Ezekiel 5

Shaving the Hair as a Sign

1 “Now you, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it like a barber’s razor. Shave your head and your beard, then take a scale and divide the hair.

2 Burn one-third of it in the middle of the city when the days of the siege are finished. Take another third and strike it with the sword all around the city. Scatter the last third to the wind, and I will chase them with a drawn sword.

3 But take a few strands and tuck them into the folds of your robe.

4 Then take some of those and throw them into the fire and burn them up. From there a fire will spread out to the whole house of Israel.

Jerusalem Judged for Rebellion

5 This is what the Lord GOD says: “This is Jerusalem. I set her in the middle of the nations, with countries all around her.

6 But she rebelled against My laws and My statutes more than the nations and countries around her. They rejected My ordinances and refused to walk in My ways.

7 So this is what the Lord GOD says: Because you caused more trouble than the nations around you, did not walk in My statutes, did not keep My ordinances, and did not even live by the standards of the nations around you,

8 therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I Myself am against you, Jerusalem. I will carry out judgments against you in the sight of the nations.

9 Because of all your disgusting acts, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again.

10 Parents will eat their children in your midst, and children will eat their parents. I will carry out judgments against you and scatter all who remain to every wind.

11 So as I live,” declares the Lord GOD, “because you defiled My sanctuary with all your vile images and disgusting practices, I Myself will withdraw My favor. My eye will not spare you, and I will show no pity.

12 One-third of you will die by plague or be wiped out by famine inside you. One-third will fall by the sword around you. One-third I will scatter to the winds, and I will chase them with the sword.

A Warning to the Nations

13 Then My anger will be satisfied, My wrath will rest, and I will be appeased. They will know that I, the LORD, have spoken in My zeal when I spend My wrath on them.

14 I will make you a ruin and a disgrace among the nations around you, in the sight of everyone who passes by.

15 You will be an insult and a mockery, a warning and a horror to the nations around you, when I carry out judgments against you in anger, wrath, and fierce rebukes, I, the LORD, have spoken.

16 When I send the deadly arrows of famine against you, arrows meant to destroy, I will send famine and cut off your food supply.

17 I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will rob you of your children. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I, the LORD, have spoken.”