1 The Siege of Jerusalem “Now as for you, son of man, take a sharp sword; take and 5:1Lit make it pass over your head use itasa barber’s razor on your head and beard. Then take scales for weighing and divide 5:1Lit them the hair.
2 One-third you shall burn in the fire at the center of the city when the days of the siege are fulfilled. Then you shall take one-third and strikeitwith the sword all around 5:2Lit it the city, and one-third you shall scatter to the wind; and I will unsheathe a sword behind them.
3 You shall also take a few in number from 5:3Lit there them and bind them in the edges of yourrobes.
4 Take again some of them and throw them into the fire and burn them in the fire; from it a fire will 5:4Lit go out spread to all the house of Israel.
5 “Thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘This is Jerusalem; I have set her at the center of the nations, with lands all around her.
6 But she has rebelled against My judgments more wickedly than the nations and against My statutes more than the lands which are all around her; for they have rejected My judgments and have not walked 5:6 Lit in them, My statutes in My statutes.’
7 Therefore, thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Because you have more turmoil than the nations which are all around youandhave not walked in My statutes, nor done My judgments, nor done the judgments of the nations which are all around you,’
8 therefore, thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Behold, I, even I, am against you, and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations.
9 And I will do among you what I have not done and the like of which I will never do again because of all your abominations.
10 Therefore, fathers will eattheirsons among you, and sons will eat their fathers; for I will execute judgments on you and scatter all your remnant to every wind.
11 So as I live,’ declares Lord Yahweh, ‘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 One-third of you will die by the plague or be consumed by the 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 ‘Thus My anger will be spent, and I will cause My wrath against them to be at rest, and I will be 5:13 Lit comforted appeased; then they will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken in My zeal when I have spent My wrath upon them.
14 Moreover, I will make you a 5:14Or waste place ruin and a reproach among the nations which are all around you, in the sight of all who pass by.
15 So 5:15Ancient versions you it will be a reproach, a reviling, a chastisement, and a desecration to the nations who are all around you when I execute judgments against you in anger, wrath, and wrathful reproofs. I, Yahweh, have spoken.
16 When I send against them the 5:16Lit evil deadly arrows of famine which 5:16Or are for destruction, which I will send 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 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, Yahweh, have spoken.’ ”