² Son of man, give a word to the children of your people, and say to them, When I make the sword come on a land, if the people of the land take a man from among their number and make him their watchman:

¹¹ And go now to those who have been taken away as prisoners, to the children of your people, and say to them, This is what the Lord has said; if they give ear or if they do not.

³⁰ And as for you, son of man, the children of your people are talking together about you by the walls and in the doorways of the houses, saying to one another, Come now, give ear to the word which comes from the Lord.

¹⁷ But the children of your people say, The way of the Lord is not equal: when it is they whose way is not equal.

⁷ Awake! O sword, against the keeper of my flock, and against him who is with me, says the Lord of armies: put to death the keeper of the sheep, and the sheep will go in flight: and my hand will be turned against the little ones.

¹⁷ Or if I send a sword against that land, and say, Sword, go through the land, cutting off from it man and beast:

¹² Those who make waste have come on all the open hilltops in the waste land; for the sword of the Lord sends destruction from one end of the land to the other end of the land: no flesh has peace.

⁹ Son of man, say as a prophet, These are the words of the Lord: Say, A sword, a sword which has been made sharp and polished:

¹⁰ It has been made sharp to give death; it is polished so that it may be like a thunder-flame: ...

¹¹ And I have given it to the polisher so that it may be taken in the hand: he has made the sword sharp, he has had it polished, to put it into the hand of him who gives death.

¹² Give loud cries and make sounds of grief, O son of man: for it has come on my people, it has come on all the rulers of Israel: fear of the sword has come on my people: for this cause give signs of grief.

¹³ ...

¹⁴ So then, son of man, be a prophet, and put your hands together with a loud sound, and give two blows with the sword, and even three; it is the sword of those who are wounded, even the sword of the wounded; the great sword which goes round about them.

¹⁵ In order that hearts may become soft, and the number of those who are falling may be increased, I have sent death by the sword against all their doors: you are made like a flame, you are polished for death.

¹⁶ Be pointed to the right, to the left, wherever your edge is ordered.

⁷ So you, son of man, I have made you a watchman for the children of Israel; and you are to give ear to the word of my mouth and give them news from me of their danger.

¹² And you, son of man, say to the children of your people, The righteousness of the upright man will not make him safe in the day when he does wrong; and the evil-doing of the evil man will not be the cause of his fall in the day when he is turned from his evil-doing; and the upright man will not have life because of his righteousness in the day when he does evil.

¹⁸ And when the children of your people say to you, Will you not make clear to us what these things have to do with us?

⁸ There is great hate against the watchman of Ephraim, the people of my God; as for the prophet, there is a net in all his ways, and hate in the house of his God.

²¹ For this is what the Lord has said: How much more when I send my four bitter punishments on Jerusalem, the sword and need of food and evil beasts and disease, cutting off from it man and beast?

⁸ You have been fearing the sword, and I will send the sword on you, says the Lord.

³ You mountains of Israel, give ear to the words of the Lord: this is what the Lord has said to the mountains and the hills, to the waterways and the valleys: See, I, even I, am sending on you a sword for the destruction of your high places.

²⁴ Now David was seated between the two town doors; and the watchman went up to the roof of the doorways, on the wall, and, lifting up his eyes, saw a man running by himself.

²⁵ And the watchman gave news of it to the king. And the king said, If he is coming by himself, then he has news. And the man was travelling quickly, and came near.

²⁶ Then the watchman saw another man running: and crying out in the direction of the door he said, Here is another man running by himself. And the king said, He, like the other, comes with news.

²⁷ And the watchman said, It seems to me that the running of the first is like the running of Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good man, and his news will be good.

¹⁷ And the watchman on the tower in Jezreel saw Jehu and his band coming, and said, I see a band of people. And Joram said, Send out a horseman to them, and let him say, Is it peace?

¹⁸ So a horseman went out to them and said, The king says, Is it peace? And Jehu said, What have you to do with peace? come after me. And the watchman gave them word, saying, The horseman went up to them, but has not come back.

¹⁹ Then he sent out a second horseman, who came up to them and said, The king says, Is it peace? And Jehu said in answer, What have you to do with peace? come after me.

²⁰ And the watchman gave them word, saying, He went up to them and has not come back again; and the driving is like the driving of Jehu, son of Nimshi, for he is driving violently.

⁶ For so has the Lord said to me, Go, let a watchman be placed; let him give word of what he sees:

⁷ And when he sees war-carriages, horsemen by twos, war-carriages with asses, war-carriages with camels, let him give special attention.

⁸ And the watchman gave a loud cry, O my lord, I am on the watchtower all day, and am placed in my watch every night:

⁹ See, here come war-carriages with men, horsemen by twos: and in answer he said, Babylon is made low, is made low, and all her images are broken on the earth.

⁹ All you beasts of the field, come together for your meat, even all you beasts of the wood.

¹⁰ His watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all dogs without tongues, unable to make a sound; stretched out dreaming, loving sleep.

⁶ I have put watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they will not keep quiet day or night: you who are the Lord's recorders, take no rest,

² And it will be, when they say to you, Where are we to go? then you are to say to them, The Lord has said, Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are to be in need of food, to need of food; and such as are to be taken away prisoners, to be taken away.

³ And I will put over them four divisions, says the Lord: the sword causing death, dogs pulling the dead bodies about, and the birds of heaven, and the beasts of the earth to take their bodies for food and put an end to them.

³¹ A noise will come, even to the end of the earth; for the Lord has a cause against the nations, he will give his decision against all flesh; as for the evil-doers, he will give them to the sword, says the Lord.

⁶ O sword of the Lord, how long will you have no rest? put yourself back into your cover; be at peace, be quiet.

⁷ How is it possible for it to be quiet, seeing that the Lord has given it orders? against Ashkelon and against the sea-land he has given it directions.

¹² Let the flag be lifted up against the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, put the watchmen in their places, make ready a surprise attack: for it is the Lord's purpose, and he has done what he said about the people of Babylon.

²⁷ But when I have talk with you I will make your mouth open, and you are to say to them, This is what the Lord has said: Let the hearer give ear; and as for him who will not, let him keep his ears shut: for they are an uncontrolled people.

²⁵ And I will send a sword on you to give effect to the punishment of my agreement; and when you come together into your towns I will send disease among you and you will be given up into the hands of your haters.