Yehezkiel 21:3

21:3 and say to them, ¹  ‘This is what the Lord says: Look, ²  I am against you. ³  I will draw my sword ⁴  from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked. ⁵ 

Yehezkiel 21:19

21:19 “You, son of man, mark out two routes for the king of Babylon’s sword to take; both of them will originate in a single land. Make a signpost and put it at the beginning of the road leading to the city.

Yehezkiel 21:22

21:22 Into his right hand ⁶  comes the portent for Jerusalem – to set up battering rams, to give the signal ⁷  for slaughter, to shout out the battle cry, ⁸  to set up battering rams against the gates, to erect a siege ramp, to build a siege wall.

Yehezkiel 21:28

21:28 “As for you, son of man, prophesy and say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says concerning the Ammonites and their coming humiliation; ⁹  say:

“‘A sword, a sword drawn for slaughter,

polished to consume, ¹⁰  to flash like lightning –

[21:3]  ¹ tn Heb “the land of Israel.”

[21:3]  ² tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) draws attention to something and has been translated here as a verb.

[21:3]  ³ tn Or “I challenge you.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:201-2, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘h!nn#n' ?l?K>,’” ZAW 45 (1933): 101-8.

[21:3]  ⁴ sn This is the sword of judgment, see Isa 31:8; 34:6; 66:16.

[21:3]  ⁵ sn Ezekiel elsewhere pictures the Lord’s judgment as discriminating between the righteous and the wicked (9:4-6; 18:1-20; see as well Pss 1 and 11) and speaks of the preservation of a remnant (3:21; 6:8; 12:16). Perhaps here he exaggerates for rhetorical effect in an effort to subdue any false optimism. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:25-26; D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:669-70; and W. Zimmerli, Ezekiel (Hermeneia), 1:424-25.

[21:22]  ⁶ tn Or “on the right side,” i.e., the omen mark on the right side of the liver.

[21:22]  ⁷ tn Heb “to open the mouth” for slaughter.

[21:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “to raise up a voice in a battle cry.”

[21:28]  ⁹ tn Heb “their reproach.”

[21:28]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to contain, endure.” Since the Hebrew text as it stands makes little, if any, sense, most emend the text to read either “to consume” or “for destruction.” For discussion of options see D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:693.