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.

“Son of man, go and shave your head and your beard using a sharp sword like a barber's razor. Then divide up the hair using a set of scales.

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.

Once the days of the siege have finished, burn up one third of the hair inside the city; slash at another third with a sword around the city; and scatter another third in the wind. I will let loose a sword behind them to chase them.

3 And you have taken there a few in number—and have bound them in your skirts;

Take just a few hairs and tuck them into the hem of your clothes.

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.”

Take some of these and toss them into the fire to burn them. A fire will spread from there to burn everyone in 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.

This is what the Lord God says: This represents Jerusalem. I placed her right in the middle of the nations, surrounded by other countries.

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.”

But she rebelled against my rules, acting more wickedly than the nations, and she defied my regulations more than the countries surrounding her. Her people rejected my rules and refused to follow my regulations.

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.”

Consequently this is what the Lord God says: You have caused more trouble than the nations around you. You refused to follow my rules and keep my regulations. In fact you didn't even live up to the standards of the nations surrounding 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.

So this is what the Lord God says: Watch out, because it's me who is condemning you, Jerusalem! I'm going to carry out my sentence against you while the other nations watch.

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.

Because of all the disgusting things you've done, I'm going to do to you what I've never done before—and I won't ever do again.

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.

In your city parents will eat their own children, and children will eat their parents. I'm going to punish you and scatter in every directions those who are left.

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.

As I live, declares the Lord God, because you have made my sanctuary unclean with all your offensive idols and disgusting practices, I will stop treating you well. I won't be kind to you—I won't show you any 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.

A third of your people will die from disease or starvation inside the city; a third will be killed by the sword outside the city walls; and a third I will scatter in the wind in all directions, and let loose a sword behind them to chase 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.

Once my anger is over and I've finished punishing them, then I'll be satisfied. When I've finished punishing them, then they'll know that I, the Lord, meant what I said when I spoke so strongly.

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.

I'm going to ruin you and humiliate you in front of the nations surrounding you, in the sight of every passer-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.

You will be criticized and mocked, you'll be a warning and something horrifying to the surrounding nations when I carry out my sentence against you in my rage and furious anger. I the Lord have spoken.

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.

When I pour down on you deadly arrows of famine and destruction they're intended to kill you. I will make your famine worse by stopping your food supply.

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!”

I will send famine and wild animals to attack you. You'll have no children left. Disease and killing will sweep over you, and I will bring armies to attack you. I the Lord have spoken.”