Ezekiel 21:28

28 And you, son of man, prophesy, and you must say, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh to the {Ammonites} and concerning their disgrace,' and you must say, 'A sword, a sword [is] drawn for slaughtering; [it is] polished for holding, {for flashing like lightning},

Ezekiel 21:28 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 21:28

And thou, son of man, prophesy, and say
Here begins a new prophecy, or rather an enlargement on part of the former; two ways being marked out for the sword of the Chaldeans to come in; the one leading to Jerusalem, the other to Rabbath of the Ammonites; the prophecy being finished concerning the former, here an account is given of the latter; how the sword should move that way, and what execution it would do: thus saith the Lord God concerning the Ammonites, and concerning their
reproach;
Nebuchadnezzar, agreeably to the above prophecy, having taken his route to Jerusalem, as his divination directed him, and destroyed that, returned to Babylon, without making any attempt upon the Ammonites; which so flushed them, that they insulted the Jews, and laughed at their destruction, as if their God whom they served could not save them; attributing their safety and prosperity to the idols they worshipped; see ( Ezekiel 25:1-7 ) ( Zephaniah 2:8-10 ) : even say thou, the sword, the sword is drawn for the slaughter;
the same sword of the Chaldeans, which was drawn for the slaughter of the Jews, is now drawn for the slaughter of the Ammonites; and which is repeated for the certainty of it, and to inject terror; and this, as Josephus ^F21 says, was accomplished five years after the destruction of Jerusalem, in the twenty third year of Nebuchadnezzar: it is furbished, to consume because of the glittering; being brightened
and made sharp,
it not only terrified with its glittering, but was more fit and prepared to cut and destroy; see ( Ezekiel 21:9 Ezekiel 21:10 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F21 Antiqu. Jud. l. 10. c. 9. sect. 7.

Ezekiel 21:28 In-Context

26 thus says the Lord Yahweh: 'Remove the turban and lift off the crown; things [are] no longer the same. Exalt the low and bring low the high.

27 A ruin, a ruin, a ruin I will make it! Also this has not [ever] happened; [it will remain] until the coming of [the one] [to] whom the judgment belongs and I have given it [to him].'

28 And you, son of man, prophesy, and you must say, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh to the {Ammonites} and concerning their disgrace,' and you must say, 'A sword, a sword [is] drawn for slaughtering; [it is] polished for holding, {for flashing like lightning},

29 when seeing a false vision for you in vain, when practicing divination for you falsely, to give you on [the] neck of [the] profane ones of [the] wicked, {whose day has come}, {the time of final punishment}.

30 Return it to its sheath in [the] place where you were created. In the land of your origin I will judge you!

Footnotes

• [a] Or "mortal," or "son of humankind"
• [b] Literally "sons of Ammon"
• [c] Literally "for the sake of lightening"