6. And you, son of man, groan with shaking hips, and you must groan with bitterness before their eyes.
7. And then when they say to you, ‘On account of what are you groaning?’ then you must say, ‘On account of the report, for it is coming, and every heart will be weak and all hands will hang limp and every spirit will be disheartened, and all knees will go like water.’ Look! It is coming, and it will happen!” declares the Lord Yahweh.
8. And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
9. “Son of man, prophesy, and you must say, ‘Thus says the Lord,’ say, ‘A sword, a sword is sharpened and is also polished.
10. It is sharpened to slaughter a slaughter, polished to flash like lightning! Or will we rejoice? A rod, my son, is despising every tree.
11. And he gives it to be polished, to be seized by the hand. It is sharpened—a sword—and it is polished to give it into the hand of the killer.
12. Cry and wail, son of man, for it is against my people; it is against all of the princes of Israel. They are thrown to the sword with my people; therefore strike your thigh.
13. For examine! And what if also the rod will not be despising?’ declares the Lord Yahweh.
14. And you, son of man, prophesy and clap your hands. And the sword will strike twice; let it happen a third time. It is a sword of the dead, the sword of the great dead that is surrounding them,
15. so that a heart melts, and the fallen multiply at all of their gates. I gave a sword for slaughter, and alas! It is made for flashing, it is grasped for slaughtering.
16. Gather together, strike to the right; cause to go to the left, where your edge is directed.
17. And also I myself will clap my hands, and I will satisfy my rage! I, Yahweh, I have spoken.”
18. And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
19. “And you, son of man, mark out for yourself two roads for the coming of the sword of the king of Babylon; they must both go out from the same land. And hew out a signpost; hew it at the head of the road of the city.
20. You must mark a road for the coming of the sword to Rabbah of the Ammonites and to Judah, in Jerusalem the fortified.
21. For the king of Babylon stands at the fork of the road at the head of the two roads to practice divination. He shakes the arrows, he inquires with the teraphim, he examines the liver.
22. In his right hand is the divination for Jerusalem, to put up battering rams, to open a mouth for slaughter, to raise the battle cry, to put up battering rams against gates, to build a siege ramp, to build siege works.