1 And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp sword. [As] a barber's razor thou shall take it to thee, and shall cause it to pass upon thy head and upon thy beard. Then take thee balances to weigh and divide the hair.

2 A third part thou shall burn in the fire in the midst of the city when the days of the siege are fulfilled, and thou shall take a third part, and smite with the sword round about it, and a third part thou shall scatter to the wind.

3 And thou shall take from it a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts.

4 And of these again thou shall take, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire. From there a fire shall come forth into all the house of Israel.

5 Thus says lord LORD: This is Jerusalem. I have set her in the midst of the nations, and countries are round about her.

6 And she has rebelled against my ordinances in doing wickedness more than the nations, and against my statutes more than the countries that are round about her, for they have rejected my ordinances, and as for my statutes, they have

7 Therefore thus says lord LORD: Because ye are more disorderly than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, nor have kept my ordinances, no, ye have not even done according to the ordinances of the

8 therefore thus says lord LORD: Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and I will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations.

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

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

11 Therefore, as I live, says lord LORD, surely, because thou have defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore I also will diminish [thee], nor shall my eye spare. And I also will ha

12 A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and they shall be consumed with famine in the midst of thee, and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee, and a third part I will scatter to all the winds, and will

13 Thus my anger shall be accomplished, and I will cause my wrath toward them to rest, and I shall be comforted. And they shall know that I, LORD, have spoken in my zeal, when I have accomplished my wrath upon them.

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

15 So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, a lesson and an astonishment, to the nations that are round about thee, when I shall execute judgments on thee in anger and in wrath, and in wrathful rebukes--I, LORD, have spoken it--

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

17 And I will 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, LORD, have spoken it.