---
title: Joseph Smith Translation (1867 edition)
description: Ezekiel from the Joseph Smith Translation (JST), 1867 edition.
authors:
  - Smith, Joseph, Jr.
collections:
  - joseph-smith
tags:
  - translation
published: "1867"
publisher: RLDS Publication Board
publisher_place: Plano, Illinois
publisher_note: "The title page reads: Published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; Joseph Smith, I. L. Rogers, E. Robinson, Publishing Committee; 1867."
edition: First edition (Plano, 1867)
language: en
type: book
chapter: 21
verse_count: 32
reference: "Joseph Smith Jr., *Joseph Smith Translation*, first edition (Plano, IL: RLDS Publication Board, 1867), Ezekiel, chap. 21, https://archive.org/details/holyscripturestr00smituoft."
source:
  url: https://archive.org/details/holyscripturestr00smituoft
  identifier: holyscripturestr00smituoft
  scan: University of Toronto / Trinity College Library copy, Internet Archive
  transcription: "OCR text of the 1867 scans (Toronto copy and a second copy, holyscriptures00smit), reconciled word by word; Romans was also checked against the page images. Method, per-chapter validation log and known limits: docs/jst-1867-import.md."
rights:
  status: public-domain
  basis: 1867 US publication
  source: https://archive.org/details/holyscripturestr00smituoft
  publication_year: 1867
---

# Ezekiel 21

*A sign of sighing TJie sharp, bright sword.*

**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** While they see vanity unto thee, while 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.