Atlas Biblica

    Ezekiel · 32 verses

    Ezekiel 21

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    The chapter

    What happens here

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    At a fork in the road, Babylon’s king shakes arrows, consults idols, and examines a liver—and Jerusalem appears in his right hand.

    A sword drawn from its sheathvv. 1–17

    The word comes to the son of man with Jerusalem, the sanctuaries, and the land of Israel in its sights. The LORD’s sword is drawn against everyone from south to north, and the prophet is instructed to groan before their eyes with a broken heart and bitter grief. Then the sword receives a little theatrical dignity of its own: sharpened, polished, flashing like lightning, and contemptuous of the royal scepter, which it regards as merely “such a stick.” The son of man must cry out, wail, strike his thigh, and strike his hands together, while the sword strikes two times, even three. At the beginning it will not return to its sheath; for the moment, it is very much out and about.

    The omen at the forkvv. 18–27

    The son of man is told to mark two roads for the sword of the king of Babylon, both beginning in the same land, with a signpost where they divide. One leads toward Rabbah of the Ammonites; the other toward Judah and fortified Jerusalem. At the junction, the king performs a remarkably busy consultation: arrows are shaken, idols consulted, and a liver examined. The portent in his right hand points to Jerusalem, bringing battering rams, a battle cry, a ramp, and a siege wall. The people may regard the omen as false, but their guilt has drawn attention to itself. Then the crown is removed, the turban taken off, and the order of things is briskly overturned: the lowly rise, the exalted fall, and ruin is made ruin.

    The other road, and the sword’s sheathvv. 28–32

    The prophecy turns from Jerusalem to the Ammonites and their contempt. Their visions and divinations are called false and lying, while another sword is drawn, polished, and ready to flash. Yet this sword, unlike the earlier one, is told to return to its sheath—though not before judgment in the land of its origin, anger poured out, fury breathed like fire, and the Ammonites handed over to brutal men skilled in destruction. The final image is fuel, blood, and forgetting: a notably poor advertisement for the place.

    The text

    Read it

    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. Ezek 21:1And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

    2. Ezek 21:2“Son of man, set your face against Jerusalem and preach against the sanctuaries. Prophesy against the land of Israel

    3. Ezek 21:3and tell her that this is what the LORD says: ‘I am against you, and I will draw My sword from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked.

    4. Ezek 21:4Because I will cut off both the righteous and the wicked, My sword will be unsheathed against everyone from south to north.

    5. Ezek 21:5Then all flesh will know that I, the LORD, have taken My sword from its sheath, not to return it again.’

    6. Ezek 21:6But you, son of man, groan! Groan before their eyes with a broken heart and bitter grief.

    7. Ezek 21:7And when they ask, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you are to say, ‘Because of the news that is coming. Every heart will melt, and every hand will go limp. Every spirit will faint, and every knee will turn to water.’ Yes, it is coming and it will surely happen, declares the Lord GOD.”

    8. Ezek 21:8Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

    9. Ezek 21:9“Son of man, prophesy and tell them that this is what the Lord says: ‘A sword, a sword, sharpened and polished—

    10. Ezek 21:10it is sharpened for the slaughter, polished to flash like lightning! Should we rejoice in the scepter of My son? The sword despises every such stick.

    11. Ezek 21:11The sword is appointed to be polished, to be grasped in the hand. It is sharpened and polished, to be placed in the hand of the slayer.

    12. Ezek 21:12Cry out and wail, O son of man, for the sword is wielded against My people; it is against all the princes of Israel! They are tossed to the sword with My people; therefore strike your thigh.

    13. Ezek 21:13Surely testing will come! And what if even the scepter, which the sword despises, does not continue?’ declares the Lord GOD.

    14. Ezek 21:14‘So then, son of man, prophesy and strike your hands together. Let the sword strike two times, even three. It is a sword that slays, a sword of great slaughter closing in on every side!

    15. Ezek 21:15So that their hearts may melt and many may stumble, I have appointed at all their gates a sword for slaughter. Yes, it is ready to flash like lightning; it is drawn for slaughter.

    16. Ezek 21:16Slash to the right; set your blade to the left—wherever your blade is directed.

    17. Ezek 21:17I too will strike My hands together, and I will satisfy My wrath.’ I, the LORD, have spoken.”

    18. Ezek 21:18Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

    19. Ezek 21:19“Now you, son of man, mark out two roads for the sword of the king of Babylon to take, both starting from the same land. And make a signpost where the road branches off to each city.

    20. Ezek 21:20Mark out one road for the sword to come against Rabbah of the Ammonites, and another against Judah into fortified Jerusalem.

    21. Ezek 21:21For the king of Babylon stands at the fork in the road, at the junction of the two roads, to seek an omen: He shakes the arrows, he consults the idols, he examines the liver.

    22. Ezek 21:22In his right hand appears the portent for Jerusalem, where he is to set up battering rams, to call for the slaughter, to lift a battle cry, to direct the battering rams against the gates, to build a ramp, and to erect a siege wall.

    23. Ezek 21:23It will seem like a false omen to the eyes of those who have sworn allegiance to him, but it will draw attention to their guilt and take them captive.

    24. Ezek 21:24Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because you have drawn attention to your guilt, exposing your transgressions, so that your sins are revealed in all your deeds—because you have come to remembrance—you shall be taken in hand.

    25. Ezek 21:25And you, O profane and wicked prince of Israel, the day has come for your final punishment.’

    26. Ezek 21:26This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Remove the turban, and take off the crown. Things will not remain as they are: Exalt the lowly and bring low the exalted.

    27. Ezek 21:27A ruin, a ruin, I will make it a ruin! And it will not be restored until the arrival of Him to whom it belongs, to whom I have assigned the right of judgment.’

    28. Ezek 21:28Now prophesy, son of man, and declare that this is what the Lord GOD says concerning the Ammonites and their contempt: ‘A sword! A sword is drawn for slaughter, polished to consume, to flash like lightning—

    29. Ezek 21:29while they offer false visions for you and lying divinations about you—to be placed on the necks of the wicked who are slain, whose day has come, the time of their final punishment.

    30. Ezek 21:30Return the sword to its sheath! In the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you.

    31. Ezek 21:31I will pour out My anger upon you; I will breathe the fire of My fury against you; I will hand you over to brutal men, skilled in destruction.

    32. Ezek 21:32You will be fuel for the fire. Your blood will stain your own land. You will not be remembered, for I, the LORD, have spoken.’”

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 375 passages were voted onto 29 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 27Micah 5:2But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come forth for Me One to be ruler over Israel—One whose origins are of old, from the days of eternity.
    • 27Jeremiah 23:5–6Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He will reign wisely as King and will administer justice and righteousness in the land.
    • 27Luke 1:32He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David,
    • 27Zechariah 9:9Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
    • 27Psalms 2:6“I have installed My King on Zion, upon My holy mountain.”
    • 2Ezekiel 20:46“Son of man, set your face toward the south, preach against it, and prophesy against the forest of the Negev.
    • 27Haggai 2:21–22“Tell Zerubbabel governor of Judah that I am about to shake the heavens and the earth:
    • 27John 1:9The true Light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
    • 271 Peter 3:22who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to Him.
    • 27Malachi 3:1“Behold, I will send My messenger, who will prepare the way before Me. Then the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple—the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight—see, He is coming,” says the LORD of Hosts.
    • 27Genesis 49:10The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and the allegiance of the nations is his.
    • 27Matthew 28:18Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.
    • 22Ezekiel 4:2Then lay siege against it: Construct a siege wall, build a ramp to it, set up camps against it, and place battering rams around it on all sides.
    • 26Ezekiel 17:24Then all the trees of the field will know that I am the LORD. I bring the tall tree down and make the low tree tall. I dry up the green tree and make the withered tree flourish. I, the LORD, have spoken, and I have done it.’”
    • 5Ezekiel 21:30Return the sword to its sheath! In the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you.
    • 26Psalms 75:7but it is God who judges; He brings down one and exalts another.

    Onward

    Keep reading

    Next chapterEzekiel 2231 verses.Named hereAmmonEverything the graph connects to this name.BookEzekielAll 48 chapters.Every bookThe Bible66 books, 1,189 chapters.