Ezekiel:21-22

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* And the word of the LORD came unto me , saying , * Son of man , set thy face toward Jerusalem , and drop thy word toward the holy places , and prophesy against the land of Israel , * And say to the land of Israel , Thus saith the LORD ; Behold , I am against thee , and will draw forth my sword out of his sheath , and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked . * Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked , therefore shall my sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the south to the north : * That all flesh may know that I the LORD have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath : it shall not return any more . * Sigh therefore , thou son of man , with the breaking of thy loins ; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes . * And it shall be , when they say unto thee , Wherefore sighest thou ? that thou shalt answer , For the tidings ; because it cometh : and every heart shall melt , and all hands shall be feeble , and every spirit shall faint , and all knees shall be weak as water : behold , it cometh , and shall be brought to pass , saith the Lord GOD . * Again the word of the LORD came unto me , saying , * Son of man , prophesy , and say , Thus saith the LORD ; Say , A sword , a sword is sharpened , and also furbished : * It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter ; it is furbished that it may glitter : should we then make mirth ? it contemneth the rod of my son , as every tree . * And he hath given it to be furbished , that it may be handled : this sword is sharpened , and it is furbished , to give it into the hand of the slayer . * Cry and howl , son of man : for it shall be upon my people , it shall be upon all the princes of Israel : terrors by reason of the sword shall be upon my people : smite therefore upon thy thigh . * Because it is a trial , and what if the sword contemn even the rod ? it shall be no more , saith the Lord GOD . * Thou therefore , son of man , prophesy , and smite thine hands together , and let the sword be doubled the third time , the sword of the slain : it is the sword of the great men that are slain , which entereth into their privy chambers . * I have set the point of the sword against all their gates , that their heart may faint , and their ruins be multiplied : ah ! it is made bright , it is wrapped up for the slaughter . * Go thee one way or other , either on the right hand , or on the left , whithersoever thy face is set . * I will also smite mine hands together , and I will cause my fury to rest : I the LORD have said it . * The word of the LORD came unto me again , saying , * Also , thou son of man , appoint thee two ways , that the sword of the king of Babylon may come : both twain shall come forth out of one land : and choose thou a place , choose it at the head of the way to the city . * Appoint a way , that the sword may come to Rabbath of the Ammonites , and to Judah in Jerusalem the defenced . * For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way , at the head of the two ways , to use divination : he made his arrows bright , he consulted with images , he looked in the liver . * At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem , to appoint captains , to open the mouth in the slaughter , to lift up the voice with shouting , to appoint battering rams against the gates , to cast a mount , and to build a fort . * And it shall be unto them as a false divination in their sight , to them that have sworn oaths : but he will call to remembrance the iniquity , that they may be taken . * Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD ; Because ye have made your iniquity to be remembered , in that your transgressions are discovered , so that in all your doings your sins do appear ; because , I say , that ye are come to remembrance , ye shall be taken with the hand . * And thou , profane wicked prince of Israel , whose day is come , when iniquity shall have an end , * Thus saith the Lord GOD ; Remove the diadem , and take off the crown : this shall not be the same : exalt him that is low , and abase him that is high . * I will overturn , overturn , overturn , it : and it shall be no more , until he come whose right it is ; and I will give it him . * And thou , son of man , prophesy and say , Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning the Ammonites , and concerning their reproach ; even say thou , The sword , the sword is drawn : for the slaughter it is furbished , to consume because of the glittering : * Whiles they see vanity unto thee , whiles they divine a lie unto thee , to bring thee upon the necks of them that are slain , of the wicked , whose day is come , when their iniquity shall have an end . * Shall I cause it to return into his sheath ? I will judge thee in the place where thou wast created , in the land of thy nativity . * And I will pour out mine indignation upon thee , I will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath , and deliver thee into the hand of brutish men , and skilful to destroy . * Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire ; thy blood shall be in the midst of the land ; thou shalt be no more remembered : for I the LORD have spoken it . * Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me , saying , * Now , thou son of man , wilt thou judge , wilt thou judge the bloody city ? yea , thou shalt shew her all her abominations . * Then say thou , Thus saith the Lord GOD , The city sheddeth blood in the midst of it , that her time may come , and maketh idols against herself to defile herself . * Thou art become guilty in thy blood that thou hast shed ; and hast defiled thyself in thine idols which thou hast made ; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near , and art come even unto thy years : therefore have I made thee a reproach unto the heathen , and a mocking to all countries . * Those that be near , and those that be far from thee , shall mock thee , which art infamous and much vexed . * Behold , the princes of Israel , every one were in thee to their power to shed blood . * In thee have they set light by father and mother : in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger : in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow . * Thou hast despised mine holy things , and hast profaned my sabbaths . * In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood : and in thee they eat upon the mountains : in the midst of thee they commit lewdness . * In thee have they discovered their fathers ' nakedness : in thee have they humbled her that was set apart for pollution . * And one hath committed abomination with his neighbour 's wife ; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter in law ; and another in thee hath humbled his sister , his father 's daughter . * In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood ; thou hast taken usury and increase , and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion , and hast forgotten me , saith the Lord GOD . * Behold , therefore I have smitten mine hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made , and at thy blood which hath been in the midst of thee . * Can thine heart endure , or can thine hands be strong , in the days that I shall deal with thee ? I the LORD have spoken it , and will do it . * And I will scatter thee among the heathen , and disperse thee in the countries , and will consume thy filthiness out of thee . * And thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself in the sight of the heathen , and thou shalt know that I am the LORD . * And the word of the LORD came unto me , saying , * Son of man , the house of Israel is to me become dross : all they are brass , and tin , and iron , and lead , in the midst of the furnace ; they are even the dross of silver . * Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD ; Because ye are all become dross , behold , therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem . * As they gather silver , and brass , and iron , and lead , and tin , into the midst of the furnace , to blow the fire upon it , to melt it ; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury , and I will leave you there , and melt you . * Yea , I will gather you , and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath , and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof . * As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace , so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof ; and ye shall know that I the LORD have poured out my fury upon you . * And the word of the LORD came unto me , saying , * Son of man , say unto her , Thou art the land that is not cleansed , nor rained upon in the day of indignation . * There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof , like a roaring lion ravening the prey ; they have devoured souls ; they have taken the treasure and precious things ; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof . * Her priests have violated my law , and have profaned mine holy things : they have put no difference between the holy and profane , neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean , and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths , and I am profaned among them . * Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey , to shed blood , and to destroy souls , to get dishonest gain . * And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter , seeing vanity , and divining lies unto them , saying , Thus saith the Lord GOD , when the LORD hath not spoken . * The people of the land have used oppression , and exercised robbery , and have vexed the poor and needy : yea , they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully . * And I sought for a man among them , that should make up the hedge , and stand in the gap before me for the land , that I should not destroy it : but I found none . * Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them ; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath : their own way have I recompensed upon their heads , saith the Lord GOD . * The word of the LORD came again unto me , saying ,

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