1‘Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor to shave your head and your beard. Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair.2When the days of your siege come to an end, burn a third of the hair inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind. For I will pursue them with drawn sword.3But take a few hairs and tuck them away in the folds of your garment.4Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to all Israel.5‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: this is Jerusalem, which I have set in the centre of the nations, with countries all around her.6Yet in her wickedness she has rebelled against my laws and decrees more than the nations and countries around her. She has rejected my laws and has not followed my decrees.7‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: you have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or kept my laws. You have not even[1] conformed to the standards of the nations around you.8‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will inflict punishment on you in the sight of the nations.9Because of all your detestable idols, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again.10Therefore in your midst parents will eat their children, and children will eat their parents. I will inflict punishment on you and will scatter all your survivors to the winds.11Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your vile images and detestable practices, I myself will shave you; I will not look on you with pity or spare you.12A third of your people will die of the plague or perish by famine inside you; a third will fall by the sword outside your walls; and a third I will scatter to the winds and pursue with drawn sword.13‘Then my anger will cease and my wrath against them will subside, and I will be avenged. And when I have spent my wrath on them, they will know that I the Lord have spoken in my zeal.14‘I will make you a ruin and a reproach among the nations around you, in the sight of all who pass by.15You will be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and an object of horror to the nations around you when I inflict punishment on you in anger and in wrath and with stinging rebuke. I the Lord have spoken.16When I shoot at you with my deadly and destructive arrows of famine, I will shoot to destroy you. I will bring more and more famine upon you and cut off your supply of food.17I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I the Lord have spoken.’
Ezekiel 5
English Standard Version
Jerusalem Will Be Destroyed
1“And you, O son of man, take a sharp sword. Use it as a barber’s razor and pass it over your head and your beard. Then take balances for weighing and divide the hair. (Le 21:5; Ps 57:4; Isa 7:20; Isa 49:2; Eze 1:3; Eze 2:1; Eze 44:20)2A third part you shall burn in the fire in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are completed. And a third part you shall take and strike with the sword all around the city. And a third part you shall scatter to the wind, and I will unsheathe the sword after them. (Jer 9:16; Eze 4:1; Eze 4:8; Eze 5:5; Eze 5:10; Eze 5:12; Eze 12:14)3And you shall take from these a small number and bind them in the skirts of your robe. (Jer 40:6; Jer 52:16)4And of these again you shall take some and cast them into the midst of the fire and burn them in the fire. From there a fire will come out into all the house of Israel. (Jer 42:18; Jer 44:14)5“Thus says the Lord God: This is Jerusalem. I have set her in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. (Eze 4:1; Eze 5:2; Eze 38:12)6And she has rebelled against my rules by doing wickedness more than the nations, and against my statutes more than the countries all around her; for they have rejected my rules and have not walked in my statutes. (Eze 5:5; Eze 16:47)7Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you are more turbulent than the nations that are all around you, and have not walked in my statutes or obeyed my rules, and have not[1] even acted according to the rules of the nations that are all around you, (Ps 2:1; Ps 46:6; Eze 11:12; Eze 16:47)8therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, even I, am against you. And I will execute judgments[2] in your midst in the sight of the nations. (Eze 11:9; Eze 13:8; Eze 16:41; Eze 22:16; Eze 23:10)9And because of all your abominations I will do with you what I have never yet done, and the like of which I will never do again. (2Ki 21:12; La 1:12; Da 9:12)10Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers. And I will execute judgments on you, and any of you who survive I will scatter to all the winds. (De 28:64; Jer 9:16; Jer 15:4; Jer 19:9; Eze 5:2; Eze 5:8; Eze 12:14; Eze 17:21; Eze 22:15; Eze 36:19; Zec 2:6)11Therefore, as I live, declares the Lord God, surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations, therefore I will withdraw.[3] My eye will not spare, and I will have no pity. (2Ch 36:14; Jer 7:30; Jer 21:7; Eze 7:4; Eze 7:9; Eze 7:20; Eze 8:3; Eze 8:5; Eze 8:18; Eze 9:5; Eze 9:10; Eze 11:18; Eze 11:21; Eze 16:27; Eze 16:48; Eze 23:39)12A third part of you shall die of pestilence and be consumed with famine in your midst; a third part shall fall by the sword all around you; and a third part I will scatter to all the winds and will unsheathe the sword after them. (Jer 15:2; Eze 5:2; Eze 6:11)13“Thus shall my anger spend itself, and I will vent my fury upon them and satisfy myself. And they shall know that I am the Lord—that I have spoken in my jealousy—when I spend my fury upon them. (La 4:11; Eze 6:12; Eze 7:8; Eze 20:8; Eze 20:21; Eze 36:5; Eze 38:19; Eze 39:25)14Moreover, I will make you a desolation and an object of reproach among the nations all around you and in the sight of all who pass by. (Ne 2:17; Ps 79:4; Jer 22:5; Jer 24:9; Eze 5:5; Eze 6:6; Eze 22:4)15You shall be[4] a reproach and a taunt, a warning and a horror, to the nations all around you, when I execute judgments on you in anger and fury, and with furious rebukes—I am the Lord; I have spoken— (De 28:37; Eze 5:14; Eze 14:8; Eze 14:21; Eze 25:17)16when I send against you[5] the deadly arrows of famine, arrows for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, and when I bring more and more famine upon you and break your supply[6] of bread. (De 32:23; Eze 4:16)17I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will rob you of your children. Pestilence and blood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword upon you. I am the Lord; I have spoken.” (De 32:24; 2Ki 17:25; Eze 14:15; Eze 33:27; Eze 34:25; Eze 36:12; Eze 38:22)