Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the south to the north:
The prophet had faithfully delivered the message he was entrusted with, in the close of the foregoing chapter, in the terms wherein he received it, not daring to add his own comment upon it; but, when he complained that the people found fault with him for speaking parables, the word of the Lord came to him again, and gave him a key to that figurative...
Commenting on Ezekiel 21:1-7
That all flesh may know that I the Lord have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath,.... The same with kindling a fire in Judea; see Gill on Eze 20:48, it shall not return any more; that is, into its sheath, until it has done all its work; meaning that the Chaldean army should not return to their own land until they had executed...
The "sword" did not, literally, slay all; but the judgments of God by the foe swept through the land "from the south to the north."