1 And thou, son of man, take unto thyself a sharp sword, a barber’s razor shalt thou take for it unto thyself, and cause it to pass over thy head and over thy beard: then take unto thee balances for weighing, and divide the hair.

2 One third part shalt thou burn with fire in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are completed; and thou shalt take another third part, and smite it round about it with the sword; and the other third part shalt thou scatter to the wind: and I will draw out a sword after the same.

3 And take thence a few in number, and tie them up in the corners of thy garment.

4 And from these again shalt thou take some, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire: therefrom shall a fire go forth unto all the house of Israel.

5 Thus hath said the Lord Eternal, This is Jerusalem, which I had set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.

6 But she rebelled against my ordinances more wickedly than the nations, and against my statutes, more than the countries that are round about her; for my ordinances they have despised, and as for my statutes, they have not walked in them.

7 Therefore thus hath said the Lord Eternal, Because ye have given yourselves up to evil more than the nations that are round about you, have not walked in my statutes, and have not executed my ordinances, and not even acted according to the ordinances of the nations that are round about you:

8 Therefore thus hath said the Lord Eternal, Behold, I, also I am against thee, and I will execute judgments in the midst of thee before the eyes of the nations.

9 And I will do in thee that which I have never done, and the like of which I will never do any more, because of all thy abominations.

10 Therefore fathers shall devour their children in the midst of thee, and children shall devour their fathers: and I will execute judgments on thee, and I will scatter all thy remnant unto all the winds.

11 Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord Eternal, Surely, because thou hast made unclean my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thy abominations: therefore will I also diminish thee; and my eye shall not show pity, and I also will not spare.

12 A third part of thee shall die through the pestilence, and come through famine to their end in the midst of thee; and another third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and the other third part will I scatter unto all the winds, and a sword will I draw out after them.

13 Thus shall my anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will satisfy myself: and they shall know that I the Lord have spoken it in my zeal, when I have let out all my fury on them.

14 Yea, I will render thee a ruin, and a disgrace among the nations that are round about thee, before the eyes of every one that passeth by.

15 And she shall be a disgrace and a taunt, a warning and an astonishment unto the nations that are round about thee, when I execute judgments on thee in anger and in fury and in furious chastisements,––I the Lord have spoken it,––

16 When I send out among them the dreadful arrows of famine, which ever were the cause of destruction, which I will send out to destroy you; and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break unto you the staff of bread:

17 So will I let loose over you famine and wild beasts, and they shall make thee childless; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and the sword will I bring over thee. I the Lord have spoken it.