Ezekiel 5

And you, son of man: take a sharp sword and use it like a barber's razor, and shave your head and your beard. Then take scales for weighing, and divide the hair into parts.

1And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber’s razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair.

Note"Son of man" translates a Hebrew phrase meaning simply "human being" or "mortal"; it is how God addresses Ezekiel throughout this book. What follows is a sign-act, prophecy performed rather than spoken, continuing the model siege of Jerusalem that Ezekiel laid out on a clay brick in the previous chapter. For an Israelite man, a shaved head and beard signaled mourning or public humiliation; prisoners of war were shaved, and priests, which Ezekiel was by birth, were forbidden to shave head or beard at all. The scales are a merchant's balances: the hair is to be divided by exact weight, the way silver or grain would be.

2When the days of the siege are over, burn a third of the hair in a fire inside the city. Take another third and strike it with the sword all around the city. Scatter the last third to the wind, and I will chase after them with a drawn sword.

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

Note"The city" is the model of Jerusalem drawn on the brick, not the real city; the hair is burned and struck at the model. "Chase after them with a drawn sword" translates an idiom for pulling a sword from its sheath and pursuing, the ones who escape are still hunted.

3But take a few of the hairs, only a small number, and tie them into the folds of your robe.

3Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts.

NoteAncient robes had no pockets. The loose fold of cloth at the chest, or the hem gathered up, served as a pouch for carrying things. The hem of a man's garment also carried weight in Israelite custom as a mark of his identity and of the protection he extended.

4Then take some of those few again, throw them into the middle of the fire, and burn them there. From there a fire will spread out to all the people of Israel.

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.

NoteThe text does not say who the few saved-then-burned hairs stand for, and it is left deliberately open: a remnant is set aside, and even part of that remnant goes into the fire.

5This is what the Lord GOD says: This is Jerusalem. I placed her in the middle of the nations, with countries all around her.

5Thus saith the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.

NoteWhere this text prints "LORD" in capitals, it stands for the personal name of Israel's God, written in Hebrew with four consonants (YHWH) and read aloud as "the Lord"; "Lord GOD" renders the Hebrew pair meaning "my Lord YHWH." "In the middle of the nations" is a way of describing Jerusalem as set at the center of the surrounding peoples, in plain view of them all.

6But she has turned against my rulings and acted more wickedly than the nations, and against my laws more than the countries around her. Her people have rejected my rulings and my laws, and have not lived by them.

6And she hath 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.

Note"Rulings" and "laws" (KJV "judgments" and "statutes") are the two standard Hebrew terms for legal material: decisions handed down case by case, and standing decrees. They are named as a pair throughout this chapter.

7So this is what the Lord GOD says: You have been more out of control than the nations around you. You have not lived by my laws or kept my rulings. You have not even kept the laws of the nations around you.

7Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, 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;

NoteThe Hebrew of this verse is difficult and disputed. The word KJV renders "multiplied" comes from a root for noise, tumult and unruliness (hence "more turbulent" or "more insubordinate." The final clause is also uncertain: many Hebrew manuscripts and ancient translations lack the word "not," giving "you have acted according to the rules of the nations around you") that is, copied them, rather than "you have not even kept" them. Both readings are old.

8So this is what the Lord GOD says: Look, I myself am against you. I will carry out my judgments among you where the nations can watch.

8Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations.

9Because of all your detestable practices, I will do to you what I have never done before, and what I will never do again.

9And I will do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like, because of all thine abominations.

Note"Detestable practices" (KJV "abominations") translates a Hebrew word for what is repulsive and out of place in worship, used above all for idol worship and the rites that went with it.

10So fathers among you will eat their sons, and sons will eat their fathers. I will carry out my judgments against you, and everyone left of you I will scatter to every wind.

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

NoteParents eating their children is a fixed phrase in the curses attached to Israel's covenant (Leviticus 26:29; Deuteronomy 28:53–57), and it describes what did in fact happen in long sieges once a walled city's food ran out.

11So, as surely as I live, says the Lord GOD: because you have made my holy house filthy with all your disgusting idols and detestable practices, I myself will cut you back. My eye will not spare you, and I will show you no pity.

11Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD; Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity.

Note"As surely as I live" is an oath formula: the speaker swears by his own life, the strongest guarantee available. "My holy house" is the temple in Jerusalem. "Cut you back" renders a KJV "diminish" whose Hebrew verb means to shear away, trim off or withdraw, a word at home in the shaving imagery of verse 1, not to lower in status.

12A third of your people will die of deadly disease, and hunger will finish them off inside your walls. A third will fall by the sword outside your walls. And a third I will scatter to every wind, and chase after them with a drawn sword.

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

NotePlague, famine and the sword are a fixed trio in Hebrew prophecy for the ways a besieged population dies: disease and starvation inside the walls, weapons outside them.

13Then my anger will be finished, and I will let my fury settle on them, and I will be satisfied. When I have spent my fury on them, they will know that I, the LORD, spoke out of my burning zeal.

13Thus shall mine 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.

NoteKJV's "I will be comforted" uses "comfort" in its older sense of being appeased or satisfied, anger spent, not consoled. "Zeal" translates a word meaning jealous passion: the fierce, possessive protectiveness of a husband or a king over what belongs to him.

14I will also turn you into a ruin and a disgrace among the nations around you, in full view of everyone who passes by.

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

15You will be an insult and a mocking word, a warning and a horror to the nations around you, when I carry out my judgments against you in anger, in fury, and in furious correction. I the LORD have spoken.

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

NoteKJV's "an instruction and an astonishment" uses both words in senses now lost: "instruction" means a warning example, a lesson others draw from someone else's punishment, and "astonishment" means stunned horror, not admiration.

16I will shoot at them the deadly arrows of hunger, arrows that bring ruin, which I will send to destroy you. I will make the hunger worse and worse, and cut off your supply of bread.

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: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:

Note"Cut off your supply of bread" renders the Hebrew idiom "break your staff of bread": bread is pictured as the walking staff that holds a person upright, so breaking it means removing the support life depends on. Famine and disease were also commonly pictured in the ancient Near East as arrows shot by a god.

17So I will send hunger and wild animals against you, and they will leave you with no children. Deadly disease and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I the LORD have spoken.

17So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the LORD have spoken it.