Or if I bring a sword against that land and say, ‘Let a sword pass through it,’ so that I cut off from it both man and beast,
Parallel translations
- WEB “Or if I bring a sword on that land, and say, ‘Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off from it man and animal;’
- KJV Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it:
- NKJV “Or if I bring a sword on that land, and say, ‘Sword, go through the land,’ and I cut off man and beast from it,
- NASB Or if I were to bring a sword on that country and say, ‘A sword is to pass through the country,’ and I eliminated human and animal life from it,
- NLT “Or suppose I were to bring war against the land, and I sent enemy armies to destroy both people and animals.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The sword is the second of God's four judgments, cutting off both people and animals. War is depicted as God's summons.
Overview
God personifies the sword and commands it to pass through the land. In the prophetic worldview, even invading armies serve the LORD's righteous purposes against a covenant-breaking nation. The repeated 'man and animal' shows the comprehensive reach of judgment over a guilty land.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Lev 26:25And I will bring a sword against you to execute the vengeance of the covenant. Though you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
- Ezek 21:3–4and tell her that this is what the LORD says: ‘I am against you, and I will draw My sword from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked.
- Ezek 5:12A third of your people will die by plague or be consumed by famine within you, a third will fall by the sword outside your walls, and a third I will scatter to every wind and unleash a sword behind them.
- Zeph 1:3“I will sweep away man and beast; I will sweep away the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, and the idols with their wicked worshipers. I will cut off mankind from the face of the earth,” declares the LORD.
- Jer 47:6‘Alas, O sword of the LORD, how long until you rest? Return to your sheath; cease and be still!’
- Ezek 14:13“Son of man, if a land sins against Me by acting unfaithfully, and I stretch out My hand against it to cut off its supply of food, to send famine upon it, and to cut off from it both man and beast,
- Ezek 25:13therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I will stretch out My hand against Edom and cut off from it both man and beast. I will make it a wasteland, and from Teman to Dedan they will fall by the sword.
- Ezek 5:17I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring a sword against you. I, the LORD, have spoken.”
- Ezek 21:9–15“Son of man, prophesy and tell them that this is what the Lord says: ‘A sword, a sword, sharpened and polished—
- Hos 4:3Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it will waste away with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea disappear.
- Ezek 38:21–22And I will summon a sword against Gog on all My mountains, declares the Lord GOD, and every man’s sword will be against his brother.
- Jer 33:12This is what the LORD of Hosts says: In this desolate place, without man or beast, and in all its cities, there will once more be pastures for shepherds to rest their flocks.
- Jer 25:9behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.
- Ezek 29:8Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I will bring a sword against you and cut off from you man and beast.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.
How Ezekiel 14:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.