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 as for you, son of man, obtain for yourself a sharp knife for shaving hair, and you shall take it and draw it across your head and across your beard. And you shall obtain for yourself a balance for weighing, and you shall divide 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 third part you shall burn with fire in the midst of the city, according to the completion of the days of the siege. And you shall take a third part, and you shall cut it with the knife all around. Yet truly, the other third, you shall scatter to the wind, for I will unsheathe the 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 from there a small number. And you shall bind them in the end of your cloak.

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 again, you shall take from them, and you shall throw them into the midst of the fire, and you shall burn them with fire. And from it, there shall go forth a fire to the entire 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 God: “This is Jerusalem. I have placed her in the midst of the Gentiles and of the lands all around her.

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 she has despised my judgments, so as to be more impious than the Gentiles, and my precepts, more so than the lands that are all around her. For they have cast aside my judgments, and they have not walked in my precepts.”

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.’

For this reason, thus says the Lord God: “Since you have surpassed the Gentiles who are all around you, and have not walked in my precepts, and have not accomplished my judgments, and have not even acted in accord with the judgments of the Gentiles who are all around you:

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.

therefore, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, and I myself will accomplish judgments in your midst, in the sight of the Gentiles.

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 what I have not done before, and the likes of which I will not do again, because of 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 consume the sons in your midst, and the sons shall consume their fathers. And I will execute judgments in you, and I will winnow your entire remnant in 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 myself live says the Lord God, because you have violated my sanctuary with all your offenses and with all your abominations, I also will break into pieces, and my eye will not be lenient, and I will not take pity.

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.

One third part of you will die by pestilence or be consumed by famine in your midst. And one third part of you will fall by the sword all around you. Yet truly, one third part of you I will scatter to every wind, and I will unsheathe the 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 I will fulfill my fury, and I will cause my indignation to rest upon them, and I will be consoled. And they shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken in my zeal, when I will have fulfilled my indignation in 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 a disgrace among the Gentiles, who are all around you, in the sight of all who pass by.

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 a disgrace and a blasphemy, an example and an astonishment, among the Gentiles, who are all around you, when I will have executed judgments in you, in fury and in indignation and with rebukes of wrath.

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.

I, the Lord, have spoken. At that time, I will send among them the most grievous arrows of famine, which shall bring death, and which I will send so that I may destroy you. And I will gather a famine over you, and I will crush the staff of bread among you.

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.”

And I will send among you famine and very harmful beasts, even unto utter ruin. And pestilence and blood shall pass through you. And I will bring the sword over you. I, the Lord, have spoken.”