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Ezekiel 21

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1 καὶ ἐγένετο λόγος κυρίου πρός με λέγων 2 διὰ τοῦτο προφήτευσον υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου καὶ στήρισον τὸ πρόσωπόν σου ἐπὶ Ιερουσαλημ καὶ ἐπίβλεψον ἐπὶ τὰ ἅγια αὐτῶν καὶ προφητεύσεις ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν τοῦ Ισραηλ 3 καὶ ἐρεῖς πρὸς τὴν γῆν τοῦ Ισραηλ ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ πρὸς σὲ καὶ ἐκσπάσω τὸ ἐγχειρίδιόν μου ἐκ τοῦ κολεοῦ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐξολεθρεύσω ἐκ σοῦ ἄδικον καὶ ἄνομον 4 ἀν{Q'} ὧν ἐξολεθρεύσω ἐκ σοῦ ἄδικον καὶ ἄνομον οὕτως ἐξελεύσεται τὸ ἐγχειρίδιόν μου ἐκ τοῦ κολεοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν σάρκα ἀπὸ ἀπηλιώτου ἕως βορρᾶ 5 καὶ ἐπιγνώσεται πᾶσα σὰρξ διότι ἐγὼ κύριος ἐξέσπασα τὸ ἐγχειρίδιόν μου ἐκ τοῦ κολεοῦ αὐτοῦ καὶ οὐκ ἀποστρέψει οὐκέτι 6 καὶ σύ υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου καταστέναξον ἐν συντριβῇ ὀσφύος σου καὶ ἐν ὀδύναις στενάξεις κα{T'} ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτῶν 7 καὶ ἔσται ἐὰν εἴπωσιν πρὸς σέ ἕνεκα τίνος σὺ στενάζεις καὶ ἐρεῖς ἐπὶ τῇ ἀγγελίᾳ διότι ἔρχεται καὶ θραυσθήσεται πᾶσα καρδία καὶ πᾶσαι χεῖρες παραλυθήσονται καὶ ἐκψύξει πᾶσα σὰρξ καὶ πᾶν πνεῦμα καὶ πάντες μηροὶ μολυνθήσονται ὑγρασίᾳ ἰδοὺ ἔρχεται καὶ ἔσται λέγει κύριος κύριος

1 So the Lord’s word came to me, 2 Why then, son of man, towards Jerusalem turn thee, pour out thy complaint sanctuarywards, and let the land of Israel hear thee prophesy. 3 And this be thy message to the land of Israel: Have at thee! the Lord God says; here is my sword unsheathed to make an end of thy inhabitants, innocent souls and guilty. 4 In token that all alike must perish, northward and south alike, all the world over, my unsheathed sword must go on its errand; 5 drawn it is, plain for all the world to see, and there is no sheathing it. 6 And therewithal I would have thee groan, as men groan that have an aching in the loins, very piteously in the public view; 7 ask they the reason of it, thou wilt say, For ill tidings. Faint every heart shall be, when those tidings come, every hand shall hang listless; cowed every spirit shall be, every knee be weak as water. Those tidings are on the way, the Lord God says; there is no averting it.

1 Et factus est sermo Domini ad me, dicens: 2

Fili hominis, pone faciem tuam ad Jerusalem,
et stilla ad sanctuaria,
et propheta contra humum Israël. 3
Et dices terræ Israël:
Hæc dicit Dominus Deus:
Ecce ego ad te,
et ejiciam gladium meum de vagina sua,
et occidam in te justum et impium. 4
Pro eo autem quod occidi in te justum et impium,
idcirco egredietur gladius meus de vagina sua
ad omnem carnem, ab austro usque ad aquilonem: 5
ut sciat omnis caro quia ego Dominus,
eduxi gladium meum de vagina sua irrevocabilem. 6
Et tu, fili hominis, ingemisce in contritione lumborum,
et in amaritudinibus ingemisce coram eis. 7
Cumque dixerint ad te: Quare tu gemis?
dices: Pro auditu:
quia venit, et tabescet omne cor,
et dissolventur universæ manus,
et infirmabitur omnis spiritus,
et per cuncta genua fluent aquæ:
ecce venit, et fiet, ait Dominus Deus.

8 καὶ ἐγένετο λόγος κυρίου πρός με λέγων 9 υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου προφήτευσον καὶ ἐρεῖς τάδε λέγει κύριος εἰπόν ῥομφαία ῥομφαία ὀξύνου καὶ θυμώθητι 10 ὅπως σφάξῃς σφάγια ὀξύνου ὅπως γένῃ εἰς στίλβωσιν ἑτοίμη εἰς παράλυσιν σφάζε ἐξουδένει ἀπωθοῦ πᾶν ξύλον 11 καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτὴν ἑτοίμην τοῦ κρατεῖν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ ἐξηκονήθη ῥομφαία ἔστιν ἑτοίμη τοῦ δοῦναι αὐτὴν εἰς χεῖρα ἀποκεντοῦντος 12 ἀνάκραγε καὶ ὀλόλυξον υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου ὅτι αὐτὴ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ λαῷ μου αὐτὴ ἐν πᾶσιν τοῖς ἀφηγουμένοις τοῦ Ισραηλ παροικήσουσιν ἐπὶ ῥομφαίᾳ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ λαῷ μου διὰ τοῦτο κρότησον ἐπὶ τὴν χεῖρά σου 13 ὅτι δεδικαίωται καὶ τί εἰ καὶ φυλὴ ἀπώσθη οὐκ ἔσται λέγει κύριος κύριος 14 καὶ σύ υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου προφήτευσον καὶ κρότησον χεῖρα ἐπὶ χεῖρα καὶ διπλασίασον ῥομφαίαν ἡ τρίτη ῥομφαία τραυματιῶν ἐστιν ῥομφαία τραυματιῶν ἡ μεγάλη καὶ ἐκστήσει αὐτούς 15 ὅπως θραυσθῇ ἡ καρδία καὶ πληθυνθῶσιν οἱ ἀσθενοῦντες ἐπὶ πᾶσαν πύλην αὐτῶν παραδέδονται εἰς σφάγια ῥομφαίας εὖ γέγονεν εἰς σφαγήν εὖ γέγονεν εἰς στίλβωσιν 16 διαπορεύου ὀξύνου ἐκ δεξιῶν καὶ ἐξ εὐωνύμων οὗ ἂν τὸ πρόσωπόν σου ἐξεγείρηται 17 καὶ ἐγὼ δὲ κροτήσω χεῖρά μου πρὸς χεῖρά μου καὶ ἐναφήσω τὸν θυμόν μου ἐγὼ κύριος λελάληκα

8 Word came to me from the Lord: 9 Tell them, son of man, the Lord God has this message for thee to utter: Whetted the sword is, polished the sword is, 10 whetted for slaughter, polished to dazzle as lightning does. Never a tree but must fall at thy onset, woodman who art to overthrow the sceptre my son wields.[1] 11 Polished, for the hand to grasp it well, the sharp sword, the bright sword, which the slayer must needs handle! 12 Cry aloud, son of man, and bewail thee, that on my people it must fall, and all the princes of Israel that are left; prince and people, doomed to perish by the sword; smite on thy thigh most dolorously. 13 A tried sword, the Lord God says, and when yonder sceptre it has overthrown, brought to nothing ….[2] 14 Prophesy, then, son of man; smite hands together and call for a second stroke and a third of the avenging sword; a sword of massacre, that strikes men dumb, 15 turns their hearts faint, and lays all in ruin. Havoc wrought at every gate by the sharp sword, the sword polished till it shines again, wrapped about the hilts for more ease of smiting! 16 Sharp be thy blade; cut right, cut left, wherever thy lust beckons thee! 17 I too will smite hands together, telling the tale of my vengeance; I, the Lord, command thee.

8 Et factus est sermo Domini ad me, dicens: 9 Fili hominis, propheta, et dices: Hæc dicit Dominus Deus: loquere:

Gladius, gladius exacutus est, et limatus: 10
ut cædat victimas, exacutus est:
ut splendeat, limatus est:
qui moves sceptrum filii mei, succidisti omne lignum. 11
Et dedi eum ad levigandum, ut teneatur manu:
iste exacutus est gladius, et iste limatus est,
ut sit in manu interficientis. 12
Clama et ulula, fili hominis,
quia hic factus est in populo meo,
hic in cunctis ducibus Israël qui fugerant:
gladio traditi sunt cum populo meo:
idcirco plaude super femur, 13
quia probatus est:
et hoc, cum sceptrum subverterit, et non erit,
dicit Dominus Deus. 14
Tu ergo, fili hominis, propheta,
et percute manu ad manum:
et duplicetur gladius,
ac triplicetur gladius interfectorum:
hic est gladius occisionis magnæ,
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 cædem. 16
Exacuere, vade ad dexteram sive ad sinistram,
quocumque faciei tuæ est appetitus. 17
Quin et ego plaudam manu ad manum,
et implebo indignationem meam:
ego Dominus locutus sum.

18 καὶ ἐγένετο λόγος κυρίου πρός με λέγων 19 καὶ σύ υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου διάταξον σεαυτῷ δύο ὁδοὺς τοῦ εἰσελθεῖν ῥομφαίαν βασιλέως Βαβυλῶνος ἐκ χώρας μιᾶς ἐξελεύσονται αἱ δύο καὶ χεὶρ ἐν ἀρχῇ ὁδοῦ πόλεως ἐ{P'} ἀρχῆς 20 ὁδοῦ διατάξεις τοῦ εἰσελθεῖν ῥομφαίαν ἐπὶ Ραββαθ υἱῶν Αμμων καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν Ιουδαίαν καὶ ἐπὶ Ιερουσαλημ ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῆς 21 διότι στήσεται βασιλεὺς Βαβυλῶνος ἐπὶ τὴν ἀρχαίαν ὁδὸν ἐ{P'} ἀρχῆς τῶν δύο ὁδῶν τοῦ μαντεύσασθαι μαντείαν τοῦ ἀναβράσαι ῥάβδον καὶ ἐπερωτῆσαι ἐν τοῖς γλυπτοῖς καὶ ἡπατοσκοπήσασθαι ἐκ δεξιῶν αὐτοῦ 22 ἐγένετο τὸ μαντεῖον ἐπὶ Ιερουσαλημ τοῦ βαλεῖν χάρακα τοῦ διανοῖξαι στόμα ἐν βοῇ ὑψῶσαι φωνὴν μετὰ κραυγῆς τοῦ βαλεῖν χάρακα ἐπὶ τὰς πύλας αὐτῆς καὶ βαλεῖν χῶμα καὶ οἰκοδομῆσαι βελοστάσεις 23 καὶ αὐτὸς αὐτοῖς ὡς μαντευόμενος μαντείαν ἐνώπιον αὐτῶν καὶ αὐτὸς ἀναμιμνῄσκων ἀδικίας αὐτοῦ μνησθῆναι

18 Word came to me from the Lord: 19 And now, son of man, draw a picture. A picture of two roads, both leading from a common point, by which the sword of the Chaldaean king may travel. Here he is, planning his course at the sign-post, where two roads meet, a city at the end of either. 20 Draw the two roads, one beckoning that sword to Rabbath, where the Ammonites dwell, one to Juda, and Jerusalem the impregnable. 21 There stands the king of Babylon at the parting of the ways, taking omens; there is shuffling of arrows, consulting of deities, searching of entrails. 22 Choose he the right, it is for Jerusalem; the battering-rams, the breach made ere the slaughter can begin, the cries of battle, the assault on the gates, the mound, the siege-works. 23 Thy picture will shew him as a man baffled by the omens given him, that remains idle, as if he were keeping the sabbath rest.[3] Then he remembers the guilt; shall a guilty race go free?

18 Et factus est sermo Domini ad me, dicens: 19 Et tu, fili hominis, pone tibi duas vias, ut veniat gladius regis Babylonis: de terra una egredientur ambæ: et manu capiet conjecturam; in capite viæ civitatis conjiciet. 20 Viam pones ut veniat gladius ad Rabbath filiorum Ammon, et ad Judam in Jerusalem munitissimam. 21 Stetit enim rex Babylonis in bivio, in capite duarum viarum, divinationem quærens, commiscens sagittas: interrogavit idola, exta consuluit. 22 Ad dexteram ejus facta est divinatio super Jerusalem, ut ponat arietes, ut aperiat os in cæde, ut elevet vocem in ululatu, ut ponat arietes contra portas, ut comportet aggerem, ut ædificet munitiones. 23 Eritque quasi consulens frustra oraculum in oculis eorum, et sabbatorum otium imitans: ipse autem recordabitur iniquitatis ad capiendum.

24 διὰ τοῦτο τάδε λέγει κύριος ἀν{Q'} ὧν ἀνεμνήσατε τὰς ἀδικίας ὑμῶν ἐν τῷ ἀποκαλυφθῆναι τὰς ἀσεβείας ὑμῶν τοῦ ὁραθῆναι ἁμαρτίας ὑμῶν ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ἀσεβείαις ὑμῶν καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἐπιτηδεύμασιν ὑμῶν ἀν{Q'} ὧν ἀνεμνήσατε ἐν τούτοις ἁλώσεσθε 25 καὶ σύ βέβηλε ἄνομε ἀφηγούμενε τοῦ Ισραηλ οὗ ἥκει ἡ ἡμέρα ἐν καιρῷ ἀδικίας πέρας 26 τάδε λέγει κύριος ἀφείλου τὴν κίδαριν καὶ ἐπέθου τὸν στέφανον αὕτη οὐ τοιαύτη ἔσται ἐταπείνωσας τὸ ὑψηλὸν καὶ τὸ ταπεινὸν ὕψωσας 27 ἀδικίαν ἀδικίαν θήσομαι αὐτήν οὐ{D'} αὕτη τοιαύτη ἔσται ἕως οὗ ἔλθῃ ᾧ καθήκει καὶ παραδώσω αὐτῷ

24 Ay, says the Lord God, still fresh is the memory of that guilt; open rebels you are, and never a thought in your hearts but shews vile; capture awaits you, that revive those memories still. 25 And thou, perjured wretch that rulest Israel, thy time has run out; 26 off with head-band, off with crown, symbols that honour the base, the noble degrade! 27 I will wrest it this way, wrest it that, as it was never wrested yet;[4] at last one shall come that claims it of right, and to him I will give it.

24 Idcirco hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Pro eo quod recordati estis iniquitatis vestræ, et revelastis prævaricationes vestras, et apparuerunt peccata vestra in omnibus cogitationibus vestris, pro eo, inquam, quod recordati estis, manu capiemini. 25 Tu autem, profane, impie dux Israël, cujus venit dies in tempore iniquitatis præfinita: 26 hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Aufer cidarim, tolle coronam: nonne hæc est quæ humilem sublevavit, et sublimem humiliavit? 27 Iniquitatem, iniquitatem, iniquitatem ponam eam: et hoc non factum est, donec veniret cujus est judicium, et tradam ei.

28 καὶ σύ υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου προφήτευσον καὶ ἐρεῖς τάδε λέγει κύριος πρὸς τοὺς υἱοὺς Αμμων καὶ πρὸς τὸν ὀνειδισμὸν αὐτῶν καὶ ἐρεῖς ῥομφαία ῥομφαία ἐσπασμένη εἰς σφάγια καὶ ἐσπασμένη εἰς συντέλειαν ἐγείρου ὅπως στίλβῃς 29 ἐν τῇ ὁράσει σου τῇ ματαίᾳ καὶ ἐν τῷ μαντεύεσθαί σε ψευδῆ τοῦ παραδοῦναί σε ἐπὶ τραχήλους τραυματιῶν ἀνόμων ὧν ἥκει ἡ ἡμέρα ἐν καιρῷ ἀδικίας πέρας 30 ἀπόστρεφε μὴ καταλύσῃς ἐν τῷ τόπῳ τούτῳ ᾧ γεγέννησαι ἐν τῇ γῇ τῇ ἰδίᾳ σου κρινῶ σε 31 καὶ ἐκχεῶ ἐπὶ σὲ ὀργήν μου ἐν πυρὶ ὀργῆς μου ἐμφυσήσω ἐπὶ σὲ καὶ παραδώσω σε εἰς χεῖρας ἀνδρῶν βαρβάρων τεκταινόντων διαφθοράν 32 ἐν πυρὶ ἔσῃ κατάβρωμα τὸ αἷμά σου ἔσται ἐν μέσῳ τῆς γῆς σου οὐ μὴ γένηταί σου μνεία διότι ἐγὼ κύριος λελάληκα

28 Prophesy, son of man, and give a message from the Lord God to the men of Ammon, in answer to their taunts: Drawn be the sword, cried they,[5] whetted be the sword and bright for its work of slaying! 29 Nay, sword of Ammon, it was but a vain dream, a lying augury, that it should be thy office to fall on the necks of yonder doomed sinners, whose time has run out. 30 Back to thy sheath with thee, back to thy native soil; there, in the land where thou wast fashioned, I will call thee to account. 31 I mean to pour out my vengeance on thee, blast thee with the fire of my anger; barbarian foes shall have the mastery of thee, that are skilful only to destroy. 32 Fire shall feed on thee, earth run with thy blood, oblivion bury thy name; I, the Lord, have given sentence.

28 Et tu, fili hominis, propheta, et dic: Hæc dicit Dominus Deus ad filios Ammon, et ad opprobrium eorum: et dices:

Mucro, mucro, evaginate ad occidendum:
limate ut interficias et fulgeas: 29
cum tibi viderentur vana,
et divinarentur mendacia,
ut dareris super colla vulneratorum impiorum,
quorum venit dies in tempore iniquitatis præfinita. 30
Revertere ad vaginam tuam,
in loco in quo creatus es:
in terra nativitatis tuæ judicabo te. 31
Et effundam super te indignationem meam;
in igne furoris mei sufflabo in te:
daboque te in manus hominum insipientium,
et fabricantium interitum. 32
Igni eris cibus;
sanguis tuus erit in medio terræ;
oblivioni traderis:
quia ego Dominus locutus sum.

[1] Like much else in this chapter, the second half of the verse is obscure, and probably corrupt, in the Hebrew text.

[2] Once more the Hebrew text gives us no help, and grammar can only be restored to the Latin by assuming that there has been an omission in the original.

[3] The Hebrew text refers here not to keeping sabbaths, but to swearing oaths; the sense of it is extremely doubtful.

[4] ‘Symbols that honour the base, the noble degrade! I will wrest it this way, wrest it that, as it was never wrested yet’. Literally, the Latin version runs: ‘Is not this the thing that has lifted up the low, abased the high? I will make it guilt, guilt, guilt (or perhaps, inequality, inequality, inequality). And this has not happened’. The Hebrew text appears to mean: ‘This is not this! Lift up the low, abase the high! I will make it distortion, distortion, distortion. And this was not’.

[5] The words ‘cried they’, and ‘sword of Ammon’ in the next verse, are not in the original; they have been inserted above as being necessary for the understanding of what the passage presumably means. It appears that the Ammonites had hoped to profit by the misfortunes of Israel, instead of which they will be involved in a common ruin.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd