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.

“As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword; take and use it as a barber’s razor on your head and beard. Then take scales for weighing and divide the hair.

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.

One third you shall burn in the fire at the center of the city, when the days of the siege are completed. Then you shall take one third and strike it with the sword all around the city, and one third you shall scatter to the wind; and I will unsheathe a sword behind them.

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

Take also a few in number from them and bind them in the edges of your robes.

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.

Take again some of them and throw them into the fire and burn them in the fire; from it a fire will spread to 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; I have set her at the center of the nations, with lands around 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.’

But she has rebelled against My ordinances more wickedly than the nations and against My statutes more than the lands which surround her; for they have rejected My ordinances and have not walked in My statutes.’

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 have more turmoil than the nations which surround you and have not walked in My statutes, nor observed My ordinances, nor observed the ordinances of the nations which surround 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 among 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 among you what 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 will eat their sons among you, and sons will eat their fathers; for I will execute judgments on you and scatter all your remnant to every wind.

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.

So as I live,’ declares the Lord God, ‘surely, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and with all your abominations, therefore I will also withdraw, and My eye will have no pity and I will not spare.

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.

One third of you will die by plague or be consumed by famine among you, one third will fall by the sword around you, and one third I will scatter to every wind, and I will unsheathe a sword behind 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 My anger will be spent and I will satisfy My wrath on them, and I will be appeased; then they will know that I, the Lord, have spoken in My zeal when I have spent 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 which surround you, 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 will be a reproach, a reviling, a warning and an object of horror to the nations who surround you when I execute judgments against you in anger, wrath and raging rebukes. I, the Lord, have spoken.

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

When I send against them the deadly arrows of famine which were for the destruction of those whom I will send to destroy you, then I will also intensify the famine upon you and break the 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.’”

Moreover, I will send on you famine and wild beasts, and they will bereave you of children; plague and bloodshed also will pass through you, and I will bring the sword on you. I, the Lord, have spoken.’”