1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face against Jerusalem, preach against the sanctuaries, and prophesy against the land of Israel. 3 Say to the land of Israel, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am against you. I will draw my sword from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked. 4 Because I will cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked, my sword will come out of its sheath against all flesh from south to north. 5 All flesh will know that I, the LORD, have drawn my sword from its sheath. It will not return again.’

6 As for you, son of man, groan with your loins breaking. Groan bitterly in their sight. 7 When they ask you, ‘Why are you groaning?’ say, ‘Because of the news, for it is coming. Every heart will melt, all hands will grow weak, every spirit will faint, and all knees will run with water. It is coming, and it will happen, declares the Lord GOD.’ ”

8 The word of the LORD came to me: 9 “Son of man, prophesy and say, ‘This is what the Lord says.’ Say, ‘A sword, a sword, sharpened and also polished! 10 It is sharpened for slaughter, polished to flash like lightning. Or should we rejoice? It despises the scepter of my son as it does every piece of wood. 11 He gave it to be polished, to be grasped in the hand. The sword is sharpened and polished to be put into the hand of the killer. 12 Cry out and wail, son of man, for it is against my people, against all the princes of Israel. They are handed over to the sword with my people. Therefore strike your thigh. 13 For there is a testing, declares the Lord GOD. And what if even the scepter the sword despises is no more?’

14 As for you, son of man, prophesy and strike your hands together. Let the sword be doubled, then tripled. It is the sword of the slain, the sword of the great slain one, penetrating them. 15 So that hearts may melt and stumbling blocks multiply, I have set the point of the sword against all their gates. Ah, it is made to flash like lightning, grasped for slaughter! 16 Gather your strength; strike right! Set yourself; strike left! Wherever your edge is directed! 17 I too will strike my hands together and bring my wrath to rest. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

18 The word of the LORD came to me: 19 “As for you, son of man, mark out two roads for the sword of the king of Babylon to come. Both are to come from one land. Make a signpost; make it at the head of the road to the city. 20 Mark out a road for the sword to come to Rabbah of the Ammonites, and to Judah, to fortified Jerusalem. 21 For the king of Babylon stands at the fork in the road, at the head of the two roads, to practice divination. He shakes the arrows, consults the household idols, and examines the liver. 22 In his right hand is the divination for Jerusalem: to set up battering rams, open the mouth for slaughter, raise the voice in a battle cry, set battering rams against the gates, pile up a siege ramp, and build siege works. 23 It will seem to them like false divination, to those who have sworn oaths to them. But he will bring iniquity to remembrance, so that they may be captured.

24 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Because you have brought your iniquity to remembrance by exposing your transgressions, so that your sins are seen in all your deeds—because you have been remembered, you will be seized by the hand.

25 And you, mortally wounded, wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come, the time of final punishment,

26 this is what the Lord GOD says: Remove the turban and take off the crown. This will not remain as it is. Raise up the low and bring down the high. 27 Ruin, ruin, ruin—I will make it so! This too will be no more until the one to whom the right belongs comes, and I will give it to him.

28 As for you, son of man, prophesy and say, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says concerning the Ammonites and their reproach.’ Say, ‘A sword, a sword is drawn for slaughter, polished to consume, to flash like lightning, 29 while they see false visions for you and divine lies for you, to place you upon the necks of the wicked slain, whose day has come, the time of final punishment. 30 Return it to its sheath! In the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you. 31 I will pour out my indignation upon you and blow upon you with the fire of my wrath. I will give you into the hands of brutal men, skilled in destruction. 32 You will be fuel for the fire. Your blood will be in the midst of the land. You will not be remembered, for I, the LORD, have spoken.’ ”