Ezekiel 5

1 “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.

“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 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.

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

And you shall take from there a small number. And you shall bind them in the end of your cloak.

4 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.”

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 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.

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 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.”

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 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,”

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 the Lord Yahweh says this, “Behold! I myself will act against you. I will execute judgments within your midst for the nations to see.

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 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.

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 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.

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—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.

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 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.

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 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.

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

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 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.

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 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.”

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.”