Ezekiel5

Ezekiel is commanded to perform a symbolic act involving shaving his hair, dividing it, and subjecting it to fire, sword, and scattering, representing God's impending judgment on Jerusalem. The Lord declares that Jerusalem, having rebelled against His laws more than the surrounding nations, will face severe and unprecedented punishments. These judgments include death by pestilence, famine, and sword, with a remnant scattered among the nations. Ultimately, Jerusalem will become a reproach and astonishment to the surrounding peoples.

The Symbolic Act of Shaving and Dividing Hair

1
`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 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 thou hast taken thence a few in number--and hast bound them in thy skirts;
4
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.

Jerusalem's Unique Status and Condemnation

5
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 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
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.

God Declares Unprecedented Judgment

8
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 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 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, 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
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.

The Fulfillment of Divine Wrath

13
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 give thee for a waste, And for a reproach among nations that are round about thee, Before the eyes of every passer by.
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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.
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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.
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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!'
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