Parable of the Sword of the Lord

1And the word of the Lord came to me saying, 2“Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and speak against the sanctuaries and prophesy against the land of Israel; 3and say to the land of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am against you; and I will draw My sword out of its sheath and cut off from you the righteous and the wicked. 4Because I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore My sword will go forth from its sheath against all flesh from south to north. 5Thus all flesh will know that I, the Lord, have drawn My sword out of its sheath. It will not return to its sheath again.” ’ 6As for you, son of man, groan with breaking heart and bitter grief, groan in their sight. 7And when they say to you, ‘Why do you groan?’ you shall say, ‘Because of the news that is coming; and every heart will melt, all hands will be feeble, every spirit will faint and all knees will be weak as water. Behold, it comes and it will happen,’ declares the Lord God.”

8Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 9“Son of man, prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord.’ Say,

‘A sword, a sword sharpened

And also polished!

10Sharpened to make a slaughter,

Polished to flash like lightning!’

Or shall we rejoice, the rod of My son despising every tree? 11It is given to be polished, that it may be handled; the sword is sharpened and polished, to give it into the hand of the slayer. 12Cry out and wail, son of man; for it is against My people, it is against all the officials of Israel. They are delivered over to the sword with My people, therefore strike your thigh. 13For there is a testing; and what if even the rod which despises will be no more?” declares the Lord God.

14“You therefore, son of man, prophesy and clap your hands together; and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword for the slain. It is the sword for the great one slain, which surrounds them, 15that their hearts may melt, and many fall at all their gates. I have given the glittering sword. Ah! It is made for striking like lightning, it is wrapped up in readiness for slaughter. 16Show yourself sharp, go to the right; set yourself; go to the left, wherever your edge is appointed. 17I will also clap My hands together, and I will appease My wrath; I, the Lord, have spoken.”

The Instrument of God’s Judgment

18The word of the Lord came to me saying, 19“As for you, son of man, make two ways for the sword of the king of Babylon to come; both of them will go out of one land. And make a signpost; make it at the head of the way to the city. 20You shall mark a way for the sword to come to Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and to Judah into fortified Jerusalem. 21For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination; he shakes the arrows, he consults the household idols, he looks at the liver. 22Into his right hand came the divination, ‘Jerusalem,’ to set battering rams, to open the mouth for slaughter, to lift up the voice with a battle cry, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up ramps, to build a siege wall. 23And it will be to them like a false divination in their eyes; they have sworn solemn oaths. But he brings iniquity to remembrance, that they may be seized.

24“Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Because you have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your deeds your sins appear—because you have come to remembrance, you will be seized with the hand. 25And you, O slain, wicked one, the prince of Israel, whose day has come, in the time of the punishment of the end,’ 26thus says the Lord God, ‘Remove the turban and take off the crown; this will no longer be the same. Exalt that which is low and abase that which is high. 27A ruin, a ruin, a ruin, I will make it. This also will be no more until He comes whose right it is, and I will give it to Him.’

28“And you, son of man, prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God concerning the sons of Ammon and concerning their reproach,’ and say: ‘A sword, a sword is drawn, polished for the slaughter, to cause it to consume, that it may be like lightning— 29while they see for you false visions, while they divine lies for you—to place you on the necks of the wicked who are slain, whose day has come, in the time of the punishment of the end. 30Return it to its sheath. In the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you. 31I will pour out My indignation on you; I will blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and I will give you into the hand of brutal men, skilled in destruction. 32You will be fuel for the fire; your blood will be in the midst of the land. You will not be remembered, for I, the Lord, have spoken.’ ”

The Sins of Israel

1Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2“And you, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Then cause her to know all her abominations. 3You shall say, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “A city shedding blood in her midst, so that her time will come, and that makes idols, contrary to her interest, for defilement! 4You have become guilty by the blood which you have shed, and defiled by your idols which you have made. Thus you have brought your day near and have come to your years; therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations and a mocking to all the lands. 5Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you, you of ill repute, full of turmoil.

6“Behold, the rulers of Israel, each according to his power, have been in you for the purpose of shedding blood. 7They have treated father and mother lightly within you. The alien they have oppressed in your midst; the fatherless and the widow they have wronged in you. 8You have despised My holy things and profaned My sabbaths. 9Slanderous men have been in you for the purpose of shedding blood, and in you they have eaten at the mountain shrines. In your midst they have committed acts of lewdness. 10In you they have uncovered their fathers’ nakedness; in you they have humbled her who was unclean in her menstrual impurity. 11One has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law. And another in you has humbled his sister, his father’s daughter. 12In you they have taken bribes to shed blood; you have taken interest and profits, and you have injured your neighbors for gain by oppression, and you have forgotten Me,” declares the Lord God.

13“Behold, then, I smite My hand at your dishonest gain which you have acquired and at the bloodshed which is among you. 14Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong in the days that I will deal with you? I, the Lord, have spoken and will act. 15I will scatter you among the nations and I will disperse you through the lands, and I will consume your uncleanness from you. 16You will profane yourself in the sight of the nations, and you will know that I am the Lord.” ’ ”

17And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 18“Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me; all of them are bronze and tin and iron and lead in the furnace; they are the dross of silver. 19Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Because all of you have become dross, therefore, behold, I am going to gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. 20As they gather silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into the furnace to blow fire on it in order to melt it, so I will gather you in My anger and in My wrath and I will lay you there and melt you. 21I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted in the midst of it. 22As silver is melted in the furnace, so you will be melted in the midst of it; and you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out My wrath on you.’ ”

23And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 24“Son of man, say to her, ‘You are a land that is not cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation.’ 25There is a conspiracy of her prophets in her midst like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have devoured lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in the midst of her. 26Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. 27Her princes within her are like wolves tearing the prey, by shedding blood and destroying lives in order to get dishonest gain. 28Her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord has not spoken. 29The people of the land have practiced oppression and committed robbery, and they have wronged the poor and needy and have oppressed the sojourner without justice. 30I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one. 31Thus I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; their way I have brought upon their heads,” declares the Lord God.

One Sacrifice of Christ Is Sufficient

1For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. 2Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? 3But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. 4For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says,

“Sacrifice and offering You have not desired,

But a body You have prepared for Me;

6In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have taken no pleasure.

7Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come

(In the scroll of the book it is written of Me)

To do Your will, O God.’ ”

8After saying above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have not desired, nor have You taken pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the Law), 9then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second. 10By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

11Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, 13waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. 14For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. 15And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying,

16“This is the covenant that I will make with them

After those days, says the Lord:

I will put My laws upon their heart,

And on their mind I will write them,”

He then says,

17“And their sins and their lawless deeds

I will remember no more.”

PSALM 108

God Praised and Supplicated to Give Victory.

A Song, a Psalm of David.

1My heart is steadfast, O God;

I will sing, I will sing praises, even with my soul.

2Awake, harp and lyre;

I will awaken the dawn!

3I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples,

And I will sing praises to You among the nations.

4For Your lovingkindness is great above the heavens,

And Your truth reaches to the skies.

5Be exalted, O God, above the heavens,

And Your glory above all the earth.

6That Your beloved may be delivered,

Save with Your right hand, and answer me!

7God has spoken in His holiness:

“I will exult, I will portion out Shechem

And measure out the valley of Succoth.

8Gilead is Mine, Manasseh is Mine;

Ephraim also is the helmet of My head;

Judah is My scepter.

9Moab is My washbowl;

Over Edom I shall throw My shoe;

Over Philistia I will shout aloud.”

10Who will bring me into the besieged city?

Who will lead me to Edom?

11Have not You Yourself, O God, rejected us?

And will You not go forth with our armies, O God?

12Oh give us help against the adversary,

For deliverance by man is in vain.

13Through God we will do valiantly,

And it is He who shall tread down our adversaries.

12A prudent man sees evil and hides himself,

The naive proceed and pay the penalty.