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, son of man, take unto thyself a sharp sword, a barber's razor shalt thou take for it unto thyself, and cause it to pass over thy head and over thy beard: then take unto thee balances for weighing, and 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.

One third part shalt thou burn with fire in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are completed; and thou shalt take another third part, and smite [it] round about it with the sword; and the other third part shalt thou scatter to the wind: and I will draw out a sword after the same.

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

And take thence a few in number, and tie them up in the corners of thy 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 from these again shalt thou take some, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire: therefrom shall a fire go forth unto 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 hath said the Lord Eternal, This is Jerusalem, which I had set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round 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.’

But she rebelled against my ordinances more wickedly than the nations, and against my statutes, more than the countries that are round about her; for my ordinances they have despised, and as for my statutes, they have 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 hath said the Lord Eternal, Because ye have given yourselves up to evil more than the nations that are round about you, have not walked in my statutes, and have not executed my ordinances, and not even acted according to the ordinances of the nations that are round 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 hath said the Lord Eternal, Behold, I, also I am against thee, and I will execute judgments in the midst of thee before the eyes 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 thee that which I have never done, and the like of which I will never do any more, because of all thy 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 fathers shall devour their children in the midst of thee, and children shall devour their fathers: and I will execute judgments on thee, and I will scatter all thy remnant unto all the winds.

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, saith the Lord Eternal, Surely, because thou hast made unclean my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thy abominations: therefore will I also diminish [thee]; and my eye shall not show pity, and I also will not spare.

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 third part of thee shall die through the pestilence, and come through famine to their end in the midst of thee; and another third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and the other third part will I scatter unto all the winds, and a sword will I draw out 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 my anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will satisfy myself: and they shall know that I the Lord have spoken it in my zeal, when I have let out all my fury on them.

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

Yea, I will render thee a ruin, and a disgrace among the nations that are round about thee, before the eyes of every one that passeth 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 she shall be a disgrace and a taunt, a warning and an astonishment unto the nations that are round about thee, when I execute judgments on thee in anger and in fury and in furious chastisements, —I the Lord have 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 send out among them the dreadful arrows of famine, which [ever] were the cause of destruction, which I will send out to destroy you; and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break unto you the staff 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 let loose over you famine and wild beasts, and they shall make thee childless; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and the sword will I bring over thee. I the Lord have spoken it.