< Ezekiel 5 >

1 “You, son of man, take a sharp sword. You shall take it as a barber’s razor to yourself, and shall cause it to pass over your head and over your beard. Then take balances to weigh and divide the hair.
'And thou, son of man, take to thee a sharp weapon, the barber's razor thou dost take to thee, and thou hast caused [it] to pass over thy head, and over thy beard, and thou hast taken to thee weighing scales, and apportioned them.
2 A third part you shall burn in the fire in the middle of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled. You shall take a third part, and strike with the sword around it. A third part you shall scatter to the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them.
A third part with fire thou dost burn in the midst of the city, at the fulness of the days of the siege; and thou hast taken the third part, thou dost smite with a weapon round about it; and the third part thou dost scatter to the wind, and a weapon I draw out after them.
3 You shall take a small number of these and bind them in the folds of your robe.
And thou hast taken thence a few in number — and hast bound them in thy skirts;
4 Of these again you shall take, and cast them into the middle of the fire, and burn them in the fire. From it a fire will come out into all the house of Israel.
and of them thou dost take again, and hast cast them unto the midst of the fire, and hast burned them in the fire — out of it cometh forth a fire unto all the house of Israel.
5 “The Lord GOD says: ‘This is Jerusalem. I have set her in the middle of the nations, and countries are around her.
Thus said the Lord Jehovah: this [is] Jerusalem, In the midst of the nations I have set her, And round about her [are] the lands.
6 She has rebelled against my ordinances in doing wickedness more than the nations, and against my statutes more than the countries that are around her; for they have rejected my ordinances, and as for my statutes, they have not walked in them.’
And she changeth My judgments into wickedness more than the nations, And My statutes more than the lands that [are] round about her, For against My judgments they have kicked, And My statutes — they have not walked in them.
7 “Therefore the Lord GOD says: ‘Because you are more turbulent than the nations that are around you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my ordinances, neither have followed the ordinances of the nations that are around you;
Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because of your multiplying above the nations that [are] around you, In My statutes ye have not walked, And My judgments ye have not done, According to the judgments of the nations That [are] round about you ye have not done.
8 therefore the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I, even I, am against you; and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations.
Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I [am] against thee, even I, And I have done in thy midst judgments, Before the eyes of the nations.
9 I will do in you that which I have not done, and which I will not do anything like it any more, because of all your abominations.
And I have done in thee that which I have not done, And that which I do not its like again, Because of all thine abominations.
10 Therefore the fathers will eat the sons within you, and the sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments on you; and I will scatter the whole remnant of you to all the winds.
Therefore fathers do eat sons in thy midst, And sons eat their fathers, And I have done in thee judgments, And have scattered all thy remnant to every wind.
11 Therefore as I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things, and with all your abominations, therefore I will also diminish you. My eye will not spare, and I will have no pity.
Therefore, I live — an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah: Because My sanctuary thou hast defiled, With all thy detestable things, And with all thine abominations, Mine eye pitieth not, and I also spare not. Do not even I also diminish?
12 A third part of you will die with the pestilence, and they will be consumed with famine within you. A third part will fall by the sword around you. A third part I will scatter to all the winds, and will draw out a sword after them.
Thy third part — by pestilence they die, And by famine are consumed in thy midst, And the third part, by sword they fall round about thee, And the third part, to every wind I scatter, And a sword I draw out after them.
13 “‘Thus my anger will be accomplished, and I will cause my wrath toward them to rest, and I will be comforted. They will know that I, the LORD, have spoken in my zeal, when I have accomplished my wrath on them.
And completed hath been Mine anger, And I have caused My fury to rest on them, And I have been comforted, And they have known that I, Jehovah, have spoken in My zeal, In My completing My fury on them.
14 “‘Moreover I will make you a desolation and a reproach among the nations that are around you, in the sight of all that pass by.
And I give thee for a waste, And for a reproach among nations that [are] round about thee, Before the eyes of every passer by.
15 So it will be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment, to the nations that are around you, when I execute judgments on you in anger and in wrath, and in wrathful rebukes—I, the LORD, have spoken it—
And it hath been a reproach and a reviling, An instruction and an astonishment, To nations that [are] round about thee, In My doing in thee judgments, In anger and fury, and in furious reproofs, I, Jehovah, have spoken.
16 when I send on them the evil arrows of famine that are for destruction, which I will send to destroy you. I will increase the famine on you and will break your staff of bread.
In My sending the evil arrows of famine among them, That have been for destruction, That I send to destroy you, And famine I am adding upon you, And I have broken to you the staff of bread.
17 I will send on you famine and evil animals, and they will bereave you. Pestilence and blood will pass through you. I will bring the sword on you. I, the LORD, have spoken it.’”
And I have sent on you famine and evil beasts, And they have bereaved thee, And pestilence and blood pass over on thee, And a sword I do bring in against thee, I, Jehovah, have spoken!'

< Ezekiel 5 >