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.

“Then you, son of man, take a sharp sword as a barber's razor for yourself, and pass the razor over your head and your beard, then take scales to weigh and divide your 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.

Burn a third of it with fire in the midst of the city when the days of the siege are completed, and take a third of the hair and strike it with the sword all around the city. Then scatter a third of it to the wind, and I will draw out a sword to chase after the people.

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

But take a small number of hairs from them and tie them into the folds of your robe.

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.”

Then take more of the hair and throw it into the midst of the fire; and burn it in the fire; from there a fire will go out to all the 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.

The Lord Yahweh says this, “This is Jerusalem in the midst of the nations, where I have placed her, and where I have surrounded her with other lands.

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 has in wickedness rejected my decrees more than the nations have, and my statutes more than the countries that surround her. The people have rejected my judgments and have not walked in my statutes.”

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.”

Therefore the Lord Yahweh says this, “Because you are more troublesome than the nations that surround you and have not walked in my statutes or acted according to my decrees, or even acted according to the decrees of the nations that surround 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 the Lord Yahweh says this, “Behold! I myself will act against you. I will execute judgments within your midst for the nations to see.

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.

I will do to you what I have not done and the like of which I will not do again, because of all your disgusting actions.

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 fathers will eat the children in your midst, and sons will eat their fathers, since I will execute judgment on you and scatter to every direction all of you 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.

Therefore, as I live—this is the Lord Yahweh's declaration—it is certainly because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your hateful things and with all your disgusting deeds, that I myself will reduce you in number; my eye will not have pity on you, and I will not spare you.

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 you will die by plague, and they will be consumed by famine in your midst. A third will fall by the sword surrounding you. Then I will scatter a third in every direction, and draw out a sword to chase after them as well.

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.

Then my wrath will be completed, and I will cause my fury toward them to rest. I will be satisfied, and they will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken in my wrath when I have completed my fury against 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.

I will make you a desolation and a reproach to the nations that surround you in the sight of everyone who passes 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.

So Jerusalem will become something for other people to condemn and to mock, a warning and a horror to the nations that surround you. I will execute judgments against you in wrath and fury, and with a furious rebuke—I, Yahweh have declared this!

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 will send out harsh arrows of famine against you that will become the means with which I will destroy you. For I will increase the famine on you and break your staff of bread.

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 a famine and disasters against you so you will be childless. Plague and blood will pass through you, and I will bring a sword against you—I, Yahweh, have declared this.”