Ezekiel 21:16

16 Slash to the right; turn to the left- wherever your blade is directed.

Ezekiel 21:16 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 21:16

Go thee one way or another
Go to some one place: or "unite thyself" F1; to other swords, or join other soldiers holding swords; the address is to the sword, to steer its course some one way, and slay as it goes along, sparing none: either on the right, or on the left; or south, or north;
so the Targum,

``unsheathe, and slay on the south, and destroy on the north:''
whithersoever thy face is set;
or prepared, as the Targum, or appointed for destruction; this is the usual interpretation: but why may not the words be an apostrophe to the prophet, to go alone or single, either to the right or left, south or north, as his face was set, ( Ezekiel 21:2 ) , sighing and crying, smiting his hands together, in order to affect the minds of the people with the sense of their calamities coming upon them?
FOOTNOTES:

F1 (ydxath) "unito Montanus", Piscator, Polanus; "unitor te", Starckius; "in unum dirigitor", Cocceius.

Ezekiel 21:16 In-Context

14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and clap [your] hands together. Let the sword strike two times, even three. It is a sword for massacre, a sword for great massacre- it surrounds them!
15 I have appointed a sword for slaughter at all their gates, so that their hearts may melt and many may stumble. Alas! It is ready to flash like lightning; it is drawn for slaughter.
16 Slash to the right; turn to the left- wherever your blade is directed.
17 I also will clap My hands together, and I will satisfy My wrath. I, the Lord, have spoken."
18 Then the word of the Lord came to me:
Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.