12. Cry out and wail, son of man,for it is against My people.It is against all the princes of Israel!They are given over to the sword with My people.Therefore strike your thigh in grief.
13. Surely it will be a trial!And what if the sword despises even the scepter?The scepter will not continue. This is the declaration of the Lord God.
14. Therefore, son of man, prophesyand clap your hands together. Let the sword strike two times, even three.It is a sword for massacre,a sword for great massacre —it surrounds them!
15. I have appointed a sword for slaughter at all their gates,so that their hearts may meltand many may stumble.Yes! It is ready to flash like lightning; it is drawn for slaughter.
16. Slash to the right;turn to the left —wherever your blade is directed.
17. I also will clap My hands together,and I will satisfy My wrath. I, Yahweh, have spoken.”
18. Then the word of the Lord came to me:
19. “Now you, son of man, mark out two roads that the sword of Babylon’s king can take. Both of them should originate from the same land. And make a signpost at the fork in the road to each city.
20. Mark out a road that the sword can take to Rabbah of the Ammonites and to Judah into fortified Jerusalem.
21. For the king of Babylon stands at the split in the road, at the fork of the two roads, to practice divination: he shakes the arrows, consults the idols, and observes the liver.
22. The answer marked Jerusalem appears in his right hand, indicating that he should set up battering rams, give the order to slaughter, raise a battle cry, set battering rams against the gates, build a ramp, and construct a siege wall.
23. It will seem like false divination in the eyes of those who have sworn an oath to the Babylonians, but it will draw attention to their guilt so that they will be captured.
24. “Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: Because you have drawn attention to your guilt, exposing your transgressions, so that your sins are revealed in all your actions, since you have done this, you will be captured by them.
25. And you, profane and wicked prince of Israel, the day has come for your punishment.”