7, 8. How were the men with the weapons for smashing to carry out their mission, and what was the final outcome?

⁷ How, then, were the six men with the weapons for smashing to carry out their mission? Ezekiel overheard Jehovah’s instructions to them: Follow the man with the inkhorn and kill off everyone except any who have been marked on their forehead.

Ezekiel’s prophecy was fulfilled in 607 B.C.E. when the Babylonian army destroyed Jerusalem and its temple. Like a “cup in the hand of Jehovah,” the Babylonians were the instruments Jehovah used to pour out punishment on unfaithful Jerusalem. (Jer. 51:7)