Ezekiel 21:13-23 (Today's New International Version)

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13 " 'Testing will surely come. And what if even the scepter, which the sword despises, does not continue? declares the Sovereign LORD.' 14 "So then, son of man, prophesy and strike your hands¹ 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.² 15 So that hearts may melt³ and the fallen be many, I have stationed the sword for slaughter^a at all their gates. Oh! It is made to flash like lightning, it is grasped for slaughter.⁴ 16 Slash to the right, you sword, then to the left, wherever your blade is turned. 17 I too will strike my hands⁵ together, and my wrath⁶ will subside. I the LORD have spoken.⁷" 18 The word of the LORD came to me: 19 "Son of man, mark out two roads for the sword⁸ of the king of Babylon to take, both starting from the same country. Make a signpost⁹ where the road branches off to the city. 20 Mark out one road for the sword to come against Rabbah of the Ammonites¹⁰ 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 lots¹¹ with arrows, he will consult his idols,¹² he will examine the liver.¹³ 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,¹⁴ to set battering rams against the gates, to build a ramp¹⁵ and to erect siege works.¹⁶ 23 It will seem like a false omen to those who have sworn allegiance to him, but he will remind¹⁷ them of their guilt¹⁸ and take them captive.

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