“For this is what the sovereign Lord says: How much worse will it be when I send my four terrible judgments – sword, famine, wild animals, and plague – to Jerusalem ¹  to kill both people and animals!

Cry out and moan, son of man, for it is wielded against my people; against all the princes of Israel. They are delivered up to the sword, along with my people. Therefore, strike your thigh. ¹ 

“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.

I will direct ¹  my jealous anger against you, and they will deal with you in rage. They will cut off your nose and your ears, ²  and your survivors will die ³  by the sword. They will seize your sons and daughters, and your survivors will be consumed by fire.

Say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Realize I am about to desecrate my sanctuary – the source of your confident pride, ¹  the object in which your eyes delight, ²  and your life’s passion. ³  Your very own sons and daughters whom you have left behind will die ⁴  by the sword.

So this is what the sovereign Lord says: I will stretch out my hand against Edom, and I will kill the people and animals within her, ¹  and I will make her desolate; from Teman to Dedan they will die ²  by the sword.

“Son of man, I have broken the arm ¹  of Pharaoh king of Egypt. ²  Look, it has not been bandaged for healing or set with a dressing so that it might become strong enough to grasp a sword.

Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, ¹  I am against ²  Pharaoh king of Egypt, and I will break his arms, the strong arm and the broken one, and I will make the sword drop from his hand.

I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh will fall limp. Then they will know that I am the Lord when I place my sword in the hand of the king of Babylon and he extends it against the land of Egypt.

Which of the trees of Eden was like you in majesty and loftiness? You will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the lower parts of the earth; you will lie among the uncircumcised, with those killed by the sword! This is what will happen to Pharaoh and all his hordes, declares the sovereign Lord.’”

“Elam is there with all her hordes around her grave; all of them struck down by the sword. They went down uncircumcised to the lower parts of the earth, those who spread terror in the land of the living. Now they will bear their shame with those who descend to the pit.

Among the dead they have made a bed for her, along with all her hordes around her grave. ¹  All of them are uncircumcised, killed by the sword, for their terror had spread in the land of the living. They bear their shame along with those who descend to the pit; they are placed among the dead.

They do not lie with the fallen warriors of ancient times, ¹  who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, having their swords placed under their heads and their shields on their bones, ²  when the terror of these warriors was in the land of the living.

“All the leaders of the north are there, along with all the Sidonians; despite their might they have gone down in shameful terror with the dead. They lie uncircumcised with those killed by the sword, and bear their shame with those who descend to the pit.

Indeed, I terrified him in the land of the living, yet he will lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with those killed by the sword, Pharaoh and all his hordes, declares the sovereign Lord.”

“Son of man, speak to your people, ¹  and say to them, ‘Suppose I bring a sword against the land, and the people of the land take one man from their borders and make him their watchman.

“This is what you must say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, those living in the ruins will die ¹  by the sword, those in the open field I will give to the wild beasts for food, and those who are in the strongholds and caves will die of disease.

I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and bring you out with all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them fully armed, a great company with shields of different types, ¹  all of them armed with swords.

After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come to a land restored from the ravages of war, ¹  with many peoples gathered on the mountains of Israel that had long been in ruins. Its people ²  were brought out from the peoples, and all of them will be living securely.

The nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile due to their iniquity, ¹  for they were unfaithful to me. So I hid my face from them and handed them over to their enemies; all of them died by the sword.