O sword, slash to the right, then slash to the left, wherever you will, wherever you want.
Parallel translations
- WEB Gather yourselves together. Go to the right. Set yourselves in array. Go to the left, wherever your face is set.
- KJV Go thee one way or other, either on the right hand, or on the left, whithersoever thy face is set.
- BSB Slash to the right; set your blade to the left—wherever your blade is directed.
- NKJV “Swordsat the ready! Thrust right! Set your blade! Thrust left— Wherever your edge is ordered!
- NASB Prove yourself sharp, go to the right; set yourself; go to the left, wherever your edge is ordered.
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 commanded to slash in every direction, right and left, wherever it is aimed. No escape route remains.
Overview
Personifying the sword, God orders it to cut on all sides, depicting comprehensive devastation. The imagery removes any thought of a safe corner during Babylon's assault. It vividly portrays the thoroughness of divine judgment when a people persist in rebellion.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Ezek 16:46Your elder sister is Samaria, who dwells at your left hand, she and her daughters; and your younger sister, who dwells at your right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.
- Ezek 21:4Seeing then that I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore my sword will go out of its sheath against all flesh from the south to the north.
- Ezek 21:20You shall appoint a way for the sword to come to Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and to Judah in Jerusalem the fortified.
- Gen 13:9Isn’t the whole land before you? Please separate yourself from me. If you go to the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if you go to the right hand, then I will go to the left.”
- Ezek 14:17“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;’
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 21:16 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.