1And the word of YHWH came to me, saying:
2Son of man (adam), set your face the way of the south, and drop word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the field, the Negev.
3And you shall say to the forest of the Negev, Hear the word of YHWH: Thus said my Lord (Adonai) YHWH: Behold, I am kindling in you a fire, and it shall devour in you every green tree and every dry tree; the blazing flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be scorched by it.
4And all flesh (basar) shall see that I, YHWH, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched.
5And I said, Ah, my Lord (Adonai) YHWH! They are saying of me, Is he not a maker of parables?
6And the word of YHWH came to me, saying:
7Son of man (adam), set your face toward Jerusalem, and drop word toward the sanctuaries, and prophesy against the ground (adamah) of Israel.
8And you shall say to the ground (adamah) of Israel, Thus said YHWH: Behold, I am against you, and I will bring out my sword from its sheath, and I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked.
9Because I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore my sword shall go out from its sheath against all flesh (basar) from the south to the north.
10And all flesh (basar) shall know that I, YHWH, have brought out my sword from its sheath; it shall not return any more.
11And you, son of man (adam), groan; with breaking of loins and with bitterness you shall groan before their eyes.
12And it shall be, when they say to you, Why are you groaning? that you shall say, Because of a report, for it is coming; and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be slack, and every spirit (ruach) shall be faint, and all knees shall go like water. Behold, it is coming, and it shall be done, declares my Lord (Adonai) YHWH.
13And the word of YHWH came to me, saying:
14Son of man (adam), prophesy, and you shall say, Thus said my Lord (Adonai): Say, A sword, a sword, it is sharpened, and also polished.
15In order to slaughter a slaughter it is sharpened, in order to have for itself a flash it is polished; or shall we rejoice? The rod of my son despises every tree.
16And he gave it to be polished, to grasp it in the palm; it, the sword, is sharpened, and it is polished, to give it into the hand of the slayer.
17Cry out and wail, son of man (adam), for it is against my people, it is against all the princes of Israel; they are thrust to the sword with my people; therefore strike upon the thigh.
18For there is a testing; and what if even the rod that despises shall be no more? declares my Lord (Adonai) YHWH.
19And you, son of man (adam), prophesy, and strike palm to palm, and let the sword be doubled a third time, the sword of the slain; it is the sword of the great slain one, that surrounds them.
20In order that the heart may melt, and the stumblings be many, against all their gates I have set the slaughter of the sword. Ah! it is made for flashing, sharpened for slaughter.
21Gather yourself, turn to the right; set yourself, turn to the left, wherever your face is appointed.
22And also I will strike my palm against my palm, and I will cause my fury to rest; I, YHWH, have spoken.
23And the word of YHWH came to me, saying:
24And you, son of man (adam), set for yourself two ways, for the sword of the king of Babylon to come; from one land both of them shall come forth; and carve a hand, at the head of the way to a city carve it.
25A way you shall set for the sword to come to Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and to Judah in Jerusalem the fortified.
26For the king of Babylon stands at the mother of the way, at the head of the two ways, to perform divination; he shakes the arrows, he inquires of the teraphim, he looks at the liver.
27In his right hand was the divination, Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open the mouth with slaughter, to lift up the voice with a war cry, to set battering rams against the gates, to pour out a siege ramp, to build a siege wall.
28And it shall be to them like a false divination in their eyes, they who have sworn oaths to them; but he brings iniquity to remembrance, that they may be seized.
29Therefore thus said my Lord (Adonai) YHWH: Because you have brought your iniquity to remembrance, in the uncovering of your transgressions, so that your sins appear in all your doings; because you are remembered, by the hand you shall be seized.
30And you, O slain wicked one, prince of Israel, whose day has come, in the time of the iniquity of the end,
31thus said my Lord (Adonai) YHWH: Remove the mitre, and lift off the crown; this is not this; exalt the low, and abase the high.
32A ruin, a ruin, a ruin I will make it; also this shall not be, until the coming of him to whom belongs the judgment (mishpat), and I will give it to him.
33And you, son of man (adam), prophesy, and you shall say, Thus said my Lord (Adonai) YHWH concerning the sons of Ammon and concerning their reproach; and you shall say, A sword, a sword, drawn for slaughter, polished to consume, for the sake of flashing,
34while they see for you falsehood, while they divine for you a lie, to put you upon the necks of the slain wicked, whose day has come, in the time of the iniquity of the end.
35Return it to its sheath! In the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you.
36And I will pour out upon you my indignation; with the fire of my wrath I will blow upon you, and I will give you into the hand of brutish men (ish), craftsmen of destruction.
37To the fire you shall be for fuel; your blood shall be in the midst of the land; you shall not be remembered, for I, YHWH, have spoken.