I will knock your bow out of your left hand and make your arrows fall from your right hand.

“‘See, I strike my hands together ¹  at the dishonest profit you have made, and at the bloodshed ²  they have done among you.

My eye will not pity you; I will not spare ¹  you. For your behavior I will hold you accountable, ²  and you will suffer the consequences of your abominable practices. Then you will know that it is I, the Lord, who is striking you. ³ 

While I listened, he said to the others, ¹  “Go through the city after him and strike people down; do no let your eye pity nor spare ²  anyone!

He said to them, “Defile the temple and fill the courtyards with corpses. Go!” So they went out and struck people down throughout the city.

I too will clap my hands together, I will exhaust my rage; I the Lord have spoken.”

When I turn the land of Egypt into desolation and the land is destitute of everything that fills it, when I strike all those who live in it, then they will know that I am the Lord.’

In the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth of the month, ¹  a refugee came to me from Jerusalem ²  saying, “The city has been defeated!” ³ 

Burn a third of it in the fire inside the city when the days of your siege are completed. Take a third and slash it with a sword all around the city. Scatter a third to the wind, and I will unleash a sword behind them.

“‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Clap your hands, stamp your feet, and say, “Ah!” because of all the evil, abominable practices of the house of Israel, for they will fall by the sword, famine, and pestilence. ¹ 

While they were striking them down, I was left alone, and I threw myself face down and cried out, “Ah, sovereign Lord! Will you destroy the entire remnant of Israel when you pour out your fury on Jerusalem?”

“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.

In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city ¹  was struck down, on this very day, ²  the hand ³  of the Lord was on me, and he brought me there. ⁴