< 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 thou sonne of man, take thee a sharpe knife, or take thee a barbours rasor and cause it to passe vpon thine head, and vpon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and deuide the heare.
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.
Thou shalt burne with fire the thirde part in the middes of the citie, when the dayes of the siege are fulfilled, and thou shalt take the other thirde part, and smite about it with a knife, and the last thirde part thou shalt scatter in the winde, and I will drawe out a sworde after them.
3 But you are to take a few strands of hair and secure them in the folds of your garment.
Thou shalt also take thereof a fewe in nomber, and binde them in thy lappe.
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.
Then take of them againe and cast them into the middes of the fire, and burne them in the fire: for thereof shall a fire come foorth into all the 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 saith the Lord God, This is Ierusalem: I haue set it in the middes of the nations and countreyes, that are rounde about 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 hath changed my iudgements into wickednes more then the nations, and my statutes more then the countreis, that are round about her: for they haue refused my iudgemets and my statutes, and they haue not walked in them.
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 saith the Lord God, Because your multitude is greater then the nations that are rounde about you, and ye haue not walked in my statutes, neither haue ye kept my iudgements: no, ye haue not done according to the iudgements of the nations, that are rounde about 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 saith the Lord God, Beholde, I, euen I come against thee, and will execute iudgement in the middes of thee, euen 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 doe in thee, that I neuer did before, neither will do any more the like, because of all thine 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.’
For in the middes of thee, the fathers shall eate their sonnes, and the sonnes shall eate their fathers, and I will execute iudgement in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the windes.
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.
Wherefore, as I liue, saith the Lord God, Surely because thou hast defiled my Sanctuarie with all thy filthinesse, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also destroy thee, neither shall mine eye spare thee, neither will I haue any pitie.
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.
The third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they bee consumed in the middes of thee: and another third part shall fall by the sword round about thee: and I will scatter the last third part into all windes, and I will drawe 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.
Thus shall mine anger bee accomplished, and I will cause my wrath to cease in them, and I will be comforted: and they shall knowe, that I the Lord haue spoke it in my zeale, when I haue accomplished my wrath 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.
Moreouer, I will make thee waste, and abhorred among the nations, that are round about thee, and in the sight of all that passe 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.
So thou shalt bee a reproche and shame, a chastisement and an astonishment vnto the nations, that are rounde about thee, when I shall execute iudgements in thee, in anger and in wrath, and in sharpe rebukes: I the Lord haue spoken it.
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.
When I shall sende vpon them the euill arrowes of famine, which shalbe for their destruction, and which I will sende to destroy you: and I will encrease the famine vpon you, and wil breake your staffe of 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 will I send vpon you famine, and euill beastes, and they shall spoyle thee, and pestilence and blood shall passe through thee, and I will bring the sworde vpon thee: I the Lord haue spoken it.

< Ezekiel 5 >