phrase in 7:17.

[21:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Or shall we rejoice, scepter of my son, it despises every tree.” The translation understands the subject of the verb “despises,” which is a feminine form in the Hebrew text, to be the sword (which is a feminine noun) mentioned just before this. Alternatively, the line may be understood as “let us not rejoice, O tribe of my son; it despises every tree.” The same word in Hebrew may be either “rod,” “scepter,” or “tribe.” The word sometimes translated as “or” or taken as an interrogative particle may be a negative particle. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:672, n. 79.

[21:12]  ¹⁵ sn This physical action was part of an expression of grief. Cp. Jer. 31:19.

[21:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “For testing (will come) and what if also a scepter, it despises, will not be?” The translation understands the subject of the verb “despises,” which is a feminine form in the Hebrew text, to be the sword (which is a feminine noun) mentioned in the previous verses. The text is very difficult and any rendering is uncertain.

[21:16]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Put to.”

[21:16]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “face.”

[21:20]  ¹⁹ tc The MT reads “Judah in fortified Jerusalem,” a geographic impossibility. The translation follows the LXX, which assumes בְּתוֹכָהּ (bÿtokhah, “in it”) for בְּצוּרָה (bÿtsurah, “fortified”).

[21:21]  ²⁰ tn Heb “mother.”

[21:21]  ²¹ sn Mesopotamian kings believed that the gods revealed the future through omens. They employed various divination techniques, some of which are included in the list that follows. A particularly popular technique was the examination and interpretation of the livers of animals. See R. R. Wilson, Prophecy and Society in Ancient Israel, 90-110.

[21:21]  ²² tn This word refers to personal idols that were apparently used for divination purposes (Gen 31:19; 1 Sam 19:13, 16).

[21:21]  ²³ tn Heb “sees.”

[21:21]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the liver.”

[21:22]  ²⁵ tn Or “on the right side,” i.e., the omen mark on the right side of the liver.

[21:22]  ²⁶ tn Heb “to open the mouth” for slaughter.

[21:22]  ²⁷ tn Heb “to raise up a voice in a battle cry.”