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 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 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 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 But you are to take a few strands of hair and secure them in the folds of your garment.
And thou hast taken thence a few in number — and hast bound them in thy skirts;
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 Because of all your abominations, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again.
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 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 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 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, 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 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.
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 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 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 I will make you a ruin and a disgrace among the nations around you, in the sight of all who 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 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 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 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.
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 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 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!'
