Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

Son of man, set thy face towards the south, and preach towards the south, and prophesy against the forest land of the Negev;

and say to the forest of the Negev, Hear the word of the Lord; Thus says the Lord God; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree; it shall not be quenched; it shall be a flaming flame, and all faces from the Negev northwards shall be scorched by it.

And all flesh shall see that I the Lord have kindled it: it shall not be quenched.

Then said I, Ah Lord God! they say of me. Does he not speak in allegories?

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

Son of man, set thy face toward Yerushalayim, and preach towards the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Yisra᾽el,

and say to the land of Yisra᾽el, Thus says the Lord; Behold, I am against thee, and will draw my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.

Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go out of its sheath: against all flesh from the south to the north:

that all flesh may know that I the Lord, have drawn my sword out of its sheath: it shall not return any more.

Sigh therefore, thou son of man; with the breaking of thy loins, and with bitterness sigh before their eyes.

And it shall be, when they say to thee, Why dost thou sigh? then thou shalt 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 drip with water: behold, it comes, and shall be brought to pass, says the Lord God.

Again the word of the Lord came to 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 sore slaughter: it is polished that it may glitter: should we then make mirth? it is a rod for my son; it rejects every other 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 Yisra᾽el: terrors by reason of the sword shall be upon my people: smite therefore upon thy thigh.

For there is a testing time; and what if there is also this rod of spurning? he could not continue to be, says the Lord God.

Thou therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite thy hands together, and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain: it is the sword of the great slaughter, which encompasses them.

I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, that their heart may melt, and their stumblings be multiplied: ah! it is made bright, it is wrapped up for the slaughter.

Go thee one way or other, either to the right hand, or the left, wherever thy edge is pointed.

I will also smite my hands together, and I will relieve my anger: I the Lord have said it.

The word of the Lord came to me again, saying,

Also, thou son of man, appoint thee two ways, that the sword of the king of Bavel may come: the two of them shall come out of one land: and construct a signpost, at the head of the way to the city construct it.

Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rabba of the children of ῾Ammon, and to Yehuda in Yerushalayim, fortified though it is.

For the king of Bavel stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways to use divination: he shook the arrows, he consulted the terafim, he looked in the liver.

At this right hand was the divination for Yerushalayim, to set battering rams, to open the mouth for the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up a mound, to build a fort.

And it shall be to them as a false divination in their sight, (they have sword oaths to this effect: ) but it brings their iniquity to remembrance, 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 laid bare, so that in all your doings your sins do appear; because, you are come to remembrance, you shall be seized with the hand.

And thou, profane wicked prince of Yisra᾽el whose day is come, in the time of his final punishment,

thus says the Lord God; Remove the turban, and take off the crown: this shall not remain the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high.

A ruin, a ruin, a ruin will I make of it. For all that it shall not be, until he come, whose right it is, and whom I have appointed.

And thou, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord God concerning the children of ῾Ammon, and concerning their reproach; say thou, The sword, the sword is drawn: for the slaughter it is polished, for grasping, that it may glitter:

whilst they see false visions for thee, whilst they divine lies about thee, to bring thee down on the necks of the slain, the wicked, whose day is come, when their iniquity shall have an end.

Return it to its sheath? I will judge thee in the place where thou wast created, in the land of thy nativity.

And I will pour out my indignation upon thee, I will blow against thee with the fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of brutish men, skilful to destroy.

Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire; thy blood shall be in the midst of the land; thou shalt be no more remembered: for I the Lord have spoken it.