Part 547 (2/2)
20:40. In my holy mountain, in the high mountain of Israel, saith the Lord G.o.d, there shall all the house of Israel serve me; all of them I say, in the land in which they shall please me, and there will I require your firstfruits, and the chief of your t.i.thes with all your sanctifications.
In my holy mountain, etc... The foregoing verse, to make the sense complete, must be understood so as to condemn and reject that mixture of wors.h.i.+p which the Jews then followed. In this verse, G.o.d promises to the true Israelites, especially to those of the Christian church, that they shall serve him in another manner, in his holy mountain, the spiritual Sion: and shall by accepted of by him.
20:41. I will accept of you for an odour of sweetness, when I shall have brought you out from the people, and shall have gathered you out of the lands into which you are scattered, and I will be sanctified in you in the sight of the nations.
20:42. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have brought you into the land of Israel, into the land for which I lifted up my hand to give it to your fathers.
20:43. And there you shall remember your ways, and all your wicked doings with which you have been defiled; and you shall be displeased with yourselves in your own sight, for all your wicked deeds which you committed.
20:44. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have done well by you for my own name's sake, and not according to your evil ways, nor according to your wicked deeds, O house of Israel, saith the Lord G.o.d.
20:45. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
20:46. Son of man, set thy face against the way of the south, and drop towards the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field.
Of the south... Jerusalem lay towards the south of Babylon, (where the prohet then was,) and is here called the forest of the south field, and is threatened with utter desolation.
20:47. And say to the south forest: Hear the word of the Lord: Thus saith the Lord G.o.d: Behold I will kindle a fire in thee, and will burn in thee every green tree, and every dry tree: the flame of the fire shall not be quenched: and every face shall be burned in it, from the south even to the north.
20:48. And all flesh shall see, that I the Lord have kindled it, and it shall not be quenched.
20:49. And I said: Ah, ah, ah, O Lord G.o.d: they say of me: Doth not this man speak by parables?
Ezechiel Chapter 21
The destruction of Jerusalem by the sword is further described: the ruin also of the Ammonites is forshewn. And finally Babylon, the destroyer of others, shall be destroyed.
21:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
21:2. Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and let thy speech flow towards the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel:
21:3. And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the Lord G.o.d: Behold I come against thee, and I will draw forth my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off in thee the just, and the wicked.
21:4. And forasmuch as I have cut off in thee the just and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of its sheath against all flesh, from the south even to the north.
21:5. That all flesh may know that I the Lord have drawn my sword out of its sheath not to be turned back.
21:6. And thou, son of man, mourn with the breaking of thy loins, and with bitterness sigh before them.
21:7. And when they shall say to thee: Why mournest thou? thou shalt say: For that which I hear: because it cometh, and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be made feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and water shall run down every knee: behold it cometh, and it shall be done, saith the Lord G.o.d.
21:8. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
21:9. Son of man, prophesy, and say: Thus saith the Lord G.o.d: Say: The sword, the sword is sharpened, and furbished.
21:10. It is sharpened to kill victims: it is furbished that it may glitter: thou removest the sceptre of my son, thou hast cut down every tree.
Thou removest the sceptre of my son... He speaks (according to St.
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