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1 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel,

3 And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of his sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.

4 Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the south to the north:

5 That all flesh may know that I the Lord have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath: it shall not return any more.

6 Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes.

7 And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore sighest thou? that thou shalt answer, For the tidings; because it cometh: and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it cometh, and shall be brought to pass, saith the Lord God.

8 Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

9 Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the Lord; Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished:

10 It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; it is furbished that it may glitter: should we then make mirth? it contemneth the rod of my son, as every tree.

11 And he hath given it to be furbished, that it may be handled: this sword is sharpened, and it is furbished, to give it into the hand of the slayer.

12 Cry and howl, son of man: for it shall be upon my people, it shall be upon all the princes of Israel: terrors by reason of the sword shall be upon my people: smite therefore upon thy thigh.

13 Because it is a trial, and what if the sword contemn even the rod? it shall be no more, saith the Lord God.

14 Thou therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite thine hands together. and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain: it is the sword of the great men that are slain, which entereth into their privy chambers.

15 I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, that their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied: ah! it is made bright, it is wrapped up for the slaughter.

16 Go thee one way or other, either on the right hand, or on the left, whithersoever thy face is set.

17 I will also smite mine hands together, and I will cause my fury to rest: I the Lord have said it.

18 The word of the Lord came unto me again, saying,

19 Also, thou son of man, appoint thee two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come: both twain shall come forth out of one land: and choose thou a place, choose it at the head of the way to the city.

20 Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rabbath of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the defenced.

21 For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he made his arrows bright, he consulted with images, he looked in the liver.

22 At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to appoint captains, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to appoint battering rams against the gates, to cast a mount, and to build a fort.

23 And it shall be unto them as a false divination in their sight, to them that have sworn oaths: but he will call to remembrance the iniquity, that they may be taken.

24 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are discovered, so that in all your doings your sins do appear; because, I say, that ye are come to remembrance, ye shall be taken with the hand.

25 And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end,

26 Thus saith the Lord God; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high.

27 I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.

28 And thou, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord God concerning the Ammonites, and concerning their reproach; even say thou, The sword, the sword is drawn: for the slaughter it is furbished, to consume because of the glittering:

29 Whiles they see vanity unto thee, whiles they divine a lie unto thee, to bring thee upon the necks of them that are slain, of the wicked, whose day is come, when their iniquity shall have an end.

30 Shall I cause it to return into his sheath? I will judge thee in the place where thou wast created, in the land of thy nativity.

31 And I will pour out mine indignation upon thee, I will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of brutish men, and skilful to destroy.

32 Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire; thy blood shall be in the midst of the land; thou shalt be no more remembered: for I the Lord have spoken it.

<html><b>southward</b> The land of Israel is south of Babylon. <b>to the forest of the field in the south</b> To My Temple, which is destined to be like a forest and like a field, to be plowed in order to be overrun by foxes.</html>

<html><b>shall be scorched</b> Heb. וְנִצְרְבוּ, an expression related to (Lev. 13:23): “a scar (צָרֶבֶת) from the boil”; (Prov. 16:27), “and on his lips is a kind of searing (צָרֶבֶת) fire,” an expression of a burn. <b>all faces from the south to the north</b> All the people south of Babylon, which is to the north. וְנִצְרְבוּ, shall be scorched, comes from צרב (as Lev. 13:2), retrere in Old French, to shrivel up.</html>

<html><b>‘Is he not an inventor of parables’</b> when I prophesy to them in language of parable and riddle, such as a forest and a fire consuming [trees] moist and dry.</html>

<html><b>Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying</b> Prophesy to them a clear prophecy. What I said to you, “Set your face southward,” I explain to you: “Set your face toward Jerusalem.”</html>

<html><b>and prophesy</b> Heb. וְהַטֵף, and prophesy. Similarly (Micah 2:6): “Preach (תַטִיפוּ) not”; (Amos 7: 16), “and do not prophesy (תַטִיף) concerning the house of Isaac.” <b>about the sanctuaries</b> That is the forest of the field. “Sanctuaries” denotes the two destructions.</html>

<html><b>righteous and wicked</b> That is “the moist and the dry.”</html>

<html><b>Since I cut off from you</b> and I knew that the nations would rejoice at your misfortune, I shall be wroth with them and incite Nebuchadnezzar against all of them, and that is what I wrote, “and all faces from the south will be scorched.”</html>

<html><b>A sword, a sword</b> Two swords: the sword of the king of Babylon first, and afterwards the sword of the children of Ammon in the hand of Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, who will slay Gedaliah and those gathered to him of the survivors of the sword, as is delineated in Jeremiah (41:1-10). <b>furbished</b> Heb. מְרוּטָה, forbide in Old French, furbished, polished. Menachem (p. 120), however, associated it as an expression of drawing. Likewise (verse 16): “and He gave it to draw (לְמָרְטָה),” and so all of them.</html>

<html><b>that it may glitter</b> Heb. בָּרָק, to have a glitter, a shine, flandours, a flash, flashing (as in Deut 32: 41). <b>Shall we rejoice?</b> This is a rhetorical question. Do we have anything more to be happy about? <b>The rod for My son disdains every stick</b> The rod with which I strike My son to chastise him is the hardest of all rods, and it disdains the blow of every staff and every stick, for they are like nothing to it.</html>

<html><b>Then he had it</b> the rod. <b>furbished to grasp in the hand</b> To furbish it so that it be easy and fit to grasp with the hand. <b>that is the sword that was sharpened</b> That is the rod; it is a sharp and furbished sword, to give it into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar to slay with it.</html>

<html><b>and wail</b> Heb. וְהֵילֵל, a term for wailing (יְלָלָה). <b>for it</b> The sword will be upon My people and upon their princes and officers. <b>those gathered to the sword</b> Heb. מְגוּרֵי, a gathering of nations coming to the sword were around My people. So did Jonathan render מְגוּרֵי, related to the word in (Prov. 10: 5): “An intelligent son gathers (אוֹגֵר) in the summer”; (ibid. 6:8), “She gathers (אָגְרָה) her food in the harvest”; (Joel 1:17), “garners (מַמְּגֻרוֹת) are demolished”; (Haggai 2:19), “The seed is still in the granary (בַּמְגוּרָה).” Menachem, however, connected it to the word for fear, like (Num. 22:3): “And Moab became terrified (וַיָגָר).” <b>therefore, clap upon your thigh</b> as a wailing and a lament.</html>

<html><b>For a test</b> For a great test, with torments in many other forms of retribution, they were tested: the rod, pestilence, famine, and wild beasts. <b>and what of it, if there be also a rod that disdains—He will not be</b> And what more will be on My son if also this disdainful rod comes upon him with the rest of the test? <b>He will not be</b> My son will no longer be in the world. Jonathan also rendered it “they will not exist,” but the rest of the verse he did not render in this [i.e., Rashi’s] way, but so it appears to me. I heard many explanations for it, and I saw [others] in books of interpretations, but they did not appear correct to me, and the ‘payat’ who composed for Chanukah [for the morning of the first Sabbath]: “That which disdained all wood stabbed the adulterer,” supports me, for he called the sword “that which disdained all wood.” Jonathan rendered in this manner: (verse 15) אוֹ נָשִׂישׂ. because the tribe of the house of Judah and Benjamin rejoiced at the tribes of Israel when they were exiled for worshipping idols, and they returned to stray after wooden images. He, too, explains אוֹ נָשִׂישׂ as a rhetorical question. <b>For a test</b> and what if also a rod that disdains He will not be [Jonathan renders:] “For the prophets prophesied about them but they did not repent.” That is to say, the matter is already determined that they will not repent. And what will be their end? <b>if also a disdainful rod? He will not be</b> He [Jonathan] says: “And also the tribes of the house of Judah and Benjamin will be exiled, and with their evil deeds, they not [continue to] exist.” The kingdom of the tribe that disdained its fellow and scorned them and the evil that befell themshe too will not be and will not endure. I shall further interpret it in another manner: <b>Or shall we rejoice, etc.</b> Or perhaps we should rejoice, for you say to Me that the tribe of My son disdains all wood: The kings of Judah disdain idolatry, as we find with Abijah, who said (II Chron. 13:8): “and with you are the golden calves,” and Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah, who abolished all the idolatry in the world that was under their control, and these [the remaining tribes] too will repent. <b>Cry and wail</b> and do not rejoice over this, for it will be upon My people. And why? <b>Because it is tested</b> The matter is already tested and determined before Me that they will not repent properly. <b>And what if even they disdain wood, it will not be</b> And what if I wait longer? Even if they came to repent and to disdain idolatry, the matter would not last with them because they would hasten to revert to their wickedness. That is what is said in Jeremiah (8: 4): “if he repents, will he not return?”</html>

<html><b>prophesy and clap your hands one upon the other</b> in the manner of those who lament, and what is the prophecy? <b>and a third sword shall be doubled</b> I said, “A sword, a sword”; Nebuchadnezzar’s sword to destroy Jerusalem and the sword of the children of Ammon upon Gedaliah. There is yet a third sword, doubled as much as these two, and it shall be a sword of the slain; that is the sword of the great slaughter, which causes many slain to fall. <b>which penetrates to them</b> Wherever you go out, it will pursue you into the innermost chambers. Behold, Johanan the son of Kareah and the generals of the armies will go to Egypt; there the sword will overtake them, and so in all the place from which they will flee, to the fortified cities, as it is stated in this piece: “by all your cities I gave the scream of the sword.”</html>

<html><b>In order to melt</b> Heb. לָמוּג, an expression of moving. Another explanation: an expression of something melting. <b>and to increase the stumbling blocks</b> Heb. וְהַרְבֵּה, and to increase the stumbling blocks, and so every הַרְבֵּה in Scripture is an expression of increasing, an infinitive. <b>the scream of the sword</b> Heb. אִבְחֳת. Some interpret [this as] טִבְחַת, the slaughter of, the ‘teth’ in place of the ‘aleph,’ by the code of א“ט ב”ח [whereby ‘aleph’ is interchangeable with ‘teth,’ ‘beth’ with ‘cheth,’ etc.] [This appears to be Jonathan’s interpretation.] Others interpret it as אִבְעַת an expression of בְּעָתָה [fright], but this cannot be because the ‘tav’ in אִבְחֳת is not part of the radical, and it comes only for the construct state, whereas the ‘tav’ in בְּעָתָה is a radical. Therefore, I say that אִבְחֳתחֶרֶב means the sounding of the voice of those slain by the sword, an expression of barking (נְבִיחָה) glapissement in French, yelping, for the ‘nun’ in נְבִיחָה is a defective radical, like the ‘nun’ in נְשִּׁיכָה biting, and the ‘aleph’ comes in its place, like (Job 13:17): “and…my speech (אַחְוָתִי) in your ears”; (II Kings 4:2), “except a jug (אָסוּךְ) of oil.” Menachem (p. 12) explained it as fear of the sword. It has no counterpart, but is interpreted according to the context. <b>Woe, it is made to glitter</b> Alas and alack! For it is made into a furbished and polished blade. <b>enwrapped for the slaughter</b> And enwrapped in a cloth until it would be grasped in the hand for slaughter on the day of war. Some interpret מְעֻטָה as a form of the word for diminishing (מִעוּט), for it diminishes when they sharpen it, but it is an error that they have made, for the absence of the ‘vav’ and the ‘dagesh’ in the ‘teth’ indicate about it that the ‘mem’ is not a radical, [but,] like the ‘mem’ of מְעֻנָה, afflicted, מְעֻטָה, enwrapped, and (Songs 5:14) מְעֻלֶפֶת, “overlaid with sapphires.” Menachem (p. 132) associated it as an expression of thought, like (Dan. 2:14): “answered with counsel (עֵטָא) and discretion.” Dunash, however, interprets it (p. 78) like (Ps. 104:2): “[You] enwrap (עֹטֶה) Yourself with light like a garment.”</html>

<html><b>Get yourself to one side</b> To one place, either to the right or to the left. <b>directed</b> Heb. מֻעָדוֹת, prepared.</html>

<html><b>I, too, shall clap My hands</b> I say to you, “Clap your hands one upon the other,” and “I, too,” like you, lament over them, and I “shall clap My hands” one upon the other, but My fury burns within Me, “and I shall give it rest.”</html>

<html><b>make for yourself two roads</b> as He concludes the [next] verse. <b>and clear a place; at the head of the road to the city</b> Clear for yourself a place at the head of the road you are on, and make for yourself a sort of road opening into the crossroads, one facing right and one facing left. <b>both of them will emanate</b> The two roads. <b>and clear a place</b> A place cleared of the thorns and the thistles; [בָּרִא is like] essarter in French, to clear. A word similar to it appears in the Book of Joshua (17:15): “then go up to the forest, and clear it (וּבֵרֵאתָ) for yourself there.” Again (ibid. verse 18): “But the mountain shall be yours, for it is a forest, and you shall cut it down (וּבֵרֵאתוֹ).” Menachem connected them all (p. 48) as an expression of choosing, like (I Sam. 17:8): “Choose (בְּרוּ) for yourselves a man”; בָּרֵא meaning lisant in Old French, choosing, appointing.</html>

<html><b>You shall make a road for the coming, etc.</b> These two roads symbolize the king of Babylon, who is leaving his country with the intention of going either to Jerusalem or to Rabbah of the children of Ammon. To whichever of the two of them the lot will fall for him by his divinations, he will march, as is delineated (verse 26): “For the king of Babylon stood, etc.”</html>

<html><b>the crossroads</b> Heb. אֵם הַדֶרֶךְ, carrefour in French, crossroads. <b>he furbished the arrows</b> Heb. קִלְקַל, he furbished the arrows with a glitter. He shot an arrow upward, and it turns by itself right or left, and to the place it turns—that is the lot. <b>he flashed with the arrows</b> Menachem (p. 155), connected it with (above 1:7): “burnished (קָלָל) copper”; (Ecc. 10:10): “and he did not sharpen (קִלְקֵל) the edge.” It may also be explained as an expression of deterioration, as in (Jer. 4:24): “and all the hills deteriorated (הִתְקַלְקָלוּ).” Some translate קִלְקַל into French, as trait, he shot, and Jonathan as well renders קִלְקַל בֲּחִצִים as קְשֲּׁתבְּגִרְרֲיָא. <b>he inquired of the teraphim</b> An image that talks through magic, and there is a set time, that if one makes it at that time, it possesses speech forever. <b>looked into the liver</b> There are some experts who divine with liver.</html>

<html><b>At his right was the divination to Jerusalem</b> All his lots gave divinistic indication to come to Jerusalem. <b>to appoint officers</b> Heb. כָּרִים, appointed officers, heads of troops. <b>to station officers over the gates</b> You and your troop, take position by such-and-such a gate. <b>to pour a siege mound</b> They pour earth and tread it down and pile up a high mound and press it down, in a fashion similar to the way they press down the mound of the towers, to stand on it and to wage war against the people of the city.</html>

<html><b>And it was to them</b> To Israelwhat Nebuchadnezzar did. <b>like a false divination</b> and they will not believe that he would succeed, but indeed, they had seven sevens. Nebuchadnezzar divined forty-nine times, and all the divinations coincided exactly. <b>and he brings iniquity to be remembered in order that they be seized</b> And Nebuchadnezzar, in his divinations, would cause the iniquities that Israel committed to be remembered, for Ammon and Moab, their neighbors, would make them known to him because they would hear the reproofs of the prophets. <b>in order that they be seized</b> [lit. to be seized.] That Israel be seized in his hand.</html>

<html><b>Because you have made your iniquity to be remembered</b> For you commit new transgressions daily, and your earlier iniquities are remembered through them. <b>in that your transgressions are revealed</b> [i.e.,] the new ones. <b>so that your sins appear</b> [i.e.,] the old ones. <b>because of your being remembered</b> before Me for evil, therefore… <b>you shall be seized in the hand</b> You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.</html>

<html><b>wicked man, sentenced to be slain</b> Liable to be slain for your wickedness. <b>prince of Israel</b> Zedekiah. <b>at the time of the final iniquity</b> At the time the measure has become filled and the final iniquity, which fills the measure, has arrived.</html>

<html><b>I shall remove the turban and lift off the crown, etc.</b> This is to be explained as the Targum renders: I shall remove the turban from Seraiah the High Priest, and I shall abolish the crown from King Zedekiah. He said: Neither this nor that will remain in its place. <b>the humble will be uplifted</b> Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, to whom it did not belong, will take it, and Zedekiah, to whom it did belongit will be taken from him.</html>

<html><b>A ruin, a ruin</b> Heb. עַוָה, an expression of (Micah 1:6): “a heap (עִי) in the field,” an expression of ruin after ruin, two and three times, I shall make it: It was already taken from Jeconiah and given to Zedekiah, and from Zedekiah it will be given to Gedaliah; this makes twice. Menachem (p. 131) connected עַוָה with (Esther 1:16): “has Vashti the queen done wrong (עָוְתָה)?”; (Ps. 106:5), “we have committed iniquity (הֶעֱוִינוּ) and wickedness.” <b>this too will not be</b> Also, to Gedaliah it will not remain, [only] until Ishmael the son of Nethaniah [the assassin] comes. <b>until he who has the judgment</b> Upon whom I placed [the mission] to exact My vengeance and My judgment. <b>and I will deliver him</b> into his hands.</html>

<html><b>concerning the children of Ammon and concerning their blasphemy,</b> [in] that they rejoiced when Nebuchadnezzar’s lot in his divinations fell out to come upon Jerusalem, and they blasphemed Me and My people, saying that their deity was triumphant. <b>to consume</b> Heb. לְהָכִיל, to cause many slain to fall. <b>in order to glitter</b> In order that its shiny appearance should not be darkened by its slain ones.</html>

<html><b>When you prophesy vanity for yourself</b> The diviners of Ammon prophesied vanity for themselves, saying, “Nothing more will come upon us.” <b>to place you with the necks of the slain of the wicked</b> To mislead you and to place your neck like the necks of the slain of the wicked of Israel. <b>whose day has come, etc.</b> Heb. יוֹמָם, their day.</html>

<html><b>It has been returned</b> Heb. הָשֵּׁב, like שָּׁבָה, it has returned, because the ‘shin’ has no ‘dagesh.’ [The missing ‘dagesh’ indicates that no letter is missing; hence, the root is שוּב, return, rather than ישב, sit or dwell.] Wait until the sword that is upon Israel returns into its sheath, and afterward, when he has finished His revenge upon Israel, He will return upon you, and in the place you were created, etc.</html>

<html><b>I shall blow upon you</b> Heb. אָפִּיחָ, an expression for blowing fire with a bellows. <b>brutish men</b> Who behave madly to ruin and to destroy. <b>craftsmen of destruction</b> Artisans of murder. (Already many days [have passed] since I explained this chapter as it is written above. Now I see from the peculiarities of its wording that the prophet is talking only about the sword.) “To place you upon the necks of the slain of the wicked,” “It has been returned to its sheath, etc.” “I shall blow upon you.” This wording is appropriate only for metal, and so “craftsmen of destruction.” It seems to me that this prophecy was stated about Nebuchadnezzar, and so it appears [from]: “prophesy and say: So said the Lord God concerning the children of Ammon and concerning their taunts.” That is to say, [their taunts] over Nebuchadnezzar [because of Nebuchadnezzar], for the children of Ammon were taunting Israel because Nebuchadnezzar destroyed them. <b>Sword, drawn sword</b> The sword of Nebuchadnezzar, which is double, to go out on the two waysagainst Jerusalem and against the children of Ammon, as is delineated in the above chapterthus the retribution on the children of Ammon. [34] <b>When you prophesy for yourself, when you divine lies for yourself</b> You think that through your divinations of vanity, futility, and lies, you will prosper, for your sword is placed upon the necks of the slain of the wicked, whose day has come by decree from before Me at the time of the payment at the time of their end. [35] <b>It has been returned to its sheath</b> That is to say, the time will come that the sword will return to its sheath, and the sword will receive its own retribution, at the hands of the kings of Media, and then I shall blow upon you with the fire of My wrath, and you shall be delivered into the hands of mad blacksmiths, who are craftsmen of destruction, who will come to sharpen and to furbish it as of yore, and they will destroy you.</html>