Also, thou son of man, appoint thee two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come: both twain shall come forth out of one land: and choose thou a place, choose it at the head of the way to the city.
Appoint thee two ways. The king coming from Babylon is represented, in the graphic style of Ezekiel, as reaching the point where the road branched off in two ways-one leading by the south, by Tadmor or Palmyra, to Rabbath of Ammon, east of Jordan; the other, by the north, by Riblah in Syria, to Jerusalem-and hesitating which way to take. Ezekiel is told to "appoint the two ways" (as in Ezekiel 4:1), because Nebuchadnezzar, through knowing no other control but his own will and superstition, had really this path 'appointed' for him by the all-ruling God.
Both twain shall come forth out of one land - namely, Babylon.
Choose thou a place - literally, a hand. So it is translated by Fairbairn, 'make a finger-post'-namely, at the head of the two ways, the hand-post pointing Nebuchadnezzar to the way to Jerusalem as the way he should select. But Maurer rightly supports the English version. Ezekiel is told to "choose the place" where Nebuchadnezzar should do as is described in Ezekiel 21:20-21; so entirely does God order by the prophet every particular of place and time in the movement of the invader.