Ezekiel 21:3

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Summary

And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of his sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.

Will draw

The righteous

General references

Luke 23:31

Bible References

Will draw

“Son of man, prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord.’ Say,

‘A sword, a sword [from Babylon] is sharpened
And also polished!

One third of you will die of virulent disease or be consumed by famine among you; one third will fall by the sword around you; and one third I will scatter to all the winds, and I will unsheathe a sword behind them.

Or if I were to bring a sword on that land and say, ‘Let a sword go through the land and cut off man and animal from it,’

“The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil;
My desire shall be satisfied against them;
I will draw my sword, my hand shall dispossess them and drive them out.’

I will bring a sword on you that will execute vengeance for [breaking] the covenant; and when you gather together in your cities, I will send pestilence (virulent disease) among you, and you shall be handed over to the enemy.

If I sharpen the lightning of My sword,
And My hand takes hold of judgment,
I will render vengeance on My adversaries,
And I will repay those who hate Me.

Arise, O Lord, confront him, cast him down;
Save my soul from the wicked with Your sword,

Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger [against Israel],
The staff in whose hand is My indignation and fury [against Israel’s disobedience]!

For My sword is satiated [with blood] in heaven;
Indeed, it will come down for judgment on Edom
And on the people whom I have doomed for destruction.

“O you sword of the Lord,
How long will it be before you are quiet?
Put yourself into your sheath;
Rest and be still.

“You [Cyrus of Persia, soon to conquer Babylon] are My battle-axe and weapon of war—
For with you I shatter nations,
With you I destroy kingdoms.

“You also, O Ethiopians, will be slain by My sword.”

“Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd,
And against the Man, My Associate,”
Declares the Lord of hosts.
“Strike the Shepherd so that the sheep [of the flock] may be scattered;
And I will turn My hand and stretch it out against the little ones [of the flock].

The righteous

But to the others I heard Him say, “Follow him [the man with the scribe’s writing case] throughout the city and strike; do not let your eyes have pity and do not spare [anyone].

“It is all one; therefore I say,
‘He destroys [both] the blameless and the wicked.’

It is the same for all. There is one fate for the righteous and for the wicked; for the good, for the clean and for the unclean; for the man who offers sacrifices and for the one who does not sacrifice. As the good man is, so is the sinner; as he who swears an oath is, so is he who is afraid to swear an oath.

And it shall be that when they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord:

“Those [destined] for death, to death;
Those for the sword, to the sword;
Those for famine, to famine;
Those for captivity, to captivity.”’

General references

For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”