< Ezekiel 5 >

1 “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.
'And thou, son of man, take to thee a sharp weapon, the barber's razor thou dost take to thee, and thou hast caused [it] to pass over thy head, and over thy beard, and thou hast taken to thee weighing scales, and apportioned them.
2 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.
A third part with fire thou dost burn in the midst of the city, at the fulness of the days of the siege; and thou hast taken the third part, thou dost smite with a weapon round about it; and the third part thou dost scatter to the wind, and a weapon I draw out after them.
3 And you shall take from there a small number. And you shall bind them in the end of your cloak.
And thou hast taken thence a few in number — and hast bound them in thy skirts;
4 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.”
and of them thou dost take again, and hast cast them unto the midst of the fire, and hast burned them in the fire — out of it cometh forth a fire unto all the house of Israel.
5 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.
Thus said the Lord Jehovah: this [is] Jerusalem, In the midst of the nations I have set her, And round about her [are] the lands.
6 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.”
And she changeth My judgments into wickedness more than the nations, And My statutes more than the lands that [are] round about her, For against My judgments they have kicked, And My statutes — they have not walked in them.
7 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:
Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because of your multiplying above the nations that [are] around you, In My statutes ye have not walked, And My judgments ye have not done, According to the judgments of the nations That [are] round about you ye have not done.
8 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.
Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I [am] against thee, even I, And I have done in thy midst judgments, Before the eyes of the nations.
9 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.
And I have done in thee that which I have not done, And that which I do not its like again, Because of all thine abominations.
10 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.
Therefore fathers do eat sons in thy midst, And sons eat their fathers, And I have done in thee judgments, And have scattered all thy remnant to every wind.
11 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.
Therefore, I live — an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah: Because My sanctuary thou hast defiled, With all thy detestable things, And with all thine abominations, Mine eye pitieth not, and I also spare not. Do not even I also diminish?
12 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.
Thy third part — by pestilence they die, And by famine are consumed in thy midst, And the third part, by sword they fall round about thee, And the third part, to every wind I scatter, And a sword I draw out after them.
13 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.
And completed hath been Mine anger, And I have caused My fury to rest on them, And I have been comforted, And they have known that I, Jehovah, have spoken in My zeal, In My completing My fury on them.
14 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.
And I give thee for a waste, And for a reproach among nations that [are] round about thee, Before the eyes of every passer by.
15 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.
And it hath been a reproach and a reviling, An instruction and an astonishment, To nations that [are] round about thee, In My doing in thee judgments, In anger and fury, and in furious reproofs, I, Jehovah, have spoken.
16 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.
In My sending the evil arrows of famine among them, That have been for destruction, That I send to destroy you, And famine I am adding upon you, And I have broken to you the staff of bread.
17 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.”
And I have sent on you famine and evil beasts, And they have bereaved thee, And pestilence and blood pass over on thee, And a sword I do bring in against thee, I, Jehovah, have spoken!'

< Ezekiel 5 >