Ezekiel 5

1 “As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword, use it as a barber’s razor, and shave your head and beard. Then take a set of scales and divide the hair.

And you, son of man, take you a sword sharper than a barber's razor; you shall procure it for yourself, and shall bring it upon your head, and upon your beard: and you shall take a pair of scales, and shall separate the hair.

2 When the days of the siege have ended, you are to burn up a third of the hair inside the city; you are also to take a third and slash it with the sword all around the city; and you are to scatter a third to the wind. For I will unleash a sword behind them.

A fourth part you shall burn in the fire in the midst of the city, at the fulfilment of the days of the siege: and you shall take a fourth part, and burn it up in the midst of it: and a fourth part you shall cut with a sword round about it: and a fourth part you shall scatter to the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.

3 But you are to take a few strands of hair and secure them in the folds of your garment.

And you shall take thence a few in number, and shall wrap them in the fold of your garment.

4 Again, take a few of these, throw them into the fire, and burn them. From there a fire will spread to the whole house of Israel.

And you shall take of these again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them up with fire: from thence shall come forth fire; and you shall say to the whole house of Israel,

5 This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her.

Thus says the Lord; This is Jerusalem: I have set her and the countries round about her in the midst of the nations.

6 But she has rebelled against My ordinances more wickedly than the nations, and against My statutes worse than the countries around her. For her people have rejected My ordinances and have not walked in My statutes.’

And you shall declare mine ordinances to the lawless one from out of the nations; and my statutes [to the sinful one] of the countries round about her: because they have rejected mine ordinances, and have not walked in my statutes.

7 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You have been more insubordinate than the nations around you; you have not walked in My statutes or kept My ordinances, nor have you even conformed to the ordinances of the nations around you.’

Therefore thus says the Lord, Because your occasion [for sin has been taken] from the nations round about you, and you have not walked in my statutes, nor kept mine ordinances, nay, you have not even done according to the ordinances of the nations round about you; therefore thus says the Lord;

8 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I Myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations.

Behold, I am against you, and I will execute judgement in the midst of you in the sight of the nations.

9 Because of all your abominations, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again.

And I will do in you things which I have not done, and the like of which I will not do again, for all your abominations.

10 As a result, fathers among you will eat their sons, and sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments against you and scatter all your remnant to every wind.’

Therefore the fathers shall eat [their] children in the midst of you, and children shall eat [their] fathers; and I will execute judgements in you, and I will scatter all that are left of you to every wind.

11 Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and abominations, I Myself will withdraw My favor; I will not look upon you with pity, nor will I spare you.

Therefore, [as] I live, says the Lord; surely, because you have defiled my holy things with all your abominations, I also will reject you; mine eye shall not spare, and I will have no mercy.

12 A third of your people will die by plague or be consumed by famine within you, a third will fall by the sword outside your walls, and a third I will scatter to every wind and unleash a sword behind them.

A fourth part of you shall be cut off by pestilence, and a fourth part of you shall be consumed in the midst of you with famine: and [as for another] fourth part of you, I will scatter them to every wind; and a fourth part of you shall fall by sword round about you, and I will draw out a sword after them.

13 And when My anger is spent and I have vented My wrath against them, I will be appeased. And when I have spent My wrath on them, they will know that I, the LORD, in My zeal have spoken.

And my wrath and mine anger shall be accomplished upon them: and you shall know that I the Lord have spoken in my jealousy, when I have accomplished mine anger upon them.

14 I will make you a ruin and a disgrace among the nations around you, in the sight of all who pass by.

And I will make you desolate, and your daughters round about you, in the sight of every one that passes through.

15 So you will be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and a horror to the nations around you, when I execute judgments against you in anger, wrath, and raging fury. I, the LORD, have spoken.

And you shall be mourned over and miserable amongst the nations round about you, when I have executed judgements in you in the vengeance of my wrath. I the Lord have spoken.

16 When I shower you with the deadly arrows of famine and destruction that I will send to destroy you, I will intensify the famine against you and cut off your supply of food.

And when I have sent against them shafts of famine, then they shall be consumed, and I will break the strength of your bread.

17 I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring a sword against you. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

So I will send forth against you famine and evil beasts, and I will take vengeance upon you; and pestilence and blood shall pass through upon you; and I will bring a sword upon you round about. I the Lord have spoken.