- And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and drop your word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel, and say to the land of Israel, Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am against you, and will draw forth my sword out of his sheath, and will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked. Seeing then that I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the south to the north, that all flesh may know that I the Lord have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath; it shall not return anymore.
- Sigh therefore, you son of man, with the breaking of your loins and with bitterness, sigh before their eyes. And it shall be, when they say unto you, Why do you sigh? — that you shall answer, For the tidings, because it comes, 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 comes and shall be brought to pass, says the Lord God.
- Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord; say, A sword, a sword is sharpened and also polished. It is sharpened to make a severe slaughter, it is polished that it may glitter. Should we then make mirth? It despises the rod of my son, as every tree, and he has given it to be polished, that it may be handled. This sword is sharpened and it is polished, to give it into the hand of the slayer. 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 your thigh, because it is a trial. And what if the sword despise even the rod? It shall be no more, says the Lord God. You, therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite your 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 enters into their private chambers. 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. Go one way or another, either on the right hand or on the left, wherever your face is set. I will also smite my hands together, and I will cause my fury to rest. I the Lord have said it.
- The word of the Lord came unto me again, saying, Also, you son of man, appoint two ways that the sword of the king of Babylon may come — both shall come forth out of one land. And choose a place, choose it at the head of the way to the city. Appoint a way that the sword may come to Rabbah of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the fortified. 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. 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. 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.
- Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Because you have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are revealed so that in all your doings your sins do appear — because, I say, you have come to remembrance — you shall be taken with the hand. And you, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come when iniquity shall have an end, thus says 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. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, and it shall be no more until he come whose right it is, and I will give it to him.
- And you, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord God concerning the Ammonites and concerning their reproach; even say: The sword, the sword is drawn, for the slaughter it is polished, to consume because of the glittering — while they see vanity unto you, while they divine a lie unto you, to bring you upon the necks of them that are slain of the wicked, whose day has come when their iniquity shall have an end. Shall I cause it to return into his sheath? I will judge you in the place where you were created, in the land of your nativity. And I will pour out my indignation upon you, I will blow against you in the fire of my wrath, and deliver you into the hand of brutish men, and skillful to destroy. You shall be for fuel to the fire, your blood shall be in the midst of the land, you shall be no more remembered, for I the Lord have spoken it.
- Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Now, you son of man, will you judge? Will you judge the bloody city? Yea, you shall show her all her abominations. Then say, Thus says the Lord God: The city sheds blood in its midst, that her time may come, and makes idols against herself, to defile herself. You have become guilty in your blood that you have shed, and have defiled yourself in your idols which you have made; and you have caused your days to draw near, and have come even unto your years. Therefore have I made you a reproach unto the heathen and a mocking to all countries. Those that are near and those that are far from you shall mock you, who are infamous and much vexed.
- Behold the princes of Israel, every one were in you to their power to shed blood. In you have they set light by father and mother, in your midst have they dealt by oppression with the stranger, in you have they vexed the fatherless and the widow. You have despised my holy things and have profaned my Sabbaths. In you are men that carry tales to shed blood, and in you they eat upon the mountains; in your midst they commit lewdness, in you have they uncovered their fathers’ nakedness, in you have they violated her that was set apart for uncleanness. And one has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife, and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law, and another in you has violated his sister, his father’s daughter. In you have they taken bribes to shed blood, you have taken usury and increase, and you have greedily gained of your neighbors by extortion, and have forgotten me, says the Lord God.
- Behold, therefore, I have smitten my hand at your dishonest gain which you have made, and at your blood which has been in your midst. Can your heart endure or can your hands be strong in the days that I shall deal with you? I the Lord have spoken it and will do it. And I will scatter you among the heathen, and disperse you in the countries, and will consume your filthiness out of you. And you shall take your inheritance in yourself in the sight of the heathen, and you shall know that I am the Lord.
- And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, the house of Israel has to me become dross; they all are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead within the furnace; they are even the dross of silver. Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Because you have all become dross, behold therefore, I will gather you within Jerusalem. As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin within the furnace to blow the fire upon it, to melt it, so will I gather you in my anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there and melt you. Yea, I will gather you and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted within. As silver is melted within the furnace, so shall you be melted within, and you shall know that I the Lord have poured out my fury upon you.
- And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, say unto her, You are the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation. There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey. They have devoured souls, they have taken the treasure and precious things, they have made her many widows in the midst thereof. Her priests have violated my law and have profaned my holy things, they have put no difference between the holy and common, neither have they shown difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hidden their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
- Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain. And her prophets have plastered them with untempered mortar, seeing vanity and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus says the Lord God — when the Lord has not spoken. The people of the land have used oppression and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy, yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. Therefore have I poured out my indignation upon them, I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath; their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, says the Lord God.
Chapter 10