Ezekiel 21:18

Myles Coverdale Bible

The worde of the LORDE came yet vnto me agayne, sayenge:

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The word of the Lord came to me:

Hebrew Names Version
The word of the LORD came to me again, saying,

King James Version
The word of the Lord came unto me again, saying,

English Standard Version
The word of the Lord came to me again:

New American Standard Bible
And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

New Century Version
The Lord spoke his word to me, saying:

Amplified Bible
The word of the LORD came to me, saying,

World English Bible
The word of Yahweh came to me again, saying,

Geneva Bible (1587)
The worde of the Lorde came vnto mee againe, saying,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
The word of the LORD came to me saying,

Legacy Standard Bible
And the word of Yahweh came to me saying,

Berean Standard Bible
Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

Contemporary English Version
The Lord said:

Complete Jewish Bible
For a test is coming, and what if he rejects the rod again then? He will cease to exist," says Adonai Elohim .

Darby Translation
And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

Easy-to-Read Version
The word of the Lord came to me. He said,

George Lamsa Translation
The word of the LORD came to me, saying,

Good News Translation
The Lord spoke to me.

Lexham English Bible
And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

Literal Translation
And the Word of Jehovah was to me, saying,

American Standard Version
The word of Jehovah came unto me again, saying,

Bible in Basic English
And the word of the Lord came to me again, saying,

JPS Old Testament (1917)
For there is a trial; and what if it contemn even the rod? It shall be no more, saith the Lord GOD.

King James Version (1611)
The word of the Lord came vnto me againe, saying,

Bishop's Bible (1568)
The worde of the Lorde came yet vnto me agayne, saying:

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

English Revised Version
The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And the word of the Lord was maad to me,

Update Bible Version
The word of Yahweh came to me again, saying,

Webster's Bible Translation
The word of the LORD came to me again, saying,

New English Translation
The word of the Lord came to me:

New King James Version
The word of the LORD came to me again, saying:

New Living Translation
Then this message came to me from the Lord :

New Life Bible
The Word of the Lord came to me saying,

New Revised Standard
The word of the Lord came to me:

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then came the word of Yahweh unto me saying:

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

Revised Standard Version
The word of the LORD came to me again:

Young's Literal Translation
And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying,

THE MESSAGE
God 's Message came to me: "Son of man, lay out two roads for the sword of the king of Babylon to take. Start them from the same place. Place a signpost at the beginning of each road. Post one sign to mark the road of the sword to Rabbah of the Ammonites. Post the other to mark the road to Judah and Fort Jerusalem. The king of Babylon stands at the fork in the road and he decides by divination which of the two roads to take. He draws straws, he throws god-dice, he examines a goat liver. He opens his right hand: The omen says, ‘Head for Jerusalem!' So he's on his way with battering rams, roused to kill, sounding the battle cry, pounding down city gates, building siege works.

Contextual Overview

¹⁸ The worde of the LORDE came yet vnto me agayne, sayenge: ¹⁹ Thou sonne of man, make the two stretes, that the swearde of ye kinge of Babilo maye come. Both these stretes shall go out of one londe. He shal set him vp a place, at the heade of the strete shal he chose him out a corner. ²⁰ Make ye a strete, that the swearde maye come towarde Rabath of the Ammonites, and to the stronge cite of Ierusalem. ²¹ For the kinge of Babilon shall stonde in the turnynge of the waye, at the heade of the two stretes: to axe councell at the soythsayers, castinge the lottes with his arowes, to axe councell at the Idols, and to loke in the lyuer. ²² But the soythsayenge shall poynte to the right syde vpon Ierusalem, that he maye set men of warre, to smyte it with a greate noyse, to crie out Alarum, to set batellrammes agaynst the gates, to graue vp dyches, & to make bulworkes. ²³ Neuertheles, as for ye soythsayenge, they shall holde it but for vanite, euen as though a iest were tolde them: Yee and they them selues remembre their wickednesse, so that by right they must be take and wonne. ²⁴ Therfore saieth the LORDE God: For so moch as ye youre selues shewe your offence, and haue opened youre wickednesse, so that in all youre workes men maye se youre synnes: Yee in so moch (I saye) that ye youre selues haue made mencion therof, ye shalbe taken by violence. ²⁵ O thou shameful wicked gyde of Israel, whose daye is come: euen the tyme that wickednesse shall haue an ende: ²⁶ Thus saieth the LORDE God: take awaye the mytre, and put of the crowne, and so is it awaye: the humble is exalted, and the proude brought lowe. ²⁷ Punysh, punysh, yee punysh them will I, and destroye them: and that shall not be fulfilled, vntill he come, to whom the iudgment belongeth, and to whom I haue geue it.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Cross-References

Genesis 16:10
And the angel of the LORDE sayde vnto her: Beholde, I wil so encreace yi sede, that it shall not be nombred for multitude.

Genesis 17:20
And as concernynge Ismael also, I haue herde thy request: Beholde, I haue blessed him, and will increase him, and multiplye him exceadingly. Twolue prynces shal he beget, and I wyll make a greate nacion of him.

Genesis 21:12
Neuertheles God sayde vnto him: let it not displease the because of the childe and the hand mayde: What so euer Sara hath sayde vnto the, folowe it, for in Isaac shall the sede be called vnto the.

Genesis 21:13
As for the honde maydens sonne, I wyll make a people of him also, because he is of thy sede.

Genesis 21:18
Aryse and take the childe, and holde him by the hande, for I wyll make a greate people of him.

Genesis 21:29
Then sayde Abimelech vnto Abraha: What meane those seuen lambes, which thou hast set by them selues?

Genesis 21:31
Therfore is the place called Berseba, because they sware there both together.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The word of the Lord came unto me again,.... Immediately after the former; for this respects the same prophecy about the sword, and the way of its coming, and the cause of it:

saying; as follows:

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The third word of judgment. The king of Babylon’s march upon Judaea and upon the Ammonites. Destruction is to go forth not on Judah only, but also on such neighboring tribes as the Ammonites (compare Jeremiah 27:2-3).

Ezekiel 21:19

Appoint thee - Set before thee.

Choose thou a place, choose it - Rather, “mark a spot, mark it,” as upon a map, at the head of the two roads, one leading to Jerusalem, the other to Ammon. These were the two roads by one or other of which an invading army must march from Babylon to Egypt.

Ezekiel 21:21

The Chaldaean king is depicted standing at the entrance of the holy land from the north, meditating his campaign, using rites of divination that really belonged to the Akkadians, a primitive race which originally occupied the plains of Mesopotamia. The Accadians and the Etruscans belong through the Finnish family to the Turanian stock; this passage therefore shows a characteristic mode of divination in use among two widely separated nations; and as the Romans acquired their divination from the conquered Etruscans, so the Chaldaeans acquired the same art from the races whose soil they had occupied as conquerors.

He made his arrows briqht - Rather, he shook his arrow; a mode of divination much in practice with the Arabians. It was usual to place in some vessel three arrows, on one of which was written, “My God orders me;” on the other, “My God forbids me;” on the third was no inscription. These three arrows were shaken together until one came out; if it was the first, the thing was to be done; if the second, it was to be avoided; if the third, the arrows were again shaken together, until one of the arrows bearing a decided answer should come forth.

Images - Teraphim (Genesis 31:19 note).

He looked in the liver - It was the practice both of the Greeks and the Romans (derived from the Etruscans) to take omens from the inspection of the entrails (especially the liver) of animals offered in sacrifice.

Ezekiel 21:22

The divination for Jerusalem - The lot fixing the campaign against Jerusalem.

Ezekiel 21:23

It shalt be unto them - The Jews in their vain confidence shall look upon the hopes gathered from the divinations by the Babylonians as false and groundless.

To them that have sworn oaths - According to some, “oaths of oaths are theirs;” i. e., they have the most solemn oaths sworn by God to His people, in these they trust, forgetful of the sin which broke the condition upon which these promises were given. More probably the allusion is to the oaths which the Jews had sworn to Nebuchadnezzar as vassals Ezekiel 17:18-19; therefore they trust he will not attack them, forgetting how imperfectly they had kept their oaths, and that Nebuchadnezzar knew this.

But he will call to remembrance the iniquity - The king of Babylon will by punishment remind them of their perjury 2 Kings 25:6-7; 2 Chronicles 36:17.

Ezekiel 21:25

Profane - Rather, “wounded,” - not dead but - having a death-wound. The prophet, turning from the general crowd, addresses Zedekiah.

When iniquity shall have an end - i. e., at the time when iniquity shall be closed with punishment. So in Ezekiel 21:29.

Ezekiel 21:26

The diadem (“the mitre,” the unique head-dress of the high priest) shall be removed, and the crown taken off (this shall not be as it is), the low exalted, and the high abased. Glory shall be removed alike from priest and king; the present glory and power attached to the government of God’s people shall be quite removed.

Ezekiel 21:27

It shall be no more - Or, “This also shall not be;” the present state of things shall not continue: all shall be confusion “until He come” to whom the dominion belongs of right. Not Zedekiah but Jeconiah and his descendants were the rightful heirs of David’s throne. Through the restoration of the true line was there hope for Judah (compare Genesis 49:10), the promised King in whom all power shall rest - the Son of David - Messiah the Prince. Thus the prophecy of destruction ends for Judah in the promise of restoration (as in Ezekiel 20:40 ff).

Ezekiel 21:28

The burden of the Song of the Sword, also in the form of poetry, is again taken up, directed now against the Ammonites, who, exulting in Judah’s destruction, fondly deemed that they were themselves to escape. For Judah there is yet hope, for Ammon irremediable ruin.

Their reproach - The scorn with which they reproach Judah (marginal references).

The sword ... the glittering - Or, “the sword is drawn for the slaughter; it is furbished that it may detour, in order that it may glitter.” In the Septuagint (and Vulgate) the sword is addressed; e. g., Septuagint, “Arise that thou mayest shine.”

Ezekiel 21:29

Whiles ... unto thee - A parenthesis. The Ammonites had their false diviners who deluded with vain hopes.

To bring thee upon the necks of them that are slain - To cast thee (Ammon) upon the heap of slaughtered men.

Shall have an end - Shall have its final doom.

Ezekiel 21:30

Shall I cause it to return ... - Or, Back to its sheath! The work of the sword is over.