¹“You , son of man , take a sharp sword . You shall take it as a barber’s razor to yourself , and shall cause it to pass over your head and over your beard . Then take balances to weigh and divide the hair .

²A third part you shall burn in the fire in the middle of the city , when the days of the siege are fulfilled . You shall take a third part , and strike with the sword around it . A third part you shall scatter to the wind , and I will draw out a sword after them .

³You shall take a small number of these and bind them in the folds of your robe.

⁴Of these again you shall take , and cast them into the middle of the fire, and burn them in the fire. From it a fire will come out into all the house of Israel .

⁵“The Lord GOD says : ‘This is Jerusalem . I have set her in the middle of the nations , and countries are around her .

⁶She 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“Therefore the Lord GOD says : ‘Because you are more turbulent than the nations that are around you , and have not walked in my statutes , neither have kept my ordinances , neither have followed the ordinances of the nations that are around you ;

⁸therefore the Lord GOD says : ‘Behold , I , even I , am against you ; and I will execute judgements amongst you in the sight of the nations .

⁹I will do in you that which I have not done , and which I will not do anything like it any more , because of all your abominations .

¹⁰Therefore the fathers will eat the sons within you , and the sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgements on you ; and I will scatter the whole remnant of you to all the winds .

¹¹Therefore 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 I will also diminish you . My eye won’t spare , and I will have no pity .

¹²A third part of you will die with the pestilence , and they will be consumed with famine within you . A third part will fall by the sword around you . A third part I will scatter to all the winds , and will draw out a sword after them .

¹³“‘Thus my anger will be accomplished , and I will cause my wrath towards them to rest , and I will be comforted . They will know that I , the LORD , have spoken in my zeal , when I have accomplished my wrath on them .

¹⁴“‘Moreover I will make you a desolation and a reproach amongst the nations that are around you , in the sight of all that pass by .

¹⁵So it will be a reproach and a taunt , an instruction and an astonishment , to the nations that are around you , when I execute judgements on you in anger and in wrath , and in wrathful rebukes —I , the LORD , have spoken it —

¹⁶when I send on them the evil arrows of famine that are for destruction , which I will send to destroy you . I will increase the famine on you and will break your staff of bread .

¹⁷I will send on you famine and evil animals , and they will bereave you . Pestilence and blood will pass through you . I will bring the sword on you . I , the LORD , have spoken it .’”