< Ezekiel 5 >
1 And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber's razor, and cause [it] to pass upon thy head and upon thy beard: then take to thee balances to weigh, and divide the [hair].
2 Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part, [and] smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.
3 Thou shalt also take of them a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts.
4 Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire: from which a fire shall come forth into all the house of Israel.
5 Thus saith the Lord GOD; This [is] Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries [that are] around her.
6 And she hath changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that [are] around her: for they have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them.
7 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye multiplied more than the nations that [are] around you, [and] have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that [are] around you:
8 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, [am] against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations.
9 And I will do in thee that which I have not done, and the like to which I will not do any more, because of all thy abominations.
10 Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds.
11 Wherefore, [as] I live, saith the Lord GOD; Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thy abominations, therefore I will also diminish [thee]; neither shall my eye spare, neither will I have any pity.
12 A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword around thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.
13 Thus shall my anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken [it] in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.
14 Moreover I will make thee waste, and a reproach among the nations that [are] around thee, in the sight of all that pass by.
15 So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment to the nations that [are] around thee, when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I the LORD have spoken [it].
16 When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for [their] destruction, [and] which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:
17 So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the LORD have spoken [it].