5
1 “You,
son of man,
take a sharp
sword. You shall
take it as
a barber’s razor
to yourself, and
shall cause it to
pass over your
head and over
your beard. Then
take balances to
weigh and divide
the hair.
2 A
third part you
shall burn in
the fire in the
middle of the
city, when the
days of the
siege are
fulfilled. You
shall take a
third part, and
strike with the
sword around it.
A third part
you shall scatter
to the wind,
and I will
draw out a
sword after them.
3 You
shall take a
small number of
these and bind
them in the folds
of your robe.
4 Of
these again you
shall take, and
cast them into
the middle of
the fire, and burn
them in the fire.
From it a fire
will come out
into all the
house of Israel.
5 “The
Lord GOD says: ‘This
is Jerusalem. I
have set her
in the middle
of the nations,
and countries are
around her.
6 She
has rebelled
against my
ordinances in
doing wickedness
more than the
nations, and
against my
statutes more than
the countries that
are around her;
for they have
rejected my
ordinances, and as
for my statutes,
they have not
walked in them.’
7 “Therefore
the Lord GOD
says: ‘Because you
are more turbulent
than the nations
that are around
you, and have
not walked in
my statutes,
neither have kept
my ordinances,
neither have
followed the
ordinances of the
nations that are
around you;
8 therefore
the Lord GOD
says: ‘Behold, I,
even I, am
against you; and
I will execute
judgments among
you in the
sight of the
nations.
9 I
will do in
you that which
I have not
done, and which
I will not
do anything like
it any more,
because of all
your abominations.
10 Therefore
the fathers will eat
the sons within
you, and the
sons will eat
their fathers. I
will execute
judgments on you;
and I will
scatter the whole
remnant of you
to all the
winds.
11 Therefore
as I live,’
says the Lord
GOD, ‘surely,
because you have
defiled my
sanctuary with all
your detestable
things, and with
all your
abominations, therefore
I will also
diminish you. My
eye won’t spare,
and I will
have no pity.
12 A
third part of
you will die
with the
pestilence, and
they will be
consumed with
famine within you.
A third part
will fall by
the sword around
you. A third
part I will
scatter to all
the winds, and
will draw out
a sword after
them.
13 “ ‘Thus my
anger will be
accomplished, and
I will cause my
wrath toward them
to rest, and
I will be
comforted. They
will know that
I, the LORD,
have spoken in
my zeal, when
I have
accomplished my
wrath on them.
14 “ ‘Moreover
I will make
you a desolation
and a reproach
among the nations
that are around
you, in the
sight of all
that pass by.
15 So
it will be
a reproach and
a taunt, an
instruction and an
astonishment, to
the nations that
are around you,
when I execute
judgments on you
in anger and
in wrath, and
in wrathful
rebukes—I, the
LORD, have spoken
it—
16 when
I send on
them the evil
arrows of famine
that are for
destruction, which
I will send
to destroy you.
I will increase
the famine on
you and will
break your staff
of bread.
17 I
will send on
you famine and
evil animals, and
they will bereave
you. Pestilence
and blood will
pass through you.
I will bring
the sword on
you. I, the
LORD, have spoken
it.’ ”