Ezekiel 21:3

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

and say to them,‘This is what the LORD says: Look, I am against you. I will draw my sword from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וְאָֽמַרְתָּ֙ לְיַ֣עַר הַנֶּ֔גֶב שְׁמַ֖ע דְּבַר־יְהוָ֑ה כֹּֽה־אָמַ֣ר אֲדֹנָ֣י יְהוִ֡ה הִנְנִ֣י מַֽצִּית־בְּךָ֣ ׀ אֵ֡שׁ וְאָכְלָ֣ה בְךָ֣ כָל־עֵֽץ־לַח֩ וְכָל־עֵ֨ץ יָבֵ֤שׁ לֹֽא־תִכְבֶּה֙ לַהֶ֣בֶת שַׁלְהֶ֔בֶת וְנִצְרְבוּ־בָ֥הּ כָּל־פָּנִ֖ים מִנֶּ֥גֶב צָפֽוֹנָה׃

Transliteration

And-ʾāmartā to-yaʿar the-neḡeḇ šəmaʿ dəḇar-YHWH thus-ʾāmar ʾăḏōnāy YHWH hinənî maṣṣît-in-you ʾēš and-ʾāḵəlāh in-you all-ʿēṣ-laḥ and-all-ʿēṣ yāḇēš not-ṯiḵbeh laheḇeṯ šalheḇeṯ and-niṣrəḇû-in-her all-pānîm from-neḡeḇ ṣāp̄ônāh.

Grammar Details

• *ʾāmartā*: qal perfect 2nd masculine singular with waw conjunction - and you shall say
• *yaʿar*: construct state, masculine singular - forest of
• *neḡeḇ*: definite article with masculine singular - the south/Negev
• *šəmaʿ*: qal imperative masculine singular - hear/listen
• *dəḇar*: construct state, masculine singular - word of
• *ʾāmar*: qal perfect 3rd masculine singular - he said
• *ʾăḏōnāy*: plural noun with 1st person suffix as divine title - my Lord
• *hinənî*: particle with 1st person singular suffix - behold me/here I am
• *maṣṣît*: hiphil participle masculine singular - kindling/igniting
• *ʾēš*: feminine singular - fire
• *ʾāḵəlāh*: qal perfect 3rd feminine singular with waw consecutive - and it will consume
• *ʿēṣ*: masculine singular - tree/wood
• *laḥ*: masculine singular adjective - green/moist
• *yāḇēš*: masculine singular adjective - dry
• *ṯiḵbeh*: qal imperfect 3rd feminine singular with negative particle - it will not be extinguished
• *laheḇeṯ*: construct state, feminine singular - flame of
• *šalheḇeṯ*: feminine singular - great flame/blaze
• *niṣrəḇû*: niphal perfect 3rd common plural with waw consecutive - and they will be scorched
• *pānîm*: masculine plural - faces
• *ṣāp̄ônāh*: feminine singular with directional suffix - northward

Word Meanings

• *yaʿar*: forest/wooded area
• *neḡeḇ*: south/dry region/Negev
• *maṣṣît*: kindling/setting on fire/igniting
• *ʿēṣ*: tree/wood/timber
• *laḥ*: green/moist/fresh
• *yāḇēš*: dry/withered
• *šalheḇeṯ*: intense flame/great blaze
• *niṣrəḇû*: scorched/burned/seared

Referenced Verses

• Job 9:22 : 22 Accusation of God’s Justice“It is all one! That is why I say,‘He destroys the blameless and the guilty.’
• Jer 21:13 : 13 Listen, you who sit enthroned above the valley on a rocky plateau. I am opposed to you,’ says the LORD.‘You boast,“No one can swoop down on us. No one can penetrate into our places of refuge.”
• Ezek 5:8 : 8 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I– even I– am against you, and I will execute judgment among you while the nations watch.
• Nah 2:13 : 13 Battle Cry of the Divine Warrior“I am against you!” declares the LORD of Heaven’s Armies:“I will burn your chariots with fire; the sword will devour your young lions; you will no longer prey upon the land; the voices of your messengers will no longer be heard.”
• Nah 3:5 : 5 I am against you,” declares the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.“I will strip off your clothes! I will show your nakedness to the nations and your shame to the kingdoms;
• Ezek 21:19 : 19 “You, son of man, mark out two routes for the king of Babylon’s sword to take; both of them will originate in a single land. Make a signpost and put it at the beginning of the road leading to the city.
• Ezek 26:3 : 3 therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Look, I am against you, O Tyre! I will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves.
• Zeph 2:12 : 12 “You Ethiopians will also die by my sword!”
• Zech 13:7 : 7 “Awake, sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is my associate,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. Strike the shepherd that the flock may be scattered; I will turn my hand against the insignificant ones.
• Ezek 5:12 : 12 A third of your people will die of plague or be overcome by the famine within you. A third of your people will fall by the sword surrounding you, and a third I will scatter to the winds. I will unleash a sword behind them.
• Ezek 9:5-6 : 5 While I listened, he said to the others,“Go through the city after him and strike people down; do not let your eye pity nor spare anyone! 6 Old men, young men, young women, little children, and women– wipe them out! But do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary!” So they began with the elders who were at the front of the temple.
• Ezek 14:17 : 17 “Or suppose I were to bring a sword against that land and say,‘Let a sword pass through the land,’ and I were to kill both people and animals.
• Ezek 14:21 : 21 “For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: How much worse will it be when I send my four terrible judgments– sword, famine, wild animals, and plague– to Jerusalem to kill both people and animals!
• Ezek 21:9-9 : 9 “Son of man, prophesy and say:‘This is what the Lord says:“‘A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also polished. 10 It is sharpened for slaughter, it is polished to flash like lightning!“‘Should we rejoice in the scepter of my son? No! The sword despises every tree! 11 “‘He gave it to be polished, to be grasped in the hand– the sword is sharpened, it is polished– giving it into the hand of the executioner.
• Jer 47:6-7 : 6 How long will you cry out,‘Oh, sword of the LORD, how long will it be before you stop killing? Go back into your sheath! Stay there and rest!’ 7 But how can it rest when I, the LORD, have given it orders? I have ordered it to attack the people of Ashkelon and the seacoast.
• Jer 50:31 : 31 “Listen! I am opposed to you, you proud city,” says the Sovereign LORD of Heaven’s Armies.“Indeed, your day of reckoning has come, the time when I will punish you.
• Jer 51:20 : 20 “Babylon, you are my war club, my weapon for battle. I used you to smash nations. I used you to destroy kingdoms.
• Jer 51:25 : 25 The LORD says,“Beware! I am opposed to you, Babylon! You are like a destructive mountain that destroys all the earth. I will unleash my power against you; I will roll you off the cliffs and make you like a burned-out mountain.
• Ps 17:13 : 13 Rise up, LORD! Confront him! Knock him down! Use your sword to rescue me from the wicked man!
• Eccl 9:2 : 2 Everyone shares the same fate– the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the ceremonially clean and unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. What happens to the good person, also happens to the sinner; what happens to those who make vows, also happens to those who are afraid to make vows.
• Isa 10:5 : 5 The Lord Turns on Arrogant Assyria Beware, Assyria, the club I use to vent my anger, a cudgel with which I angrily punish.
• Isa 34:5 : 5 He says,“Indeed, my sword has slaughtered heavenly powers. Look, it now descends on Edom, on the people I will annihilate in judgment.”
• Jer 15:2-4 : 2 If they ask you,‘Where should we go?’ tell them the LORD says this:“Those who are destined to die of disease will go to death by disease. Those who are destined to die in war will go to death in war. Those who are destined to die of starvation will go to death by starvation. Those who are destined to go into exile will go into exile.” 3 “I will punish them in four different ways: I will have war kill them. I will have dogs drag off their dead bodies. I will have birds and wild beasts devour and destroy their corpses. 4 I will make all the people in all the kingdoms of the world horrified at what has happened to them because of what Hezekiah’s son Manasseh, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem.”
• Exod 15:9 : 9 The enemy said,‘I will chase, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my desire will be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword, my hand will destroy them.’
• Lev 26:25 : 25 I will bring on you an avenging sword, a covenant vengeance. Although you will gather together into your cities, I will send pestilence among you and you will be given into enemy hands.
• Lev 26:33 : 33 I will scatter you among the nations and unsheathe the sword after you, so your land will become desolate and your cities will become a waste.
• Deut 32:41-42 : 41 I will sharpen my lightning-like sword, and my hand will grasp hold of the weapon of judgment; I will execute vengeance on my foes, and repay those who hate me! 42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword will devour flesh– the blood of the slaughtered and captured, the chief of the enemy’s leaders!’”