5. Then all people will know that I the Lord have drawn my sword from its sheath; it will not return again.”
6. ‘Therefore groan, son of man! Groan before them with broken heart and bitter grief.
7. And when they ask you, “Why are you groaning?” you shall say, “Because of the news that is coming. Every heart will melt with fear and every hand go limp; every spirit will become faint and every leg will be wet with urine.” It is coming! It will surely take place, declares the Sovereign Lord.’
8. The word of the Lord came to me:
9. ‘Son of man, prophesy and say, “This is what the Lord says:‘ “A sword, a sword,sharpened and polished –
10. sharpened for the slaughter,polished to flash like lightning!‘ “Shall we rejoice in the sceptre of my royal son? The sword despises every such stick.
11. ‘ “The sword is appointed to be polished,to be grasped with the hand;it is sharpened and polished,made ready for the hand of the slayer.
12. Cry out and wail, son of man,for it is against my people;it is against all the princes of Israel.They are thrown to the swordalong with my people.Therefore beat your breast.
13. ‘ “Testing will surely come. And what if even the sceptre, which the sword despises, does not continue? declares the Sovereign Lord.”
14. ‘So then, son of man, prophesyand strike your hands together.Let the sword strike twice,even three times.It is a sword for slaughter –a sword for great slaughter,closing in on them from every side.
15. So that hearts may melt with fearand the fallen be many,I have stationed the sword for slaughterat all their gates.Look! It is forged to strike like lightning,it is grasped for slaughter.
16. Slash to the right, you sword,then to the left,wherever your blade is turned.
17. I too will strike my hands together,and my wrath will subside.I the Lord have spoken.’
18. The word of the Lord came to me:
19. ‘Son of man, mark out two roads for the sword of the king of Babylon to take, both starting from the same country. Make a signpost where the road branches off to the city.
20. Mark out one road for the sword to come against Rabbah of the Ammonites and another against Judah and fortified Jerusalem.
21. For the king of Babylon will stop at the fork in the road, at the junction of the two roads, to seek an omen: he will cast lots with arrows, he will consult his idols, he will examine the liver.
22. Into his right hand will come the lot for Jerusalem, where he is to set up battering-rams, to give the command to slaughter, to sound the battle cry, to set battering-rams against the gates, to build a ramp and to erect siege works.