Ezekiel 21:16

16 exacuere vade ad dextram sive ad sinistram quocumque faciei tuae est appetitus

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 tu ergo fili hominis propheta et percute manu ad manum et duplicetur gladius ac triplicetur gladius interfectorum hic est gladius occisionis magnae qui obstupescere eos facit
15 et corde tabescere et multiplicat ruinas in omnibus portis eorum dedi conturbationem gladii acuti et limati ad fulgendum amicti ad caedem
16 exacuere vade ad dextram sive ad sinistram quocumque faciei tuae est appetitus
17 quin et ego plaudam manu ad manum et implebo indignationem meam ego Dominus locutus sum
18 et factus est sermo Domini ad me dicens
The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.