Ezekiel 21:11-21

11 The sword is given to be polished, to be grasped in the hand; it is sharpened, the sword is polished, to be placed in the slayer's hand.
12 Cry and wail, O mortal, for it is against my people; it is against all Israel's princes; they are thrown to the sword, together with my people. Ah! Strike the thigh!
13 For consider: What! If you despise the rod, will it not happen? says the Lord God.
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:
19 Mortal, mark out two roads for the sword of the king of Babylon to come; both of them shall issue from the same land. And make a signpost, make it for a fork in the road leading to a city;
20 mark out the road for the sword to come to Rabbah of the Ammonites or to Judah and to Jerusalem the fortified.
21 For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the way, at the fork in the two roads, to use divination; he shakes the arrows, he consults the teraphim, he inspects the liver.

Footnotes 6

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.