< Ezekiel 5 >

1 “And you, son of man, take a sharp weapon for yourself, take the barber’s razor for yourself, and you have caused [it] to pass over your head, and over your beard, and you have taken weighing scales for yourself, and apportioned them.
“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 You burn a third part with fire in the midst of the city, at the fullness of the days of the siege; and you have taken the third part, you strike with a weapon around it; and the third part you scatter to the wind, and I draw out a weapon after 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 And you have taken there a few in number—and have bound them in your skirts;
And you shall take from there a small number. And you shall bind them in the end of your cloak.
4 and you take of them again, and have cast them into the midst of the fire, and have burned them in the fire—out of it comes forth a fire to all the 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 Thus said Lord YHWH: “This [is] Jerusalem, I have set her in the midst of the nations, And the lands [are] 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 And she changes My judgments into wickedness more than the nations, And My statutes more than the lands that [are] around her, For they have kicked against My judgments, And My statutes—they have not walked in them.”
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, thus said Lord YHWH: “Because of your multiplying above the nations that [are] around you, You have not walked in My statutes, And you have not done My judgments, According to the judgments of the nations that [are] around you, you have not done.”
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, thus said Lord YHWH: “Behold, I [am] against you, even I, And I have done judgments in your midst, Before the eyes 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 And I have done in you that which I have not done, And the like of which I do not do again, Because of all your abominations.
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 Therefore fathers eat sons in your midst, And sons eat their fathers, And I have done judgments in you, And have scattered 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] I live,” a declaration of Lord YHWH, “Because you have defiled My sanctuary With all your detestable things, And with all your abominations, Therefore I also diminish you, And My eye does not pity, and I do not spare.
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 Your third part dies by pestilence, And are consumed by famine in your midst, And the third part fall by sword around you, And the third part I scatter to every wind, And I draw out a sword after 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 My anger has been completed, And I have caused My fury to rest on them, And I have been comforted, And they have known that I, YHWH, have spoken in My zeal, In My completing My fury on them.
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 And I give you for a ruin, And for a reproach among nations that [are] around you, Before the eyes of everyone passing 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 And it has been a reproach and a reviling, An instruction and an astonishment, To nations that [are] around you, In My doing judgments in you, In anger and fury, and in furious reproofs, I, YHWH, 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 In My sending the evil arrows of famine among them, That have been for destruction, That I send to destroy you, And I am adding famine on you, And I have broken your staff of bread.
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 And I have sent famine and evil beasts on you, And they have bereaved you, And pestilence and blood pass over on you, And I bring a sword in against you, I, YHWH, 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.”

< Ezekiel 5 >