Ezekiel 21:1-7

Parable of the Sword of the L ord

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, set your face against Jerusalem, and speak prophetically against the sanctuaries and prophesy against the land of Israel; ³and say to the land of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Behold, I am against you; and I will draw My sword from its sheath and cut off from you the righteous and the wicked. ⁴Because I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore My sword will go out from its sheath against humanity from south to north. ⁵So humanity will know that I, the Lord, have drawn My sword from its sheath. It will not return to its sheath again.” ’ ⁶As for you, son of man, groan with a breaking heart and bitter grief; you shall groan in their sight. ⁷And when they say to you, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you shall say, ‘Because of the news, for it is coming; and every heart will melt, all hands will go limp, every spirit will be disheartened, and all knees will drip with water. Behold, it is coming and it will happen,’ declares the Lord God.”