1 “ And you, son of man, take a sharp sword, take it as a barber’s razor, and pass it over your head and your beard; then take scales to weigh and divide the hair.

“As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword. Use it to cut the hair from your head and face. Then weigh and divide the hair.

2 Y ou shall burn with fire one-third in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are finished; then you shall take one-third and strike around it with the sword, and one-third you shall scatter in the wind: I will draw out a sword after them.

A third part you must burn in the fire in the center of the city, when the days of the battle are completed. Then take a third part and cut it up with your sword as you move around the city. And a third part you must throw to the wind. For I will pull out a sword behind them.

3 Y ou shall also take a small number of them and bind them in the edge of your garment.

Take a small number of the hairs and tie them in the cloth of your coat.

4 T hen take some of them again and throw them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire. From there a fire will go out into all the house of Israel.

Take some more of them and throw them into the fire, and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to all the people of Israel.

5 “ Thus says the Lord God: ‘This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the midst of the nations and the countries all around her.

The Lord God says, ‘This is Jerusalem. I have set her in the center of the nations, with lands around her.

6 S he has rebelled against My judgments by doing wickedness more than the nations, and against My statutes more than the countries that are all around her; for they have refused My judgments, and they have not walked in My statutes.’

But she has turned against My Laws worse than the nations and the lands around her. The people of Jerusalem have turned away from My Laws and have not obeyed them.’

7 T herefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Because you have multiplied disobedience more than the nations that are all around you, have not walked in My statutes nor kept My judgments, nor even done according to the judgments of the nations that are all around you’—

So the Lord God says, ‘You have been more sinful than the nations around you. You have not walked in My Laws or kept them. You have not even kept Laws like the nations around you have. Because you have acted this way,’

8 t herefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Indeed I, even I, am against you and will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations.

the Lord God says, ‘I Myself am against you, and I will punish you in the eyes of the nations.

9 A nd I will do among you what I have never done, and the like of which I will never do again, because of all your abominations.

Because of all the things you have done which I hate, I will do with you what I have never done before, and what I will never do again.

10 T herefore fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments among you, and all of you who remain I will scatter to all the winds.

Fathers will eat their sons among you, and sons will eat their fathers. I will punish you and divide you, and spread to every wind those of you who are left.

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 will not spare, nor will I have any pity.

You have made My holy place unclean with all your hated objects of worship and sinful ways. So as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘for sure I will turn away from you. My eye will have no pity and I will punish all of you.

12 O ne-third of you shall die of the pestilence, and be consumed with famine in your midst; and one-third shall fall by the sword all around you; and I will scatter another third to all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.

One third of you will die by disease or be destroyed by hunger among you. A third will be killed by the sword around you. And a third I will spread to every wind, and go after them with a sword.

13 ‘ Thus shall My anger be spent, and I will cause My fury to rest upon them, and I will be avenged; and they shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it in My zeal, when I have spent My fury upon them.

‘This is how My anger will stop. I will cause My anger to be upon them, and I will be comforted. Then they will know that I, the Lord, have spoken in My jealousy when I have sent My anger upon them.

14 M oreover I will make you a waste and a reproach among the nations that are all around you, in the sight of all who pass by.

I will make you a waste and a shame among the nations around you, in the eyes of all who pass by.

15 ‘ So it shall be a reproach, a taunt, a lesson, and an astonishment to the nations that are all around you, when I execute judgments among you in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I, the Lord, have spoken.

You will be a shame, and people will speak against you. You will show people the danger of sinning and fill the nations around you with fear, when I punish you in anger and with angry words. I, the Lord, have spoken.

16 W hen I send against them the terrible arrows of famine which shall be for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, I will increase the famine upon you and cut off your supply of bread.

I will keep you from getting food. I will make your hunger worse, and take away the bread you need.

17 S o I will send against you famine and wild beasts, and they will bereave you. Pestilence and blood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I, the Lord, have spoken.’”

I will send hunger and wild animals against you, and they will take away your children. Disease and death will pass through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I, the Lord, have spoken.’”