CHAPTER 21
1 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,
2 Thou, son of man, set thy face to Jerusalem, and drop thou (thy word) to the saintuaries, and prophesy thou against the earth of Israel. (Thou, son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thou thy word against the sanctuaries, and prophesy thou against the land of Israel.)
3 And thou shalt say to the land of Israel, The Lord God saith these things, Lo! I to thee, and I shall cast my sword out of his sheath, and I shall slay in thee a just man and a wicked man. (And thou shalt say to the land of Israel, The Lord God saith these things, Behold! I am against thee, and I shall draw my sword out of its sheath, and I shall kill there the righteous and the wicked.)
4 Forsooth for that that I have slain in thee a just man and a wicked man, therefore my sword shall go out of his sheath to each man, from the south till to the north; (Yea, because I shall kill there the righteous and the wicked, and so my sword shall go out of its sheath against every person, from the south unto the north;)
5 that each man know, that I the Lord have drawn out my sword from his sheath, that shall not be called again. (so that every person know, that I the Lord have drawn out my sword from its sheath, and it shall not be called back, or recalled.)
6 And thou, son of man, wail in [the] sorrow of loins, and in bitternesses thou shalt wail before them.
7 And when they shall say to thee, Why wailest thou? thou shalt say, For [the] hearing (or For the news), for it cometh; and each heart shall fail, and all hands shall be benumbed, and each spirit shall be feeble, and waters shall flow down by all knees; lo! it cometh, and it shall be done, saith the Lord God.
8 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,
9 Son of man, prophesy thou; and thou shalt say, The Lord God saith these things, Speak thou, The sword, the sword is made sharp, and is made bright;
10 it is made sharp to slay sacrifices; it is made bright, (so) that it shine. Thou that movest the sceptre of my son, hast cut down each tree.
11 And I gave it to be furbished, that it be holden with hand; this sword is made sharp, and this is made bright (or and it is made bright), that it be in the hand of the slayer.
12 Son of man, cry thou, and yell, for this sword is made in my people, this in all the dukes of Israel; they that fled be given to sword with my people. Therefore smite thou on thine hip, (Son of man, cry thou, and yell, for this sword is sent upon my people, it shall be upon all the princes, or all the leaders, of Israel; they who fled be given to the sword along with my people. And so strike thou upon thy hip,)
13 for it is proved; and this when it hath destroyed the sceptre, and it shall not be, saith the Lord God.
14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy thou, and smite thou hand to hand (or and strike thou one hand to the other, that is, clap thy hands), and the sword be doubled, and the sword of the slayers be trebled; this is the sword of great slaying, that shall make them astonied, and to fail in heart, and multiplieth fallings.
15 In all the gates of them I gave (the) troubling of a sword, sharp and made bright to shine, girded to slaying.
16 Be thou made sharp, go thou to the right side, either to the left side, whither ever the desire of thy face is (or wherever the desire of thy face is or wherever thou desireth).
17 Certainly and I shall smite with hand to hand (or Truly I shall clap my hands), and I shall [ful] fill mine indignation; I the Lord spake.
18 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,
19 And thou, son of man, set to thee two ways, (so) that the sword of the king of Babylon (may) come; both shall go out of one land, and by the hand he shall take conjecturing; he shall conjecture in the head of the way of the city, (or and so carve a signpost, and then place it at the head of the ways to two cities),
20 setting a way, that the sword come to Rabbath of the sons of Ammon, and to Judah into Jerusalem most strong. (pointing the way, so that the sword come to Rabbath of the Ammonites, and to Judah into the fortified Jerusalem.)
21 For the king of Babylon stood in the meeting of two ways, in the head of two ways, and sought divining, and meddled arrows; he asked idols, and took counsel at entrails. (For the king of Babylon stood at the meeting of two ways, at the head of two ways, and sought divining, and mixed, or mingled, the arrows; he asked idols, and received counsel, or advice, from entrails.)
22 Divining was made to his right side on Jerusalem, that he set engines, that he open [the] mouth in slaying, that he raise [the] voice in yelling, that he set engines against the gates, that he bear together [an heap of] earth, that he build strongholds. (Divining was made at his right hand for Jerusalem, that he set up battering rams, and that he open his mouth in killing, and that he raise up his voice in yelling, yea, that he set up battering rams against the gates, and that he bear together heaps of earth, and that he build strongholds.)
23 And he shall be as counselling in (a) vain god’s answer before the eyes of them, and serving (on) the rest of sabbaths; but he shall have mind on (their) wickedness, to take (them). (And he shall be like the counselling in an idol’s answer before their eyes, and serving on the rest of the Sabbaths; but he shall remember their wickedness, to take them captive.)
24 Therefore the Lord God saith these things, For that that ye had mind on your wickednesses, and showed your trespassings, and your sins appeared in all your thoughts, forsooth for that that ye had mind, ye shall be taken by the (enemies?) hand.
25 But thou, cursed wicked duke of Israel, whose day before-determined is come in the time of wickedness, (But thou, cursed wicked prince of Israel, whose predetermined day hath come in the time of wickedness,)
26 the Lord God saith these things, Do away the mitre, take away the crown; whether it is not this that raised the meek man, and made low the high man?
27 Wickedness, wickedness, wickedness, I shall put it; and this shall not be done till he come, whose the doom (it) is, and I shall betake (it) to him. (Ruin, ruin, ruin, so I shall make it; but this shall not be done until he come, who shall render the judgement, and I shall deliver it to him.)
28 And thou, son of man, prophesy, and say, The Lord God saith these things to the sons of Ammon, and to the shame of them; and thou shalt say, A! thou sword, A! thou sword, drawn out to slay, made bright, that thou slay and shine, (And thou, son of man, prophesy, and say, The Lord God saith these things to the Ammonites, yea, for their shame; and thou shalt say, O thou sword! O thou sword! drawn out to kill, made bright, that thou shine and kill,)
29 when vain things were seen to thee, and leasings were divined, that thou shouldest be given on the necks of wicked men wounded, the day of which before-determined shall come in the time of wickedness, (when false things were seen by thee, and lies were divined, so that thou shouldest be brought down upon the necks of the wicked who be killed, the which predetermined day hath come in the time of wickedness,)
30 turn thou again into thy sheath, into the place in which thou were made. I shall deem thee in the land of thy birth, (turn thou again into thy sheath. And in the place where thou were made, I shall judge thee, yea, in the land of thy birth,)
31 and I shall shed out mine indignation on thee; in the fire of my strong vengeance I shall blow in thee, and I shall give thee into the hands of unwise men, and making death. (and I shall pour out my indignation upon thee; I shall blow against thee, with the fire of my strong vengeance, and I shall give thee into the hands of the unwise, and those making, or bringing in, death.)
32 Thou shalt be meat to fire, thy blood shall be in the midst of earth; thou shalt be given to forgetting, for I the Lord spake. (Thou shalt be food for the fire, thy blood shall be in the midst of the land; and thou shalt be forgotten, for I the Lord have spoken.)