Ezekiel 21:16

16 Attack to the right! Engage to the left! —wherever your edge 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 And you, mortal, prophesy; strike hand to hand. Let the sword fall twice, thrice; it is a sword for killing. A sword for great slaughter— it surrounds them;
15 therefore hearts melt and many stumble. At all their gates I have set the point of the sword. Ah! It is made for flashing, it is polished for slaughter.
16 Attack to the right! Engage to the left! —wherever your edge is directed.
17 I too will strike hand to hand, I will satisfy my fury; I the Lord have spoken.
18 The word of the Lord came to me:
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.