Jerusalem Will Be Destroyed

¹“And you, aO son of man, take a bsharp sword. Use it as ca barber's razor and dpass it over your head and your beard. Then take balances for weighing and divide the hair. ²eA third part you shall burn in the fire fin the midst of the city, gwhen the days of the siege are completed. And a third part you shall take and strike with the sword all around the city. hAnd a third part you shall scatter to the wind, and iI will unsheathe the sword after them. ³jAnd you shall take from these a small number and bind them in the skirts of your robe. ⁴kAnd 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: lThis is Jerusalem. I have set her min the center of the nations, with countries all around her. ⁶And she has rebelled against my rules by doing wickedness nmore than the nations, and against my statutes more than mthe 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 omore turbulent than the nations that are all around you, pand have not walked in my statutes or obeyed my rules, qand have not1 even acted according to the rules of the nations that are all around you, ⁸therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, even I, ram against you. sAnd I will execute judgments2 in your midst tin the sight of the nations. ⁹And because of all your abominations I will do with you uwhat I have never yet done, and the like of which I will never do again. ¹⁰Therefore vfathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers. sAnd I will execute judgments on you, wand any of you who survive I will scatter to all the winds. ¹¹Therefore, xas I live, declares the Lord God, surely, ybecause you have defiled my sanctuary zwith all your detestable things and with all your aabominations, btherefore I will withdraw.3 cMy eye will not spare, and I will have no pity. ¹²dA third part of you shall die of pestilence and be consumed with famine in your midst; da third part shall fall by the sword all around you; dand a third part I will scatter to all the winds and will unsheathe the sword after them.

¹³e“Thus shall my anger spend itself, and I will vent my fury upon them and satisfy myself. And they shall know that fI am the Lord—that I have spoken in my jealousy—ewhen I spend my fury upon them. ¹⁴Moreover, I will make you ga desolation and han object of reproach among ithe nations all around you and in the sight of all who pass by. ¹⁵You shall be4 a reproach and a taunt, a warning jand a horror, to ithe nations all around you, kwhen I execute judgments on you in anger and fury, and lwith furious rebukes—I am the Lord; I have spoken— ¹⁶when I send against you5 mthe deadly arrows of famine, arrows for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, and when I bring more and more famine upon nyou and break your supply6 of bread. ¹⁷I will send famine and owild beasts against you, pand they will rob you of your children. Pestilence and qblood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword upon you. I am the Lord; I have spoken.”