'Slaughter' in the Bible
It is sharpened for slaughter, it is polished to flash like lightning! "'Should we rejoice in the scepter of my son? No! The sword despises every tree!
"And you, son of man, prophesy, and clap your hands together. Let the sword strike twice, even three times! It is a sword for slaughter, a sword for the great slaughter surrounding them.
So hearts melt with fear and many stumble. At all their gates I have stationed the sword for slaughter. Ah! It is made to flash, it is drawn for slaughter!
Into his right hand comes the portent for Jerusalem -- to set up battering rams, to give the signal for slaughter, to shout out the battle cry, to set up battering rams against the gates, to erect a siege ramp, to build a siege wall.
"As for you, son of man, prophesy and say, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says concerning the Ammonites and their coming humiliation; say: "'A sword, a sword drawn for slaughter, polished to consume, to flash like lightning --
"This is what the sovereign Lord says to Tyre: Oh, how the coastlands will shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, at the massive slaughter in your midst!
You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the choice animals, but you do not feed the sheep!
"As for you, son of man, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Tell every kind of bird and every wild beast: 'Assemble and come! Gather from all around to my slaughter which I am going to make for you, a great slaughter on the mountains of Israel! You will eat flesh and drink blood.
You will eat fat until you are full, and drink blood until you are drunk, at my slaughter which I have made for you.
In the porch of the gate were two tables on either side on which to slaughter the burnt offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering.
The four tables for the burnt offering were of carved stone, 32 inches long, 32 inches wide, and 21 inches high. They would put the instruments which they used to slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice on them.
Yet they will be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the temple, and serving the temple. They will slaughter the burnt offerings and the sacrifices for the people, and they will stand before them to minister to them.