Ezekiel 21

Then the LORD spoke his word to me. He said:

1And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

Note"The LORD" in small capitals stands in for the personal name of Israel's God, written in Hebrew with four consonants (YHWH); Jewish readers said "Lord" aloud in its place, and English Bibles keep that substitution. "Lord GOD" later in the chapter renders a doubled title in the Hebrew. A numbering note: in Hebrew Bibles this chapter begins five verses earlier, so Hebrew 21:6 is English 21:1, and the Hebrew chapter runs to 37 verses. Translations that follow the Hebrew numbering will be out of step with this one.

2"Son of man, turn your face toward Jerusalem and speak against its holy places. Speak my message against the land of Israel.

2Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel,

Note"Son of man" is a Hebrew idiom meaning simply "human being, mortal." It is God's standard way of addressing Ezekiel throughout the book, over ninety times, and marks the distance between the speaker and the man spoken to. "Turn your face toward" describes a real gesture: a prophet physically faced the place he was denouncing while delivering the message. The "holy places" are sanctuaries, the temple in Jerusalem with its several sacred areas, and possibly other shrines in the land.

3Say to the land of Israel: This is what the LORD says: I am against you. I will pull my sword out of its sheath, and I will cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked.

3And 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.

Note"Cut off" is the standard biblical phrase for killing or removing someone completely, whether by execution, disaster, or war.

4Because I am going to cut off both the righteous and the wicked from you, my sword will come out of its sheath against everyone alive, from the south to the north.

4Seeing 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:

5Then everyone alive will know that I, the LORD, have drawn my sword out of its sheath. It will not go back in again."

5That all flesh may know that I the LORD have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath: it shall not return any more.

6So groan out loud, son of man. Groan where they can see you, as if your body were breaking, and groan with bitter grief.

6Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes.

NoteEzekiel regularly performed his messages in public rather than only speaking them, lying on his side, shaving his head, packing an exile's bag. This is one of those acted signs. The King James "breaking of thy loins" reflects the Hebrew: the loins, the lower back and hips, were thought of as the seat of a person's physical strength, so the picture is of a man doubled over, his strength gone.

7When they ask you, "Why are you groaning?" answer, "Because of the news that is coming. Every heart will melt, every hand will hang limp, every spirit will grow faint, and every knee will turn to water. It is coming, and it will happen, says the Lord GOD."

7And 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.

Note"Knees will turn to water" is an idiom for terror so complete that the body gives way; it may refer to loss of bladder control. "Hearts melting" and "hands hanging limp" are the same kind of stock battle-panic language, found in war reports across the ancient Near East.

8Again the LORD spoke his word to me. He said:

8Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

9"Son of man, speak for me. Say: This is what the Lord says: A sword, a sword! It is sharpened, and it is polished.

9Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the LORD; Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished:

10It is sharpened to kill many. It is polished so that it flashes like lightning. Should we then be glad about the royal staff of my son? The sword treats that staff with scorn, as it would any stick of wood.

10It 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.

NoteThe "royal staff" (King James "rod," elsewhere "sceptre") is the ornamented rod a ruler held as the visible sign of his authority. "My son" is a title used for Israel as a people and for its king. This verse is among the most difficult in the book: the Hebrew is compressed and damaged, ancient copies disagree, and no translation can claim certainty about the second half.

11The sword is handed over to be polished, so it can be gripped in the hand. It is sharpened and polished, ready to be put into the hand of the killer.

11And 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.

12Cry out and wail, son of man, for the sword is aimed at my people and at all the leaders of Israel. Along with my people they are thrown to the sword. So strike your thigh in grief.

12Cry 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.

NoteStriking the thigh was a recognized public gesture of shock and grief, like beating the breast, see Jeremiah 31:19.

13Testing is surely coming. And what if even the royal staff, the one the sword scorns, does not last? says the Lord GOD.

13Because it is a trial, and what if the sword contemn even the rod? it shall be no more, saith the Lord GOD.

NoteThe Hebrew of this verse is broken and uncertain; translators reconstruct it in noticeably different ways, and the plain sense of the second half is not recoverable.

14So then, son of man, speak for me and clap your hands together. Let the sword strike twice, even three times. It is the sword that kills, the sword of great slaughter that closes in on them from every side.

14Thou 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.

NoteClapping the hands here is not applause. In Hebrew it is a gesture of violent feeling (anger, scorn, or grim satisfaction) and God makes the same gesture in verse 17. "Twice, even three times" is a Hebrew way of saying that the blows are repeated and mounting, not an exact count.

15So that their hearts melt and many stumble and fall, I have set a sword for slaughter at all their gates. Yes, it is made to flash like lightning; it is drawn for the killing.

15I 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.

16Slash to the right, sword; turn to the left. Go wherever your blade is pointed.

16Go thee one way or other, either on the right hand, or on the left, whithersoever thy face is set.

17I will also clap my hands together, and my anger will be satisfied. I, the LORD, have said it."

17I will also smite mine hands together, and I will cause my fury to rest: I the LORD have said it.

18The LORD spoke his word to me again. He said:

18The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,

19"Now you, son of man, mark out two roads for the sword of the king of Babylon to travel. Both roads start out from the same land. Set up a signpost where the road splits toward each city.

19Also, 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.

NoteAnother acted sign: Ezekiel is to mark out roads, probably by scratching a rough map on the ground or on a clay tablet, with a signpost at the fork. The king of Babylon is Nebuchadnezzar II, whose army campaigned in the region in the late 580s BC and destroyed Jerusalem in 587/586.

20Mark out one road for the sword to come to Rabbah, the city of the Ammonites, and another to Judah, into Jerusalem with its strong walls.

20Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rabbath of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the defenced.

NoteRabbah was the capital of Ammon, a small kingdom east of the Jordan River and north of Moab; the site is modern Amman, Jordan. Ammon and Judah were neighbors, sometime allies against Babylon, and long-standing rivals.

21For the king of Babylon stops where the road divides, at the head of the two roads, to look for a sign about which way to go. He shakes his arrows, he asks his idols, and he looks at a liver.

21For 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.

NoteThree standard Babylonian methods of seeking omens, all well documented outside the Bible. Marked arrows were shaken in a quiver or thrown, and the one that fell out or landed first gave the answer. The "idols" translate a Hebrew word for household figures used to obtain oracles. Examining the liver of a freshly sacrificed sheep was the most prestigious method of all: Babylonian diviners trained on inscribed clay models of livers, dozens of which survive, mapping which markings meant what.

22Into his right hand comes the sign that says Jerusalem. There he is to set up battering rams, give the order to kill, raise the war cry, aim the rams at the gates, pile up a ramp of dirt, and build siege walls.

22At 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.

NoteThe technical vocabulary of an ancient siege. Battering rams were beam-and-frame machines, often housed under a protective shed, driven against a gate or wall. The "ramp" was a huge artificial slope of earth and rubble piled against the city wall so troops and rams could reach its upper, weaker part. The "siege walls" were a line of works thrown up around the city to cut off escape and supply.

23To the people of Jerusalem, who have sworn oaths of loyalty, this will look like a false sign. But it will bring their guilt to mind, and they will be captured.

23And 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.

NoteThe oath-swearers are most naturally Judah's leaders: King Zedekiah had sworn loyalty to Nebuchadnezzar in God's name when Babylon installed him, and had then broken it by rebelling (see 2 Chronicles 36:13; Ezekiel 17:13-19). The verse can also be read as saying that the people of Jerusalem dismissed Babylon's omen as worthless superstition; the Hebrew allows both.

24Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: You have made your guilt be remembered. Your wrongdoing is out in the open, so that your sins show in everything you do. Because you have come to mind this way, you will be seized by the hand.

24Therefore 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.

Note"Seized by the hand" is an idiom for being arrested and carried off as a prisoner.

25And you, unholy and wicked prince of Israel, your day has come. It is the time when your guilt comes to its end in punishment.

25And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end,

Note"Prince" is Ezekiel's habitual word for the ruler of Judah; he almost never calls him "king." The man meant is Zedekiah, the last ruler of Judah, placed on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar and reigning as his vassal. "Unholy" (King James "profane") means the opposite of consecrated, someone stripped of any sacred standing.

26This is what the Lord GOD says: Take off the turban; take off the crown. Things will not stay as they are. Lift up the one who is low, and bring down the one who is high.

26Thus 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.

NoteTwo different headdresses. The turban was the headpiece of the high priest (Exodus 28:4, 36-38); the crown or diadem was the king's. Taking off both signals the end of both offices at once.

27A ruin, a ruin, a ruin is what I will make of it! It will not stand again until the one comes who has the right to it, and I will give it to him.

27I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.

NoteThe threefold "a ruin" repeats a single Hebrew word three times for maximum emphasis; the King James "I will overturn, overturn, overturn" reflects the same repetition. The closing line ("until the one comes who has the right to it") echoes the wording of Genesis 49:10 and has been read since antiquity as pointing to a future ruler, but the Hebrew is only three words long and translators disagree about how to fill it out.

28And you, son of man, speak for me. Say what the Lord GOD says about the Ammonites and about the insults they threw: A sword, a sword is drawn! It is polished for the killing, to destroy, to flash like lightning.

28And 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:

NoteThe "insults" (King James "reproach") refer to Ammon's public jeering at Judah's downfall, spelled out in Ezekiel 25:3-6: they applauded when the temple was desecrated and the people taken away.

29This comes while your seers give you empty visions and lying signs about you. The sword will fall on the necks of the wicked who are killed, whose day has come, the time when their guilt ends in punishment.

29Whiles 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.

NoteThe false visions are Ammon's own diviners and prophets, telling their people they are safe. "Whose day has come" uses "day" in its common prophetic sense: the appointed time of reckoning.

30Should I make the sword go back into its sheath? In the place where you were made, in the land where you were born, I will judge you.

30Shall 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.

NoteThe Hebrew here can be read either as a question, should the sword go back in its sheath? or as a command, "Put it back in its sheath," and translations split between the two. It is also unclear whether "you" addresses the sword itself or the nation of Ammon. "The place where you were made" means the homeland: Ammon will be judged on its own soil rather than carried off elsewhere.

31I will pour out my anger on you. I will breathe out the fire of my rage against you. I will hand you over to cruel men who are skilled at destroying.

31And 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.

NoteThe image is a metalworker's: bellows blown on coals to force the fire hotter. "Cruel men skilled at destroying" is a stock way of describing a professional invading army, the same phrase pattern used elsewhere of the Babylonians.

32You will be fuel for the fire. Your blood will soak your own land. No one will remember you, for I, the LORD, have spoken."

32Thou 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.

NoteTo be "no longer remembered" meant more to ancient hearers than being forgotten as individuals: it meant a people's name, land, and descendants all erased, with no one left to speak of them.