1 ARST Yahweh gave me another message. He said, BSB BSB: And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
2 ARST “Son of man, turn toward the south. Set yourself against them. Preach against the south and prophesy against the forest in the southern Judean wilderness. BSB BSB: “Son of man, set your face against Jerusalem and preach against the sanctuaries. Prophesy against the land of Israel
3 ARST Say to them,‘This is what Yahweh says: I am opposed to you, and it will be as though I pull my sword from its sheath to kill both the righteous and the wicked people among you! BSB BSB: and 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 ARST So what I will do to you will be as though I pull my sword from its sheath and strike you. I will kill everyone, including righteous people and wicked people. I will get rid of everyone, from the south to the north. BSB BSB: Because I will cut off both the righteous and the wicked, My sword will be unsheathed against everyone from south to north.
5 ARST Then everyone will know that it is as though I, Yahweh, have struck people with my sword, and I will not put it back in its sheath again.’ BSB BSB: Then all flesh will know that I, the LORD, have taken My sword from its sheath, not to return it again.’
6 ARST Therefore, Son of man, groan! Groan in front of the Israelite people very sadly and sorrowfully. BSB BSB: But you, son of man, groan! Groan before their eyes with a broken heart and bitter grief.
7 ARST And when they ask you,‘Why are you groaning?’ tell them that it is because of the news that they soon will hear. Everyone will be very fearful, and their hands will tremble uncontrollably, while their knees become as weak as water. A great disaster will soon occur. This is what Yahweh the Lord is promising.” BSB BSB: And 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 ARST Yahweh gave me another message. He said, BSB BSB: Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
9 ARST “Son of man, prophesy and say to them,‘This is what the Lord says: I will sharpen my sword and polish it. BSB BSB: “Son of man, prophesy and tell them that this is what the Lord says: ‘A sword, a sword, sharpened and polished—
10 ARST It will be sharp in order that I can slaughter many people with it; I will polish it so that it will flash like lightning. The people of Judah will not celebrate about their king’ s scepter, because it will not resist the sword that is coming against it. BSB BSB: it 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 ARST So I will polish the sword, and the right person will then hold it in his hand. Now it is sharp; now it shines, ready for the killer to use! BSB BSB: The 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 ARST So, Son of man, cry and wail, because I will use my sword to kill my people, including the leaders of Israel. That sword will kill them and all the others of my people; my sword will kill them all, so beat your chests to show that you are sad. BSB BSB: Cry 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 ARST I am about to test my people, and what will happen if the scepter cannot resist? That is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say. BSB BSB: Surely testing will come! And what if even the scepter, which the sword despises, does not continue?’ declares the Lord GOD.
14 ARST So, Son of man, prophesy; clap your hands to show that you are very sad about what is going to happen. My sword will strike my people again and again; it is a sword for slaughtering many people, while I attack them from every side. BSB BSB: ‘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 ARST In order that people will be very much afraid and that many people will die, I have placed soldiers at every city gate, ready to slaughter people. My sword will flash like lightning, as the soldiers slaughter the people. BSB BSB: So 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 ARST I will tell my sword to slash to the right and then to the left, and to turn in every direction until no one remains alive. BSB BSB: Slash to the right; set your blade to the left—wherever your blade is directed.
17 ARST Then I will clap my hands triumphantly; and then I will no longer be angry. That will surely happen because I, Yahweh, have said it.’” BSB BSB: I too will strike My hands together, and I will satisfy My wrath.’ I, the LORD, have spoken.”
18 ARST Yahweh gave me another message. He said, BSB BSB: Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
19 ARST “Son of man, draw on a map two roads for the king of Babylonia to march on with his army. When they depart from their own country, they will come to a signpost where a single road divides into those two roads. BSB BSB: “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 ARST If they take one of those roads, they will attack the city of Rabbah, the capital of the Ammon people group. If they take the other road, they will come to Judah and Jerusalem, a city with walls around it. BSB BSB: Mark out one road for the sword to come against Rabbah of the Ammonites, and another against Judah into fortified Jerusalem.
21 ARST When the army of Babylon comes to where the road divides, the army will stop, while the king performs magic rituals to decide which road to go on. He will throw arrows; then he will consult his idols about which road to go on, and he will examine the liver of a sheep. BSB BSB: For 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 ARST With his right hand he will pick up the arrow marked with the name of Jerusalem. He will then command his soldiers to go to Jerusalem. When they arrive there, they will set up rams to batter down the walls, and then the king will give the command for them to slaughter the people. They will shout the battlecry, and they will set up the rams against the city gates. They will build a dirt ramp against the walls around the city, and set walls against the city. BSB BSB: In 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 ARST The people in Jerusalem who had promised to be loyal to the king of Babylonia will think that those magic rituals must be wrong. They will think that his army should not be attacking them. But he will remind them of the disloyalty of which they are guilty, and he will say that they have violated their agreement with him. BSB BSB: It 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 ARST Therefore, tell the Israelite people that this is what Yahweh the Lord says:‘You people have allowed everyone to see that you are openly rebelling against the king of Babylonia, and by doing that you have shown that everything that you do is sinful. Therefore he will capture you and take you to Babylonia.’ BSB BSB: Therefore 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 ARST Also, say to the king of Judah,‘You very wicked king of Israel, it is your time to die. It is the time for Yahweh to punish you.’ BSB BSB: And you, O profane and wicked prince of Israel, the day has come for your final punishment.’
26 ARST And this is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say to you about your king in Jerusalem,‘Take off the king’ s turban and his crown, because now things will be different than they were before. I will give power to those who had none, and I will disgrace those who had power. BSB BSB: This 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 ARST I will cause the Babylonians to destroy everything. No one will be king of Judah again, not until the man comes who deserves to be king. Then I will make him become king.’ BSB BSB: A 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 ARST And, Son of man, prophesy and say that this is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say about the Ammon people group, and about how I will disgrace them:‘My soldiers have swords and they have pulled out those swords to slaughter many people. They have polished them in order to kill people, and to flash like lightning. BSB BSB: Now 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 ARST Your Ammonite prophets have given you false visions about what will happen to you, and they have held useless ceremonies that give you false messages. So swords will strike the necks of those wicked people. The day when I punish them has come, because they have not been loyal to me.’ BSB BSB: while 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 ARST But later the soldiers of Babylon will have to put their swords back into their sheaths, because the time for them to slaughter their enemies will end. I will judge these Babylonians in the country where they were born. BSB BSB: Return the sword to its sheath! In the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you.
31 ARST I will pour out my punishment on them. Because I am very angry with them, my breath on them will scorch them like a fire. I will allow brutal men to capture them, men who are experts at killing people. BSB BSB: I 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 ARST They will be like fuel that is burned in a fire. Their blood will flow in their own land. No one will remember them anymore. That will surely happen because I, Yahweh, have said it.” BSB BSB: You will be fuel for the fire. Your blood will stain your own land. You will not be remembered, for I, the LORD, have spoken.’”
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