Passing over the symbolic action of vv. 11‐13, representing the horror and astonishment with which the dire tidings of Jerusalem’s fall will be received, we come to the point where the prophet breaks into the wild strain of dithyrambic poetry, which has been called the “Song of the Sword” (vv. 14‐22). The following translation, although necessarily imperfect and in some places uncertain, may convey some idea both of the structure and the rugged vigour of the original. It will be seen that there is a clear division into four stanzas:(49)—
(i) Vv. 14‐16.
A sword, a sword! It is sharpened and burnished withal. For a work of slaughter is it sharpened! To gleam like lightning burnished!
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And ’twas given to be smoothed for the grip of the hand, —Sharpened is it, and furbished— To put in the hand of the slayer.
(ii) Vv. 17, 18.
Cry and howl, son of man! For it has come among my people; Come among all the princes of Israel! Victims of the sword are they, they and my people; Therefore smite upon thy thigh!
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It shall not be, saith Jehovah the Lord.
(iii) Vv. 19, 20.
But, thou son of man, prophesy, and smite hand on hand; Let the sword be doubled and tripled (?). A sword of the slain is it, the great sword of the slain whirling around them,— That hearts may fail, and many be the fallen in all their gates.
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It is made like lightning, furbished for slaughter!
(iv) Vv. 21, 22.
Gather thee together! Smite to the right, to the left, Whithersoever thine edge is appointed! And I also will smite hand on hand, And appease My wrath: I Jehovah have spoken it.
In spite of its obscurity, its abrupt transitions, and its strange blending of the divine with the human personality, the ode exhibits a definite poetic form and a real progress of thought from the beginning to the close. Throughout the passage we observe that the prophet’s gaze is fascinated by the glittering sword which symbolised the instrument of Jehovah’s vengeance. In the opening stanza (i) he describes the _preparation_ of the sword; he notes the keenness of its edge and its glittering sheen with an awful presentiment that an implement so elaborately fashioned is destined for some terrible day of slaughter. Then (ii) he announces the _purpose_ for which the sword is prepared, and breaks into loud lamentation as he realises that its doomed victims are his own people and the princes of Israel. In the next stanza (iii) he sees the sword _in action_; wielded by an invisible hand, it flashes hither and thither, circling round its hapless victims as if two or three swords were at work instead of one. All hearts are paralysed with fear, but the sword does not cease its ravages until it has filled the ground with slain. Then at length the sword is _at rest_ (iv), having accomplished its work. The divine Speaker calls on it in a closing apostrophe “to gather itself together” as if for a final sweep to right and left, indicating the thoroughness with which the judgment has been executed. In the last verse the vision of the sword fades away, and the poem closes with an announcement, in the usual prophetic manner, of Jehovah’s fixed purpose to “assuage” His wrath against Israel by the crowning act of retribution.