Ezekiel 21:1-28

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. 21:23 But those in Jerusalem ²⁸  will view it as a false omen. They have sworn solemn oaths, ²⁹  but the king of Babylon ³⁰  will accuse them of violations ³¹  in order to seize them. ³² 

21:24 “Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘Because you have brought up ³³  your own guilt by uncovering your transgressions and revealing your sins through all your actions, for this reason you will be taken by force. ³⁴ 

21:25 “‘As for you, profane and wicked prince of Israel, ³⁵ 

whose day has come, the time of final punishment,

21:26 this is what the sovereign Lord says:

Tear off the turban, ³⁶ 

take off the crown!

Things must change! ³⁷ 

Exalt the lowly,

bring down the proud! ³⁸ 

21:27 A total ruin I will make it! ³⁹ 

It will come to an end

when the one arrives to whom I have assigned judgment.’ ⁴⁰ 

21:28 “As for you, son of man, prophesy and say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says concerning the Ammonites and their coming humiliation; ⁴¹  say:

“‘A sword, a sword drawn for slaughter,

polished to consume, ⁴²  to flash like lightning –

[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.”

[21:23]  ²⁸ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the people in Jerusalem) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:23]  ²⁹ sn When the people of Judah realized the Babylonians’ intentions, they would object on grounds that they had made a treaty with the Babylonian king (see 17:13).

[21:23]  ³⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king of Babylon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:23]  ³¹ tn Or “iniquity.”

[21:23]  ³² tn Heb “and he will remind of guilt for the purpose of being captured.” The king would counter their objections by pointing out that they had violated their treaty with him (see 17:18).

[21:24]  ³³ tn Heb “caused to be remembered.”

[21:24]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Because you have brought to remembrance your guilt when your transgressions are uncovered so that your sins are revealed in all your deeds – because you are remembered, by the hand you will be seized.”

[21:25]  ³⁵ tn This probably refers to King Zedekiah.

[21:26]  ³⁶ tn Elsewhere in the Bible the turban is worn by priests (Exod 28:4, 37, 39; 29:6; 39:28, 31; Lev 8:9; 16:4), but here a royal crown is in view.

[21:26]  ³⁷ tn Heb “This not this.”

[21:26]  ³⁸ tn Heb “the high one.”

[21:27]  ³⁹ tn Heb “A ruin, a ruin, a ruin I will make it.” The threefold repetition of the noun “ruin” is for emphasis and draws attention to the degree of ruin that would take place. See IBHS 233 §12.5a and GKC 431-32 §133.k. The pronominal suffix (translated “it”) on the verb “make” is feminine in Hebrew. The probable antecedent is the “turban/crown” (both nouns are feminine in form) mentioned in verse 26. The point is that the king’s royal splendor would be completely devastated as judgment overtook his realm and brought his reign to a violent end.

[21:27]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “Also this, he was not, until the coming of the one to whom the judgment belongs and I have given it.” The Hebrew text, as it stands, is grammatically difficult. The pronoun “this” is feminine, while the following negated verb (“was not”) is masculine. Some emend the verb to a feminine form (see BHS). In this case the statement refers to the destiny of the king’s turban/crown (symbolizing his reign). See the previous note. The preposition translated “when” normally means “until,” but here it seems to refer to the period during which the preceding situation is realized, rather than its termination point. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:19, 21. The second part of the statement, though awkward, probably refers to the arrival of the Babylonian king, to whom the Lord had assigned the task of judgment (see 23:24). Or the verse may read “A total ruin I will make, even this. It will not be until the one comes to whom is (the task of) judgment and I have assigned it.”

[21:28]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “their reproach.”

[21:28]  ⁴² tn Heb “to contain, endure.” Since the Hebrew text as it stands makes little, if any, sense, most emend the text to read either “to consume” or “for destruction.” For discussion of options see D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:693.