Son of man, prophesy and say, thus saith the Lord,.... Deliver out the following prophecy in the name of the Lord:say, a sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished; it is not only drawn out of its sheath, as before, but is made sharp and bright, and ready for use.
It is repeated, either to show the certainty of it, or to express the terror and anguish of mind on account of it; persons in distress generally repeating that which is the occasion of it. The Targum interprets it of two swords, the sword of the Babylonians, and the sword of the Ammonites; first the one was to be used, and then the other: this latter, Jarchi and Kimchi observe, was fulfilled by Ishmael the son of Nethaniah slaying Gedaliah, sent for that purpose by Baalis king of the Ammonites, Jer 40:14, but if two distinct swords are meant, I should rather think the sword of the Chaldeans, and the sword of the Romans, are intended.