rsv Ezekiel:21:4-21 SEEK
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Because I will cut off from you both righteous and wicked ,
therefore my sword shall go out of its sheath against all flesh from south to north ;
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and all flesh shall know that I the LORD have drawn my sword out of its sheath ;
it shall not be sheathed again .
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Sigh therefore ,
son of man ;
sigh with breaking heart and bitter grief before their eyes .
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And when they say to you , `
Why do you sigh ?'
you shall say , `
Because of the tidings .
When it comes ,
every heart will melt and all hands will be feeble ,
every spirit will faint and all knees will be weak as water .
Behold ,
it comes and it will be fulfilled ,'"
says the Lord GOD .
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And the word of the LORD came to me :
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Son of man ,
prophesy and say ,
Thus says the Lord ,
Say :
A sword ,
a sword is sharpened and also polished ,
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sharpened for slaughter ,
polished to flash like lightning !
Or do we make mirth ?
You have despised the rod ,
my son ,
with everything of wood .
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So the sword is given to be polished ,
that it may be handled ;
it is sharpened and polished to be given into the hand of the slayer .
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Cry and wail ,
son of man ,
for it is against my people ;
it is against all the princes of Israel ;
they are delivered over to the sword with my people .
Smite therefore upon your thigh .
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For it will not be a testing--what could it do if you despise the rod ?"
says the Lord GOD .
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Prophesy therefore ,
son of man ;
clap your hands and let the sword come down twice ,
yea thrice ,
the sword for those to be slain ;
it is the sword for the great slaughter ,
which encompasses them ,
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that their hearts may melt ,
and many fall at all their gates .
I have given the glittering sword ;
ah !
it is made like lightning ,
it is polished for slaughter .
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Cut sharply to right and left where your edge is directed .
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I also will clap my hands ,
and I will satisfy my fury ;
I the LORD have spoken ."
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The word of the LORD came to me again :
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Son of man ,
mark two ways for the sword of the king of Babylon to come ;
both of them shall come forth from the same land .
And make a signpost ,
make it at the head of the way to a city ;
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mark a way for the sword to come to Rabbah of the Ammonites and to Judah and to Jerusalem the fortified .
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For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the way ,
at the head of the two ways ,
to use divination ;
he shakes the arrows ,
he consults the teraphim ,
he looks at the liver .