8 Again the word of the LORD came to me sayings.

9 ''Son of man ,prophesy and say ,'Thus says the LORD ! ''Say:'A sword ,a sword is sharpened and also polished !

10 Shepherd to make a dreadful slaughter,polished to flash like lightening!Should we make mirth ? it despises the scepter of My son,As it does all wood.

11 And  He has given to be polished,that it may be handled;this sword s sharpened,and it is given in the hand of slayer.'

12 ''Cry and wail,son of man;for it will be against My people,against all the princes of Israel.Terrors including the sword will be against  My people;therefore strike your thigh.

13 ''Because it is testing,and  what if the sword despises even the scepter?The scepter shall be no more,"says the LORD GOD

14 ''You therefore,son of man,prophesy,and strike your hands togather.The third time let the sword do double damage.it is the sword that says,the sword that slays the great men,that enters their private chambers.

15 I have set the point of the sword against all their gates,that the heart may melt and many may stumble.Ah!It is made bright;it is grasped for slaughter:

16 Swords at the ready! Thrusr right ! Set your blade!Thrust left-wherever your edge is ordered!

17 ''I also will beat My fists togather,and I will beat My fury to rest;I the LORD ,have spoken.''

18 The word of the LORD came to me again saying:

19 ''Again son of man,appoint for yourself two ways for the sword of the king of Babylon to go;both of them shall go from the same land.Make a sign;put it at the head of the road to the city.

20 ''Appoint  a road for the sword to go to Rabbah of the Ammonites and to Judah,into fortified Jerusalem.

21 'For the king of Babylon stand at the parting of the road,at the fork of the two roads,to use divination;he shakes the arrows,he consult the images,he looks at the liver.

22''In his right hand is the divination for Jerusalem"to set set up barttering rams,to call for a slaughter,to lift the voice with shouting,to set battering rams against the gates,to heap a siege mound,and  to build a wall.

23 ''And  it will be to be them like a false divination in the eyes of those who have sword oaths with them;but he will bring their iniquity to remembrance,that they may be taken.

24 Therefore thus says the LORD GOD:'Because you have made your iniquity to be remembered,in that days your trnsgressions are uncovered,so that  in all your doings your sins appear-bacause you have come to remembrance,you shall be taken in hand.

25'Now to you,O profane,wicked prince of Israel,whose day has come,whose inquity shall end,

26 'Thus says the LORD GOD ;''Remove the turban,and take off the crown;nothing shall remain the same.Exalt the humble,and humble the exalt.

27 Overthrown,overthrown,I will make it overthrown! It shall be no longer ,until He comes whose right it is,and I will give it to Him." 'Ezekiel 21:8-27