Ezekiel 20:45-22:21

New King James Version

Fire in the Forest

⁴⁵Furthermore the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁴⁶^(A)“Son of man, set your face toward the south; ^[a]preach against the south and prophesy against the forest land, the ^[b]South, ⁴⁷and say to the forest of the South, ‘Hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, ^(B)I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour ^(C)every green tree and every dry tree in you; the blazing flame shall not be quenched, and all faces ^(D)from the south to the north shall be scorched by it. ⁴⁸All flesh shall see that I, the Lord, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched.” ’ ”

⁴⁹Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! They say of me, ‘Does he not speak ^(E)parables?’ ”

Babylon, the Sword of God

21 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ²^(F)“Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, ^(G)preach^[c] against the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel; ³and say to the land of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I am ^(H)against you, and I will draw My sword out of its sheath and cut off both ^(I)righteous and wicked from you. ⁴Because I will cut off both righteous and wicked from you, therefore My sword shall go out of its sheath against all flesh ^(J)from south to north, ⁵that all flesh may know that I, the Lord, have drawn My sword out of its sheath; it ^(K)shall not return anymore.” ’ ⁶^(L)Sigh therefore, son of man, with ^[d]a breaking heart, and sigh with bitterness before their eyes. ⁷And it shall be when they say to you, ‘Why are you sighing?’ that you shall answer, ‘Because of the news; when it comes, every heart will melt, ^(M)all hands will be feeble, every spirit will faint, and all knees will be weak as water. Behold, it is coming and shall be brought to pass,’ says the Lord God.”

⁸Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁹“Son of man, prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord!’ Say:

^(N)‘A sword, a sword is sharpened
And also polished!
¹⁰Sharpened to make a dreadful slaughter,
Polished to flash like lightning!
Should we then make mirth?
It despises the scepter of My son,
As it does all wood.
¹¹And He has given it to be polished,
That it may be handled;
This sword is sharpened, and it is polished
To be given into the hand of ^(O)the slayer.’

¹²“Cry and wail, son of man;
For it will be against My people,
Against all the princes of Israel.
Terrors including the sword will be against My people;
Therefore ^(P)strike your thigh.

¹³“Because it is ^(Q)a testing,
And what if the sword despises even the scepter?
^(R)The scepter shall be no more,”

says the Lord God.

¹⁴“You therefore, son of man, prophesy,
And ^(S)strike your hands together.
The third time let the sword do double damage.
It is the sword that slays,
The sword that slays the great men,
That enters their ^(T)private chambers.
¹⁵I have set the point of the sword against all their gates,
That the heart may melt and many may stumble.
Ah! ^(U)It is made bright;
It is grasped for slaughter:

¹⁶“Swords^(V)^[e] at the ready!
Thrust right!
Set your blade!
Thrust left—
Wherever your ^[f]edge is ordered!

¹⁷“I also will ^(W)beat My fists together,
And ^(X)I will cause My fury to rest;
I, the Lord, have spoken.”

¹⁸The word of the Lord came to me again, saying: ¹⁹“And son of man, appoint for yourself two ways for the sword of the king of Babylon to go; both of them shall go from the same land. Make a sign; put it at the head of the road to the city. ²⁰Appoint a road for the sword to go to ^(Y)Rabbah of the Ammonites, and to Judah, into fortified Jerusalem. ²¹For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the road, at the fork of the two roads, to use divination: he shakes the arrows, he consults the ^[g]images, he looks at the liver. ²²In his right hand is the divination for Jerusalem: to set up battering rams, to call for a slaughter, to ^(Z)lift the voice with shouting, ^(AA)to set battering rams against the gates, to heap up a siege mound, and to build a wall. ²³And it will be to them like a false divination in the eyes of those who ^(AB)have sworn oaths with them; but he will bring their iniquity to remembrance, that they may be taken.

²⁴“Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Because you have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your doings your sins appear—because you have come to remembrance, you shall be taken in hand.

²⁵‘Now to you, O ^(AC)profane, wicked prince of Israel, ^(AD)whose day has come, whose iniquity shall end, ²⁶thus says the Lord God:

“Remove the turban, and take off the crown;
Nothing shall remain the same.
^(AE)Exalt the humble, and humble the exalted.
²⁷^[h]Overthrown, overthrown,
I will make it overthrown!
^(AF)It shall be no longer,
Until He comes whose right it is,
And I will give it to ^(AG)Him.” ’

A Sword Against the Ammonites

²⁸“And you, son of man, prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God ^(AH)concerning the Ammonites and concerning their reproach,’ and say:

‘A sword, a sword is drawn,
Polished for slaughter,
For consuming, for flashing—
²⁹While they ^(AI)see false visions for you,
While they divine a lie to you,
To bring you on the necks of the wicked, the slain
^(AJ)Whose day has come,
Whose iniquity shall end.

³⁰‘Return^(AK) it to its sheath.
^(AL)I will judge you
In the place where you were created,
^(AM)In the land of your ^[i]nativity.
³¹I will ^(AN)pour out My indignation on you;
I will ^(AO)blow against you with the fire of My wrath,
And deliver you into the hands of brutal men who are skillful to ^(AP)destroy.
³²You shall be fuel for the fire;
Your blood shall be in the midst of the land.
^(AQ)You shall not be remembered,
For I the Lord have spoken.’ ”

Sins of Jerusalem

22 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ²“Now, son of man, ^(AR)will you judge, will you judge ^(AS)the bloody city? Yes, show her all her abominations! ³Then say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “The city sheds ^(AT)blood in her own midst, that her time may come; and she makes idols within herself to defile herself. ⁴You have become guilty by the blood which you have ^(AU)shed, and have defiled yourself with the idols which you have made. You have caused your days to draw near, and have come to the end of your years; ^(AV)therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all countries. ⁵Those near and those far from you will mock you as ^[j]infamous and full of tumult.

⁶“Look, ^(AW)the princes of Israel: each one has used his ^[k]power to shed blood in you. ⁷In you they have ^(AX)made light of father and mother; in your midst they have ^(AY)oppressed the stranger; in you they have mistreated the ^[l]fatherless and the widow. ⁸You have despised My holy things and ^(AZ)profaned My Sabbaths. ⁹In you are ^(BA)men who slander to cause bloodshed; ^(BB)in you are those who eat on the mountains; in your midst they commit lewdness. ¹⁰In you men ^(BC)uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are ^(BD)set apart during their impurity. ¹¹One commits abomination ^(BE)with his neighbor’s wife; ^(BF)another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; and another in you violates his sister, his father’s ^(BG)daughter. ¹²In you ^(BH)they take bribes to shed blood; ^(BI)you take usury and increase; you have made profit from your neighbors by extortion, and ^(BJ)have forgotten Me,” says the Lord God.

¹³“Behold, therefore, I ^(BK)beat My fists at the dishonest profit which you have made, and at the bloodshed which has been in your midst. ¹⁴^(BL)Can your heart endure, or can your hands remain strong, in the days when I shall deal with you? ^(BM)I, the Lord, have spoken, and will do it. ¹⁵^(BN)I will scatter you among the nations, disperse you throughout the countries, and ^(BO)remove your filthiness completely from you. ¹⁶You shall defile yourself in the sight of the nations; then ^(BP)you shall know that I am the Lord.” ’ ”

Israel in the Furnace

¹⁷The word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁸“Son of man, ^(BQ)the house of Israel has become dross to Me; they are all bronze, tin, iron, and lead, in the midst of a ^(BR)furnace; they have become dross from silver. ¹⁹Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Because you have all become dross, therefore behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. ²⁰As men gather silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin into the midst of a furnace, to blow fire on it, to ^(BS)melt it; so I will gather you in My anger and in My fury, and I will leave you there and melt you. ²¹Yes, I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you shall be melted in its midst.