20:32 And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all, that
ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries,
to serve wood and stone.
20:33 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand, and
with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over
you: 20:34 And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather
you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand,
and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.
20:35 And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and
there will I plead with you face to face.
20:36 Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the
land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord GOD.
20:37 And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you
into the bond of the covenant: 20:38 And I will purge out from among
you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them
forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter
into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
20:39 As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord GOD; Go ye,
serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not
hearken unto me: but pollute ye my holy name no more with your gifts,
and with your idols.
20:40 For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of
Israel, saith the Lord GOD, there shall all the house of Israel, all
of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept them, and there
will I require your offerings, and the firstfruits of your oblations,
with all your holy things.
20:41 I will accept you with your sweet savour, when I bring you out
from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have
been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen.
20:42 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall bring you
into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I lifted up
mine hand to give it to your fathers.
20:43 And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings,
wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall lothe yourselves in your
own sight for all your evils that ye have committed.
20:44 And ye shall know that I am the LORD when I have wrought with
you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor
according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord
GOD.
20:45 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 20:46 Son of
man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the
south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field; 20:47 And
say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith
the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall
devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame
shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall
be burned therein.
20:48 And all flesh shall see that I the LORD have kindled it: it
shall not be quenched.
20:49 Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! they say of me, Doth he not speak
parables? 21:1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 21:2
Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward
the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel, 21:3 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.
21:4 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: 21:5 That all flesh may know
that I the LORD have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath: it shall
not return any more.
21:6 Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins;
and with bitterness sigh before their eyes.
21:7 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.
21:8 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 21:9 Son of man,
prophesy, and say, Thus saith the LORD; Say, A sword, a sword is
sharpened, and also furbished: 21:10 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.
21:11 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.
21:12 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.
21:13 Because it is a trial, and what if the sword contemn even the
rod? it shall be no more, saith the Lord GOD.
21:14 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.
21:15 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.
21:16 Go thee one way or other, either on the right hand, or on the
left, whithersoever thy face is set.
21:17 I will also smite mine hands together, and I will cause my fury
to rest: I the LORD have said it.
21:18 The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying, 21:19 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.
21:20 Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rabbath of the
Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the defenced.
21:21 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.
21:22 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.
21:23 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.
21:24 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.
21:25 And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come,
when iniquity shall have an end, 21:26 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.
21:27 I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no