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Ezequiel 21

ARC · Chapter 21/48

1E veiu a mim a palavra do Senhor, dizendo:

2Filho do homem, dirige o teu rosto contra Jerusalem, e derrama as tuas palavras contra os sanctuarios, e prophetiza contra a terra de Israel.

3E dize á terra de Israel: Assim diz o Senhor: Eis me aqui contra ti, e tirarei a minha espada da sua bainha, e exterminarei do meio de ti o justo e o impio.

4E, porquanto hei de exterminar do meio de ti o justo e o impio, por isso sairá a minha espada da sua bainha contra toda a carne, desde o sul até ao norte.

5E saberá toda a carne que eu, o Senhor, tirei a minha espada da sua bainha: nunca mais voltará a ella.

6Tu, porém, ó filho do homem, suspira; suspira aos olhos d'elles, com quebrantamento dos lombos e com amargura.

7E será que, quando elles te disserem: Porque suspiras tu? dirás: Pela fama, porque já vem; e todo o coração desmaiará, e todas as mãos se enfraquecerão, e todo o espirito se angustiará, e todos os joelhos se desfarão em aguas; eis que já vem, e se fará, diz o Senhor Jehovah.

8E veiu a mim a palavra do Senhor, dizendo:

9Filho do homem, prophetiza, e dize: Assim diz o Senhor: dize: A espada, a espada está afiada, e tambem açacalada.

10Para matar com grande matança está afiada, para reduzir está açacalada: alegrar-nos-hemos pois? a vara de meu filho é que despreza todo o madeiro.

11E a deu a açacalar, para usar d'ella com a mão: esta espada está afiada, e está açacalada, para a metter na mão do que está para matar.

12Grita e uiva, ó filho do homem, porque esta será contra o meu povo, será contra todos os principes de Israel: espantos terá o meu povo por causa da espada; portanto bate na côxa.

13Quando se fez a prova que havia então? porventura tambem não haveria vara desprezadora? diz o Senhor Jehovah.

14Tu pois, ó filho do homem, prophetiza, e bate com as mãos uma na outra; porque a espada até á terceira vez se dobrará: a espada é dos atravessados grandes, que entrará a elles até nas recamaras.

15Para que desmaie o coração, e se multipliquem os tropeços, contra todas as suas portas puz a ponta da espada, a que foi feita para reduzir, e está reservada para matar!

16Ó espada, reune-te, vira-te para a direita; prepara-te, vira-te para a esquerda, para onde quer que o teu rosto se dirigir.

17E tambem eu baterei com as minhas mãos uma na outra, e farei descançar a minha indignação: eu, o Senhor, o fallei.

18E veiu a mim a palavra do Senhor, dizendo:

19Tu pois, ó filho do homem, propõe dois caminhos, por onde venha a espada do rei de Babylonia: ambos procederão de uma mesma terra, e escolhe uma banda; no cimo do caminho da cidade o escolhe.

20Um caminho proporás, por onde virá a espada contra Rabba dos filhos d'Ammon, e contra Judah, em Jerusalem, a fortificada.

21Porque o rei de Babylonia parará na encruzilhada, no cimo dos dois caminhos, para usar de adivinhações: aguçará as suas frechas, consultará os terafins, attentará para o figado

22Á sua direita estará a adivinhação sobre Jerusalem, para ordenar os arietes, para abrir a bocca á matança, para levantar a voz com jubilo, para pôr os arietes contra as portas, para levantar uma tranqueira, para edificar um baluarte.

23Isto será aos olhos d'elles como adivinhação vã, porquanto foram ajuramentados com juramentos entre elles; porém elle se lembrará da maldade, para que sejam apanhados.

24Portanto assim diz o Senhor Jehovah: Porquanto me fazeis lembrar da vossa maldade, descobrindo-se as vossas prevaricações, apparecendo os vossos peccados em todos os vossos tratos, porquanto viestes em memoria, sereis apanhados na mão.

25E tu, ó profano e impio principe d'Israel, cujo dia virá no campo da extrema maldade,

26Assim diz o Senhor Jehovah: Tira para fóra o diadema, e levanta de ti a corôa; esta não será a mesma; exalta ao humilde, e humilha ao soberbo.

27Ao revéz, ao revéz, ao revéz porei aquella corôa, e ella mais não será, até que venha aquelle a quem pertence de direito, e a elle a darei.

28E tu, ó filho do homem, prophetiza, e dize: Assim diz o Senhor Jehovah ácerca dos filhos de Ammon, e ácerca do seu desprezo: dize pois: A espada, a espada está desembainhada, açacalada para a matança, para consumir, para reluzir;

29Entretanto que te vêem vaidade, entretanto que te adivinham mentira, para te pôrem aos pescoços dos traspassados pelos impios, cujo dia virá no tempo da extrema maldade.

30Torna a tua espada á sua bainha: no logar em que foste creado, na terra do teu nascimento, julgarei.

31E derramarei sobre ti a minha indignação, assoprarei contra ti o fogo do meu furor, entregar-te-hei nas mãos dos homens fogosos, inventores de destruição.

32Para o fogo servirás de pasto: o teu sangue será no meio da terra: não virás em memoria; porque eu, o Senhor, o fallei.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Ezekiel prophesies about God's 'sharp sword' coming against Jerusalem, describes the king of Babylon deciding by divination to attack the city, and announces the end of the kingship until the one comes 'whose right it is.'

Explanation

The image of the sharp, glittering sword, repeated insistently, communicates the inevitable and imminent character of the judgment on Jerusalem. The description of the king of Babylon using divination with arrows and liver examination (v.21) is a real Mesopotamian divination practice (called hepatoscopy), showing that God uses even pagan decisions to fulfill His own purposes. The phrase about 'him whose right it is' (v.27) is understood by scholars as a messianic reference to the future restoration of the Davidic throne through Christ, even amid the total collapse of the monarchy.

Fun facts

  • The practice of examining the liver of sacrificed animals for divination (extispicy) is documented on real Babylonian clay tablets, some showing detailed diagrams of the liver used for interpretation.
  • The threefold repetition 'overturn, overturn, overturn' (v.27) is a Hebrew device of maximum emphasis, indicating a complete and definitive upheaval in the history of Judah's throne.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Ezequiel 21:1Opening formula for a chapter full of sword imagery, picking up the theme of the Babylonian invasion with even more intensity.
  2. Ezequiel 21:2This time the target explicitly includes the sacred places, not just the city — not even the temple will be left out of the announced judgment.
  3. Ezequiel 21:3The image of the sword coming out of its sheath marks the start of a sequence of judgment that, according to the text, will strike both righteous and wicked alike, within the context of a widespread invasion.
  4. Ezequiel 21:4The idea of striking everyone, without pinpoint distinction, reflects the reality of war: an invasion does not choose its victims by individual merit.
  5. Ezequiel 21:5The sword drawn from its sheath, in this context, does not go back in — the image conveys that the announced judgment really will be carried out, with no turning back.
  6. Ezequiel 21:6Ezekiel receives another instruction for physical enactment: to groan visibly before the people, as if suffering intense physical pain.
  7. Ezequiel 21:7When they ask the reason for the groaning, the answer is the news about to arrive — Ezekiel’s own body anticipates the dread that will take hold of everyone.
  8. Ezequiel 21:8Transition formula: introduces a longer, more detailed poem about the sword, taking up the image again in a more elaborate way.
  9. Ezequiel 21:9The “song of the sword,” repeating “a sword, a sword is sharpened” several times in a row, is war poetry: the hammering, rhythmic effect imitates the sharpening of a blade, building tension before the final order to attack.
  10. Ezequiel 21:10The ironic question about whether to “make mirth” contrasts with the seriousness of the sharpened sword — there is no reason to celebrate in the face of what is coming.
  11. Ezequiel 21:11The process of sharpening and preparing the sword is described in detail, almost like the staging of an execution scene about to happen.
  12. Ezequiel 21:12Ezekiel is ordered to cry out and mourn openly — striking one’s own thigh was a common physical expression of extreme anguish.
  13. Ezequiel 21:13The text suggests that not even authority or a sceptre will stop this sword — the judgment will not spare symbols of power.
  14. Ezequiel 21:14The sword is described as able to reach even the innermost, most protected rooms — no hiding place will be enough against the announced invasion.
  15. Ezequiel 21:15The image of the sword flashing against every gate of the city conveys a complete siege, with no free point of entry or exit.
  16. Ezequiel 21:16The command given to the sword personifies the weapon as if it chose the direction of the attack itself — a poetic device to intensify the sense of threat.
  17. Ezequiel 21:17God repeats the same physical gesture as Ezekiel, striking His hands together — as if personally satisfied to see His own wrath finally carried out.
  18. Ezequiel 21:18Transition formula: introduces the final part of the chapter, with a very concrete scene about the advance of the Babylonian army.
  19. Ezequiel 21:19Ezekiel is ordered to draw two possible paths for the Babylonian army — an enactment of a real strategic decision the king of Babylon was about to make.
  20. Ezequiel 21:20The two paths represent two possible targets: the capital of the Ammonites or Jerusalem — the army had to choose where to march first.
  21. Ezequiel 21:21The king of Babylon consulting arrows, household idols, and an animal’s liver at the crossroads describes real divination practices used in ancient Babylon — the text uses this real historical detail without endorsing the practice, simply describing how the decision to attack would be made.
  22. Ezequiel 21:22The king’s divination points to Jerusalem as the chosen target — the text describes, with technical detail, the preparations for a real siege.
  23. Ezequiel 21:23Even if the people of Jerusalem distrusted the enemy’s pagan divination, the text warns that the people’s own accumulated guilt is what will really seal the outcome.
  24. Ezequiel 21:24God explains that it is not foreign divination that decides Jerusalem’s fate, but the people’s own exposed wickedness, reaching a point where it can no longer be ignored.
  25. Ezequiel 21:25The focus shifts specifically to the prince of Jerusalem, identified as someone whose time as ruler is about to come to a definitive end.
  26. Ezequiel 21:26“Until he come whose right it is” speaks of Judah’s crown being removed until the arrival of a legitimate ruler — different traditions read this ruler in different ways, but in the immediate context the point is that the throne would sit empty after Zedekiah’s fall.
  27. Ezequiel 21:27The triple repetition of “overturn” marks the end of that line of kings — but the text leaves a door open for a future legitimate ruler, later associated with messianic hope.
  28. Ezequiel 21:28The target shifts again, now to the Ammonites — the same sharpened-sword language is reapplied to another neighboring people.
  29. Ezequiel 21:29The Ammonites had their own optimistic divinations, but the text warns that a reckoning is coming for them too.
  30. Ezequiel 21:30Unlike what happened with the sword against Israel, here God briefly considers returning the sword to its sheath — but the judgment against the Ammonites will still happen, in their own land.
  31. Ezequiel 21:31The description of the judgment against the Ammonites uses the same language of fury and fire already seen in earlier chapters against Jerusalem.
  32. Ezequiel 21:32The chapter ends announcing the complete erasure of the Ammonites’ memory — a fate as severe as the one announced against Jerusalem.

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