A Sword Against Jerusalem

1And you, son of man, take you a sharp knife, take you a barber’s razor, and cause it to pass upon your head and upon your beard: then take you balances to weight, and divide the hair.

2You shall burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and you shall take a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part you shall scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.   strike

3You shall also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in your skirts.

4Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.

5Thus says the Lord God; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.   Adonai^p.f. Jehovah^s.f.

6And she has changed My judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and My statutes more than the countries that are round about her: for they have refused My judgments and My statutes, they have not walked in them.

7Therefore thus says the Lord God; Because you^p multiplied more than the nations that are round about you^p, and have not walked in My statutes, neither have kept My judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you^p;   have done worse

8Therefore thus says the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, am against you, and will execute judgments in the midst of you in the sight of the nations.

9And I will do in you that which I have not done, and whereto I will not do any more the like, because of all your abominations.   vile, detestable things

10Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of you, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in you, and the whole remnant of you will I scatter into all the winds.

11Wherefore, 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; neither shall My eye spare, neither will I have any pity.   holy place; idols

12A third part of you shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of you: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about you; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.   disease

13Thus shall My anger be accomplished, and I will cause My fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the Lord have spoken it in My zeal, when I have accomplished My fury in them.

14Moreover I will make you waste, and a reproach among the nations that are round about you, in the sight of all that pass by.   ruined

15So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment to the nations that are round about you, when I shall execute judgments in you in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I the Lord have spoken it.   horror

16When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you^p: and I will increase the famine upon you^p, and will break your^p staff of bread:

17So will I send upon you^p famine and evil 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.