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.

You, son of man, take a sharp sword; You shall take it as a barber’s razor to you, and shall cause it to pass on your head and on your beard: then take balances to weigh, 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.

A third part you shall burn in the fire in the middle of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled; and you shall take a third part, and strike with the sword around 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 take of it a few in number, and bind them in your skirts.

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.

Of these again you shall take, and cast them into the middle of the fire, and burn them in the fire; from it shall a fire come out 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 Yahweh: This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the middle of the nations, and countries are 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.’

She has rebelled against my ordinances in doing wickedness more than the nations, and against my statutes more than the countries that are around her; for they have 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 Yahweh: Because you are turbulent more than the nations that are around you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my ordinances, neither have done after the ordinances of the nations that are around 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 Yahweh: 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.

I will do in you that which I have not done, and which I will not do any more the like, because of all your abominations.

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 the fathers shall eat the sons in within you, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments on you; and the whole remnant of you will I 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 Yahweh, surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things, and with all your abominations, therefore will I also diminish you; neither shall my eye spare, 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.

A third part of you shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed within you; and a third part shall fall by the sword around you; and a third part I will scatter 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 accomplished, and I will cause my wrath toward them to rest, and I shall be comforted; and they shall know that I, Yahweh, have spoken in my zeal, when I have accomplished my wrath on 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 around you, in the sight of all that 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, an instruction and an astonishment, to the nations that are around you, when I shall execute judgments on you in anger and in wrath, and in wrathful rebukes; (I, Yahweh, 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 send on them the evil arrows of famine, that are for destruction, which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine on 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 on you famine and evil animals, and they shall bereave you; and pestilence and blood shall pass through you; and I will bring the sword on you: I, Yahweh, have spoken it.