1 “ 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.

And you, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor and shave your head and your beard. Then take balances for weighing and divide the hair into three parts.

2 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.

You shall burn one part with fire in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled; and you shall take a second part and strike with the sword round about it; and a third part you shall scatter to the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them.

3 T ake a small number of the hairs and tie them in the cloth of your coat.

You shall also take from these a small number of hairs and bind them in the skirts of your robe.

4 T ake 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.

And of these again take some hairs and cast them into the midst of the fire and burn them in the fire; from there a fire shall come forth into all the house of Israel.

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

Thus says the Lord God: This is Jerusalem; in the center of the nations I have set her, and countries are round about her.

6 B ut 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.’

And she has changed and rebelled against My ordinances more wickedly than the nations, and against My statutes more than the countries that are round about her; for rejected My ordinances, and as for My statutes, they have not walked in them.

7 S o 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,’

Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you were more turbulent and raged more than the nations that are round about you and have not walked in My statutes, neither have kept My ordinances, nor have done according to the ordinances the nations that are round about you;

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

Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, even I, am against you, and I will execute judgments in the midst of you in the sight of the nations.

9 B ecause 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.

And because of all your abominations, I will do in you that which I have not done and the like of which I will never do again.

10 F athers 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.

Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments on you and all who are left of you I will scatter to all the winds.

11 Y ou 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.

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 will I also diminish you and withdraw My eye that it shall not spare you. And I also will have no pity.

12 O ne 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.

And a third of you shall die of pestilence and be consumed by famine in the midst of you; a third shall fall by the sword round about you; and I will scatter a third to all the winds and will draw out a sword after them.

13 ‘ 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.

Thus shall My anger be spent and I will cause My wrath toward them to rest and I will be eased and comforted. And they shall know, understand, and realize that I the Lord have spoken in My zeal, when I have accomplished My wrath upon them.

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

Moreover, I will make you a desolation and a reproach among the nations that are round about you and in the sight of all who pass by.

15 Y ou 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.

So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and a horror and an astonishment to the nations around you when I shall execute judgments upon you in anger and in wrath and in furious chastisements and rebukes—I the Lord have spoken it.

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

When I shall loose against them the evil arrows of hunger that are for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, then I will increase the famine upon you and will break your staff of bread.

17 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.’”

And I will send upon you hunger and wild beasts, and they shall bereave you; and pestilence and blood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword upon you. I the Lord have spoken it.