EZEKIEL 5 [†]“And you,  a O son of man, take a  b sharp sword. Use it as  c a barber’s razor and  d pass it over your head and your beard. Then take balances for weighing and divide the hair. 2[^] e A third part you shall burn in the fire  f in the midst of the city,  g when the days of the siege are completed. And a third part you shall take and strike with the sword all around the city.  h And a third part you shall scatter to the wind, and  i I will unsheathe the sword after them. 3 j And you shall take from these a small number and bind them in the skirts of your robe. 4 k And of these again you shall take some and cast them into the midst of the fire and burn them in the fire. From there a fire will come out into all the house of Israel.

5[†]“Thus says the Lord GOD:  l This is Jerusalem. I have set her  m in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. 6And she has rebelled against my rules by doing wickedness  n more than the nations, and against my statutes more than  m the countries all around her; for they have rejected my rules and have not walked in my statutes. 7Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you are  o more turbulent than the nations that are all around you,  p and have not walked in my statutes or obeyed my rules,  q and have not [1] even acted according to the rules of the nations that are all around you, 8[^][†]therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, even I,  r am against you.  s And I will execute judgments [2] in your midst  t in the sight of the nations. 9And because of all your abominations I will do with you  u what I have never yet done, and the like of which I will never do again. 10Therefore  v fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers.  s And I will execute judgments on you,  w and any of you who survive I will scatter to all the winds. 11[†]Therefore,  x as I live, declares the Lord GOD, surely,  y because you have defiled my sanctuary  z with all your detestable things and with all your  a abominations,  b therefore I will withdraw. [3]  c My eye will not spare, and I will have no pity. 12[†] d A third part of you shall die of pestilence and be consumed with famine in your midst;  d a third part shall fall by the sword all around you;  d and a third part I will scatter to all the winds and will unsheathe the sword after them.

13[^] e “Thus shall my anger spend itself, and I will vent my fury upon them and satisfy myself. And they shall know that  f I am the LORD—that I have spoken in my jealousy— e when I spend my fury upon them. 14Moreover, I will make you  g a desolation and  h an object of reproach among  i the nations all around you and in the sight of all who pass by. 15You shall be [4] a reproach and a taunt, a warning  j and a horror, to  i the nations all around you,  k when I execute judgments on you in anger and fury, and  l with furious rebukes—I am the LORD; I have spoken— 16[†]when I send against you [5]  m the deadly arrows of famine, arrows for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, and when I bring more and more famine upon  n you and break your supply [6] of bread. 17I will send famine and  o wild beasts against you,  p and they will rob you of your children. Pestilence and  q blood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword upon you. I am the LORD; I have spoken.”