1 Again, ๐, the word of Yahweh comes [alive in] me:
2[YAH] says, โโSon of Adam,โ set your face toward Jerusalem. Rain [my word] toward her [occult] sanctuary [sites]. Prophesy against the land of Israel.
3Announce to [wicked inhabitants of] the land of Israel, โYahweh decrees: โLook: I'm against you. I'm drawing my sword out of its sheath. I'm slicing down to [separate] the upright [saints] from the villains. #3772 karath means to cut, separate, divide. It's irresponsible to translate 'karath' to mean that YAH fails to distinguish between righteous and wicked people.
4Watch me sever the Law-abiders [from] the violators. My sword flies razor-sharp. It [carves] flesh from [hot] south to gloomy [north].
5In the end, ๐, all flesh-men see that [when] I Yahweh draw my sword out of his sheath, I don't put him back [until his job is done].
How To Perform Public Prophetic Dramatic-Art
6So, โson of Adam,โ groan like you've ruptured a gut. Sigh bitterly before the [rogue Israelis'] eyes. Creative evangelism. Moan like you're dying in the streets.
7The [Israelis] ask you, โWhy are you groaning?โ Answer, โBecause [I've seen] advance warning of [your] future: every heart melts! All hands go limp. Every spirit faints. All knees [wobble,] weak as water. Adonai Yahweh warns you [hypocrites]: โWatch [out]! Terror advances to ravage [you].โโ
9[YAH] says, โโSon of Adam,โ prophesy. Say, โYahweh predicts a sword! A sharp, flashing sword [approaches from Babylon]!
10Razor-sharp, butchering, slaughtering, polished to glitter [like lightning, Babylon's sword] loves to laugh at the child-rod, that [little] stick, [the rebel king of Israel].
11[I Yahweh] gave [Nebuchadnezzar] the sword. I told him to sharpen it to [a shine]. Ready, pointing, gleaming, [the Emperor] passes [the sword-force] into the hand of [Babylon's] killer [general]. YAH chooses pagans to execute his bloody punishments. YAH never commands his holy people to commit violence.
12Cry and howl, โson of Adam.โ [Armies] advance upon my people. [Babylon] comes to bash all the leaders of [rogue] Israel. Sword-induced horrors descend on my people. So beat your breast [to warn them, ๐].
13[Judea's weak king] is being tested. If the stick rejects [the authority of the sword], the [stick] vanishes to nothing,โ warns Adonai Yahweh. Every bookstore translation makes nonsense out of this verse. The idea is that while the prophet quotes this verse, he hacks a stick to bits with a sword.
14โSo you, โson of Adamโ, prophesy. Strike your hands together [in protest. Wake up the infidels. Pound a] sword [on the ground. Warn the jerks of the coming war. Armies advance to smash the pigs one,] two, 3 times, ['til nothing remains but blood and ash and rotting flesh]. [Prefigure the] twisting, slicing [sword of war that guts the Jews'] mighty-men on every side. Again, a verse that most translations make into nonsense. However, The Message and the NLT do a defensible job of paraphrasing this verse.
The point is that YAH calls us to use the dramatic arts, not sermons, to communicate his messages to the world.
15*I set the point of [war's] sword against all the [hypocrites' city] gates, to dissolve [their] heart[s], to multiply [their] ruins. Oh! The [sword of war flashes] bright [as lightning], razor-sharpened for slaughter. This indicates that the prophet is to wave a sword in city squares, clashing it against the courthouse gates, to get peoples' attention. Try that and you'll be a persecuted prophet.
16[Swing your sword] to the left. Then [run] to the right. Go wherever you set your face. Again, these are instructions for how to perform prophetic art in public. Follow these steps and you're sure to draw a crowd, including police. Try to secure the city's permission before putting on this show, to keep yourself from being arrested for disturbing the peace, inciting a riot, endangering the public, etc.
17[In heaven,] I simultaneously strike my hands together [to incite the war] that spends my fire-breathing rage. I Yahweh speak [your future].โ
Ezekiel's Performance-Art Prefigures Battle
18 The word of Yahweh comes [alive] in me again, ๐:
19[YAH] says, โThen, โson of Adamโ, [draw a map on Jerusalem's courthouse lawn. On your map,] mark out the two paths that the Babylonian Emperor's war-sword is taking [to conquer the promised land]. Both paths come forth out of one [northern] land. Then set up [and engrave] a sign-post [warning of the war]. Display it at the head of the road into [Jerusalem] city. More prophetic performance art.
20[On your sign,] mark the [east] route that [Babylon's] war-sword takes as it [hacks down] the Ammon-spawn's city (Rabbah {Abundance}). [Then mark the 2nd army's direct west route] to Judea's fortified [capitol:] Jerusalem.
21The Babylonian Emperor stands at the junction of the headways of two roads. There he uses divination [to plan his war strategy]. He gains clarity by [throwing] arrows [into the air, then letting them fall on the ground to show the way]. He begs advice from his idol-gods. He peers into [a sacrificed animal's] liver [for guidance].
22The [Emperor's] right hand [grabs the divining arrow] marked โJerusalem.โ He appoints captains to open the mouth [of] slaughter, to lift high the [army's] shouting voice, to set battering rams against [Jerusalem's] gates, to pour out earthworks, and to build a siege fort.
23The [Jews] who swore [treaty] oaths to [Babylon] see [YAH's] prophecy as false divination. But the [emperor's attack] refreshes their memory. [War makes the Jews] realize [the depth of their] depravity.โ
24So my Adonai Yahweh says, โYou [Judeans] spread the fame of your perversion. You flaunt your treachery. Your crimes show in everything you do. So [the authorities] mark you for [destruction]. Your [enemy's] fist comes to grab you.
25You profane, wicked prince of Israel. Your day [has] come. [I'm] putting an end to your depravity.โ
26*Adonai Yahweh says, โStrip off the diadem. Hurl away the crown! Times are changing. Exalt the lowly. Abase the high-and-mighty.
27Overthrow! Ruin! Destruction! [Now Israel's] kingdom dies until its rightful judge, [the Messiah] comes. I award him [the kingdom].
28So, โson of Adamโ, prophesy! Say, โAdonai Yahweh condemns the Ammon-spawn for laughing [when Jerusalem fell].โ Say, โThe sword! [Babylon's] sword draws, shined for slaughter, [ready] to devour [you hypocrites] like lightning!
29[Your prophets] see vain visions. [They] divine lies to you. [They] bring [the sword] upon [your] necks. So die, criminals. [Your] death-day has come. Finally your ruinous [evil] comes to an end.
30I return [my sword] to its sheath, [full of blood]. I come to judge you [religionite criminals] in the place where you were created, in the land of your nativity.
31I pour out my mouth-frothing [fury] upon you [hypocrites]. I hurricane-blow my fire-rage on you. I dash you into the hand[s] of mortals, brutish artificers of ruin, skillful destroyers.
32*You [liars] become fuel for [eternity's] fire. Your blood [spills] in [Jerusalem,] the center of the earth. The [universe completely] forgets you. I Yahweh speak [your future].โ Judea is earth's central nexus. All roads flow to Jerusalem.
Older Testament 
