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20 Use the sign to show which road the sword will use. One road leads to the Ammonite city of Rabbah. The other road leads to Judah, to the protected city, Jerusalem. 21 The king of Babylon has come to where the two roads separate. He uses magic to learn which way to go: He shakes his arrows, he asks his family idols, and he looks at the liver[a] from an animal he has killed.

22 “The signs tell him to take the road on his right, the road leading to Jerusalem, where he will use battering rams.[b] The signs tell him to give the command for his soldiers to begin the killing. They will shout the battle cry and set the battering rams against the gates. They will build a wall of dirt around the city and a dirt road leading up to the walls. They will build wooden towers to attack the city.

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Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 21:21 arrows, idols, liver People who believed in false gods used these things to try to learn the future.
  2. Ezekiel 21:22 battering rams Heavy logs that soldiers used to break holes into the gates or walls around a city.

20 Mark out one road for the sword to come against Rabbah of the Ammonites(A) and another against Judah and fortified Jerusalem. 21 For the king of Babylon will stop at the fork in the road, at the junction of the two roads, to seek an omen: He will cast lots(B) with arrows, he will consult his idols,(C) he will examine the liver.(D) 22 Into his right hand will come the lot for Jerusalem, where he is to set up battering rams, to give the command to slaughter, to sound the battle cry,(E) to set battering rams against the gates, to build a ramp(F) and to erect siege works.(G)

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