TRV
Translation
King James Version
Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.
Complete Jewish Bible
Again, of these take some; throw them in the fire, and burn them up; from there a fire will come out against the entire house of Isra'el.
Berean Standard Bible
Again, take a few of these, throw them into the fire, and burn them. From there a fire will spread to the whole house of Israel.
American Standard Version
And of these again shalt thou take, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; therefrom shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.
World English Bible Messianic
Of these again you shall take, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; from it shall a fire come out into all the house of Israel.
Geneva Bible (1599)
Then take of them againe and cast them into the middes of the fire, and burne them in the fire: for thereof shall a fire come foorth into all the house of Israel.
Young's Literal Translation
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.
In the KJVVerse 20,551 of 31,102
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Commentary on Ezekiel 5 verses 1–4
1 ¶ And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair.
2 Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.
3 Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts.
4 Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.
We have here the sign by which the utter destruction of Jerusalem is set forth; and here, as before, the prophet is himself the sign, that the people might see how much he affected himself with, and interested himself in, the case of Jerusalem, and how it lay to his heart, even when he foretold the desolations of it. he was so much concerned about it as to take what was done to it as done to himself, so far was he from desiring the woeful day.
I. He must shave off the hair of his head and beard (Eze 5:1), which signified God's utter rejecting and abandoning that people, as a useless worthless generation, such as could well be spared, nay, such as it would be his honour to part with; his judgments, and all the instruments he made use of in cutting them off, were this sharp knife and this razor, that were proper to be made use of, and would do execution. Jerusalem had been the head, but, having degenerated, had become as the hair, which, when it grows thick and long, is but a burden which a man wishes to get clear of, as God of the sinners in Zion. Ah! I will ease me of my adversaries, Isa 1:24. Ezekiel must not cut off that hair only which was superfluous, but cut it all off, denoting the full end that God would make of Jerusalem. The hair that would not be trimmed and kept neat and clean by the admonitions of the prophets must be all shaved off by utter destruction. Those will be ruined that will not be reformed.
II. He must weigh the hair and divide it into three parts. This intimates the very exact directing of God's judgments according to equity (by him men and their actions are weighed in the unerring balance of truth and righteousness) and the proportion which divine justice observes in punishing some by one judgment and others by another; one way or other, they shall all be met with. Some make the shaving of the hair to denote the loss of their liberty and of their honour: it was looked upon as a mark of ignominy, as in the disgrace Hanun put on David's ambassadors. It denotes also the loss of their joy, for they shaved their heads upon occasion of great mourning; I may add the loss of their Nazariteship, for the shaving of the head was a period to that vow (Num 6:18), and Jerusalem was now no longer looked upon as a holy city.
III. He must dispose of the hair so that it might all be destroyed or dispersed, Eze 5:2. 1. One third part must be burnt in the midst of the city, denoting the multitudes that should perish by famine and pestilence, and perhaps many in the conflagration of the city, when the days of the siege were fulfilled. Or the laying of that glorious city in ashes might well be looked upon as a third part of the destruction threatened. 2. Another third part was to be cut in pieces with a knife, representing the many who, during the siege, were slain by the sword, in their sallies out upon the besiegers, and especially when the city was taken by storm, the Chaldeans being then most furious and the Jews most feeble. 3. Another third part was to be scattered in the wind, denoting the carrying away of some into the land of the conqueror and the flight of others into the neighbouring countries for shelter; so that they were hurried, some one way and some another, like loose hairs in the wind. But, lest they should think that this dispersion would be their escape, God adds, I will draw out a sword after them, so that wherever they go evil shall pursue them. Note, God has variety of judgments wherewith to accomplish the destruction of a sinful people and to make an end when he begins.
IV. He must preserve a small quantity of the third sort that were to be scattered in the wind, and bind them in his skirts, as one would bind that which he is very mindful and careful of, Eze 5:3. This signified perhaps that little handful of people which were left under the government of Gedaliah, who, it was hoped, would keep possession of the land when the body of the people was carried into captivity. Thus God would have done well for them if they would have done well for themselves. But these few that were reserved must be taken and cast into the fire, Eze 5:4. When Gedaliah and his friends were slain the people that put themselves under his protection were scattered, some gone into Egypt, others carried off by the Chaldeans, and in short the land totally cleared of them; then this was fulfilled, for out of those combustions a fire came forth into all the house of Israel, who, as fuel upon the fire, kindled and consumed one another. Note, It is ill with a people when those are taken away in wrath that seemed to be marked for monuments of mercy; for then there is no remnant or escaping, none shut up or left.
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 1–4. Public domain.
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JeromeAD 420
Commentary on Ezekiel
(Chapter 5, verses 1 onwards) And you, son of man, take for yourself a sharp sword, like a barber's razor, and pass it over your head and your beard; then take scales for weighing and divide them. One third you shall burn in the midst of the city when the days of the siege are completed, one third you shall strike with the sword all around it, and one third you shall scatter to the wind; and I will unsheathe a sword after them. And you shall take from there a small number, and bind them at the top of the cloak, and take them out again and throw them into the midst of the fire, and burn them. From there a fire will come out into all the house of Israel. For three parts of hair and wool, one of which is burned in the midst of the city, another is cut with a sword around it, the third is scattered to and fro by the wind, of which a small part is taken and bound at the edge of the cloak, and again a little of the third part is thrown into the fire, from which a flame comes out into all the house of Israel. Seventy-four parts have been interpreted. And when they had said: Burn the fourth part with fire in the midst of the city, and cut the fourth part with a sword all around it, and scatter the fourth part to the wind, for there remained another fourth part to them, they added from their own: And take the fourth part and burn it in the midst of the city: as if it is not the same as the first, and something else was said in the first, something different in this one that was added. Finally, even in the following, the Lord Himself explained the riddle of the divided hairs into three parts through the Prophet, saying: The third part of you will die by pestilence, and be consumed by famine in your midst, signifying famine and pestilence as fire; and the third part of you will fall by the sword all around you, describing external killings and wars. But, he says, I will scatter your third part to every wind, showing those who are to be led into captivity. After them, he says he will lay bare or pour out his sword, so that captivity is not the last of their evils; and he will take from those dispersed and captive, and bind to the top of his cloak those who are to return from captivity to Jerusalem, and he will also take some part from them, and consume it with fire and flame, signifying the Macedonians under whom the inhabitants of Judaea, and especially Jerusalem, have suffered greatly. But what he says, from this, that is, the people of the Jews; or, according to the LXX, from her; so that it is understood, from the city of Jerusalem, fire will come forth into every house of Israel: The history of the Maccabees relates that a certain part of the Jews surrendered to Antiochus Epiphanes, and incited him to persecute the people, and many other things that are written in the same history, and in the volumes of Josephus, especially the discord between Hyrcanus and Alexander, on account of which Cneus Pompeius, the consul, took Jerusalem and subjected it to Roman rule; and afterwards, under Titus and Vespasian, the city was captured and the temple destroyed. And after fifty years, under Aelius Hadrianus, the city was burned to the ground and destroyed, to the extent that it also lost its original name. However, in the case of emperors, both the hair on their head and their beard are an indication of beauty and manliness, as if they are shaved, an ugly nakedness is revealed, and the most distant and, so to speak, lifeless part of the body is in the hair and beard: in the same way, Jerusalem and its people are lifeless and separated from the living body of God, being handed over to famine, disease, killing, and the sword, and to captivity and dispersion. From this dispersal, under the form of hair, a part of it is tied at the top of the cloak, so that a small amount may be handed over to fire again, from which an infinite flame, almost completely devastating, emerges into every house of Israel.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
Ezekiel 5:4 serves as the climactic and most severe act in a series of prophetic sign-acts, vividly portraying the comprehensive and inescapable nature of God's impending judgment upon Jerusalem and the entire nation of Israel. After depicting widespread destruction through famine, plague, and sword, this verse symbolizes that even the smallest, seemingly preserved remnant would ultimately face a pervasive, consuming fire of divine wrath, signifying that the consequences of Israel's persistent idolatry and rebellion would spread throughout the land, leaving no part untouched.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Ezekiel 5:4 employs powerful Symbolism and Metonymy to convey its message of pervasive judgment. The "fire" is a potent symbol, representing not only literal destruction but also the consuming wrath and purifying judgment of God. The entire sequence of actions with Ezekiel's hair, culminating in this verse, functions as a Prophetic Sign-Act, where the prophet's physical actions embody and communicate God's message more powerfully than words alone. The phrase "all the house of Israel" uses Metonymy, where "house" stands for the entire nation, emphasizing the comprehensive reach of the impending judgment. The repetition of "fire" and "burn" throughout the verse and the broader passage is an example of Repetition, which serves to underscore the intensity, certainty, and inescapable nature of the divine wrath. The overall narrative of the hair and its fate functions as an Allegory, where the specific details of Ezekiel's actions correspond to the various fates awaiting the people of Jerusalem and Israel.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Ezekiel 5:4 stands as a stark testament to the unwavering justice of God and the severe consequences of persistent sin, particularly the sin of idolatry and rebellion against a covenant-keeping God. It reveals that divine judgment, though often delayed, is utterly comprehensive when it finally comes, sparing few. This "fire" of judgment, while destructive, also carries a theological implication of purification, suggesting that even through such severe means, God is working to purge His people of their impurities, preparing them for a future, albeit distant, restoration. The judgment is not arbitrary but a righteous response to a nation that had repeatedly broken its covenant vows and defiled God's name among the nations, demonstrating that God's holiness demands a response to unrighteousness.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Ezekiel 5:4 serves as a profound and sobering reminder of the gravity of sin and the certainty of God's righteous judgment. For contemporary believers, it calls for serious introspection regarding personal and corporate sin, urging us to recognize that unaddressed rebellion against God's holiness can lead to devastating and far-reaching consequences. It compels us to understand that God's love is inextricably linked to His holiness and justice; He is not indifferent to sin or apathetic toward unrighteousness. This verse should cultivate a deep reverence for God and motivate a sincere desire for repentance and obedience. While the judgment described is severe, it also implicitly points to the redemptive purpose behind God's discipline—to purify a people for Himself. Therefore, our application should move beyond mere fear to a humble recognition of God's sovereignty and a renewed commitment to living in accordance with His will, trusting in His ultimate plan for restoration, even through difficult times of discipline.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What does the "fire" in Ezekiel 5:4 specifically represent?
Answer: The "fire" in Ezekiel 5:4 primarily represents the intense and pervasive divine judgment that would come upon Jerusalem and the entire house of Israel. It symbolizes the consuming wrath of God against their idolatry, rebellion, and covenant unfaithfulness. While destructive, biblical fire also often carries connotations of purification, suggesting that this severe judgment was intended to purge the nation of its impurities, albeit through painful means, to prepare a remnant for future restoration. The fire would consume and spread, indicating that the judgment would be inescapable and affect every part of the nation, leaving no one untouched.
Why is even the "remnant" subjected to fire in this verse?
Answer: The symbolic act in Ezekiel 5 initially shows a small portion of hair preserved in Ezekiel's garment (Ezekiel 5:3), representing a tiny remnant that God would preserve through the initial calamities. However, Ezekiel 5:4 describes taking some of that very remnant and casting it into the fire. This signifies the extreme thoroughness and severity of God's judgment. It implies that even those who might initially escape death by famine, plague, or sword would still face a further, pervasive "fire" of divine discipline or destruction. It underscores that the consequences of Israel's sin would be so far-reaching that few, if any, would completely escape the refining or destructive work of God's wrath, emphasizing the deep corruption that necessitated such a comprehensive judgment for the nation's ultimate purification.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
While Ezekiel 5:4 speaks of a terrifying judgment, its ultimate fulfillment points to Christ in several profound ways. The "fire" that comes forth into all the house of Israel, though destructive, also carries a purifying aspect, foreshadowing the ultimate divine judgment against sin that culminates in the person and work of Jesus Christ. He is the one who bears the full wrath of God for sin, becoming the ultimate sacrifice that cleanses and purifies His people from their iniquities (1 John 1:7). The severity of the judgment in Ezekiel highlights the desperate need for a Savior, one who could stand in the gap and offer a perfect atonement. Furthermore, the concept of a remnant, though severely disciplined in Ezekiel, finds its ultimate hope and true preservation in Christ. He gathers a new "house of Israel," not by physical lineage alone, but by faith, forming a spiritual Israel, the church, purified by His blood and indwelt by His Spirit (Romans 9:6-8). Thus, the consuming fire of judgment against sin, so vividly portrayed in Ezekiel, is ultimately absorbed and overcome by the sacrificial love of Christ, who offers true purification and eternal life to all who believe, ensuring that His redeemed "house" will stand firm and be preserved through the final judgment to come (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).