The Power behind the Drama

1. Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 2. “Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and preach toward the sanctuaries, and prophesy against the land of Israel. 3. Tell the land of Israel, ‘Yahweh says: “Behold, I am against you, and will draw my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked. 4. Seeing then that I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore my sword will go out of its sheath against all flesh from the south to the north. 5. All flesh will know that I, Yahweh, have drawn my sword out of its sheath. It will not return any more.” ’ 6. “Therefore sigh, you son of man. You shall sigh before their eyes with a broken heart and with bitterness. 7. It shall be, when they ask you, ‘Why do you sigh?’ that you shall say, ‘Because of the news, for it comes! 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 shall be done, says the Lord Yahweh.’ ” 8. Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 9. “Son of man, prophesy, and say, ‘Yahweh says: “A sword! A sword! It is sharpened, and also polished. 10. It is sharpened that it may make a slaughter. It is polished that it may be as lightning. Should we then make mirth? The rod of my son condemns every tree. 11. It is given to be polished, that it may be handled. The sword is sharpened. Yes, it is polished to give it into the hand of the killer.” ’ 12. Cry and wail, son of man; for it is on my people. It is on all the princes of Israel. They are delivered over to the sword with my people. Therefore beat your thigh. 13. “For there is a trial. What if even the rod that condemns will be no more?” says the Lord Yahweh. 14. “You therefore, son of man, prophesy, and strike your hands together. Let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the fatally wounded. It is the sword of the great one who is fatally wounded, which enters into their rooms. 15. I have set the threatening sword against all their gates, that their heart may melt, and their stumblings be multiplied. Ah! It is made as lightning. It is pointed for slaughter. 16. Gather yourselves together. Go to the right. Set yourselves in array. Go to the left, wherever your face is set. 17. I will also strike my hands together, and I will cause my wrath to rest. I, Yahweh, have spoken it.” 18. Yahweh’s word came to me again, saying, 19. “Also, you son of man, appoint two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come. They both will come out of one land, and mark out a place. Mark it out at the head of the way to the city. 20. You shall appoint a way for the sword to come to Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and to Judah in Jerusalem the fortified. 21. For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination. He shook the arrows back and forth. He consulted the teraphim. He looked in the liver. 22. In his right hand was the lot for Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up mounds, and to build forts. 23. It will be to them as a false divination in their sight, who have sworn oaths to them; but he brings iniquity to memory, that they may be taken. 24. “Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Because you have caused your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your doings your sins appear; because you have come to memory, you will be taken with the hand. 25. “ ‘You, deadly wounded wicked one, the prince of Israel, whose day has come, in the time of the iniquity of the end, 26. the Lord Yahweh says: “Remove the turban, and take off the crown. This will not be as it was. Exalt that which is low, and humble that which is high. 27. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it. This also will be no more, until he comes whose right it is; and I will give it.” ’ 28. “You, son of man, prophesy, and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says this concerning the children of Ammon, and concerning their reproach: “A sword! A sword is drawn! It is polished for the slaughter, to cause it to devour, that it may be as lightning; 29. while they see for you false visions, while they divine lies to you, to lay you on the necks of the wicked who are deadly wounded, whose day has come in the time of the iniquity of the end. 30. Cause it to return into its sheath. In the place where you were created, in the land of your birth, I will judge you. 31. I will pour out my indignation on you. I will blow on you with the fire of my wrath. I will deliver you into the hand of brutish men, skillful to destroy. 32. You will be for fuel to the fire. Your blood will be in the middle of the land. You will be remembered no more; for I, Yahweh, have spoken it.” ’ ”

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1. Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 2. “You, son of man, will you judge? Will you judge the bloody city? Then cause her to know all her abominations. 3. You shall say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “A city that sheds blood within herself, that her time may come, and that makes idols against herself to defile her! 4. You have become guilty in your blood that you have shed, and are defiled in your idols which you have made! You have caused your days to draw near, and have come even to your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mocking to all the countries. 5. Those who are near, and those who are far from you, will mock you, you infamous one, full of tumult. 6. “ ‘ “Behold, the princes of Israel, everyone according to his power, have been in you to shed blood. 7. In you have they treated father and mother with contempt. Among you they have oppressed the foreigner. In you they have wronged the fatherless and the widow. 8. You have despised my holy things, and have profaned my Sabbaths. 9. Slanderous men have been in you to shed blood. In you they have eaten on the mountains. They have committed lewdness among you. 10. In you have they uncovered their fathers’ nakedness. In you have they humbled her who was unclean in her impurity. 11. One has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife; and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law. Another in you has humbled his sister, his father’s daughter. 12. In you have they taken bribes to shed blood. You have taken interest and increase, and you have greedily gained of your neighbors by oppression, and have forgotten me,” says the Lord Yahweh. 13. “ ‘ “Behold, therefore I have struck my hand at your dishonest gain which you have made, and at your blood which has been within you. 14. Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I will deal with you? I, Yahweh, have spoken it, and will do it. 15. I will scatter you among the nations, and disperse you through the countries. I will consume your filthiness out of you. 16. You will be profaned in yourself, in the sight of the nations. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.” ’ ” 17. Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 18. “Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me. All of them are bronze, tin, iron, and lead in the middle of the furnace. They are the dross of silver. 19. Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the middle of Jerusalem. 20. As they gather silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin into the middle of the furnace, to blow the fire on it, to melt it; so I will gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will lay you there, and melt you. 21. Yes, I will gather you, and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you will be melted in the middle of it. 22. As silver is melted in the middle of the furnace, so you will be melted in the middle of it; and you will know that I, Yahweh, have poured out my wrath on you.’ ” 23. Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 24. “Son of man, tell her, ‘You are a land that is not cleansed, nor rained on in the day of indignation.’ 25. There is a conspiracy of her prophets within it, like a roaring lion ravening the prey. They have devoured souls. They take treasure and precious things. They have made many widows within it. 26. Her priests have done violence to my law, and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they caused men to discern between the unclean and the clean, and have hidden their eyes from my Sabbaths. So I am profaned among them. 27. Her princes within it are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, that they may get dishonest gain. 28. Her prophets have plastered for them with whitewash, seeing false visions, and divining lies to them, saying, ‘The Lord Yahweh says,’ when Yahweh has not spoken. 29. The people of the land have used oppression and exercised robbery. Yes, they have troubled the poor and needy, and have oppressed the foreigner wrongfully. 30. “I sought for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I would not destroy it; but I found no one. 31. Therefore I have poured out my indignation on them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have brought their own way on their heads,” says the Lord Yahweh.

1. I saw a mighty angel coming down out of the sky, clothed with a cloud. A rainbow was on his head. His face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. 2. He had in his hand a little open book. He set his right foot on the sea, and his left on the land. 3. He cried with a loud voice, as a lion roars. When he cried, the seven thunders uttered their voices. 4. When the seven thunders sounded, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from the sky saying, “Seal up the things which the seven thunders said, and don’t write them.” 5. The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to the sky, 6. and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there will no longer be delay, 7. but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as he declared to his servants, the prophets. 8. The voice which I heard from heaven, again speaking with me, said, “Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land.” 9. I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book. He said to me, “Take it, and eat it. It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.” 10. I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth. When I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. 11. They told me, “You must prophesy again over many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.”

1. Moreover Elihu answered, 2. “Do you think this to be your right, or do you say, ‘My righteousness is more than God’s,’ 3. that you ask, ‘What advantage will it be to you? What profit will I have, more than if I had sinned?’ 4. I will answer you, and your companions with you. 5. Look to the skies, and see. See the skies, which are higher than you. 6. If you have sinned, what effect do you have against him? If your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him? 7. If you are righteous, what do you give him? Or what does he receive from your hand? 8. Your wickedness may hurt a man as you are, and your righteousness may profit a son of man.