1 And you, son of man {ben-adam: mortal before God}, take a sharpened sword for yourself and use it as a barber’s razor {taar: cutting blade} to shave your head and beard. Then take balances for weighing and portion out the hair.
2 Burn one third of the hair in fire inside the city when the days of the siege {matsor: blockade} are completed. Then take another third and slash it with the sword {cherev: instrument of judgment} all around the city. Scatter the remaining third to the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them.
3 And you shall take {laqach: select portion} from there a few {me'at: small quantity} in number and bind them in the skirts of your garment.
4 And from them again you shall take and cast them into the midst {tokh: central location} of the fire {esh: purifying judgment}, and you shall burn them in the fire; from it a fire shall go out toward all the house of Israel.
5 Thus says the Lord GOD {Adonai YHWH, Supreme Master}: “This is Jerusalem. I placed her at the heart of the nations {goyim: Gentile peoples}, with the surrounding lands all around her.”
6 But she rebelled against my judgments, doing wickedness more than the nations, and against my statutes more than the lands that surround her; for they have rejected my judgments {mishpatai: judicial verdicts}, and they have not walked in my statutes {chukotai: binding ordinances}.
7 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD {Adonai YHWH, Sovereign Master}: “Because you are more unruly than the nations around you, you have not walked in my statutes {chukotay: prescribed decrees}, nor have you done my judgments, nor have you acted according to the judgments of the nations around you.”
8 Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD {Adonai YHWH, Sovereign Judge}: Look, I myself—even I—am against you, and I will enact judgments {mishpatim: legal verdicts} among you, before the eyes of the nations.
9 And I {YHWH, Dispenser of Justice} will do among you {bakh: within your midst} what I have not done, and the like of which I will not do again, because of all your abominations {toavotayikh: detestable acts}.
10 Therefore, fathers will eat their sons within you, and sons will eat their fathers. And I {YHWH, Sovereign Judge} will carry out judgments {shefatim: legal sentences} against you, and I will scatter all that remain of you to every wind.
11 Therefore, as I live, declares the Lord GOD {Adonai YHWH, Sovereign Judge}: because you have defiled my sanctuary {mikdashi: holy place} with all your detestable things and all your abominations, I will also withdraw; my eye will not spare you, and I will not have pity.
12 One third of you will die by the plague {dever: devastating disease} and be consumed by famine in your midst; another third will fall by the sword around you. The final third I {YHWH, Executor of Judgment} will scatter to every wind and draw out a sword after them.
13 Then my anger will be spent, and I will cause my wrath to rest upon them; and I will be comforted. Then they will know that I am the LORD{YHWH, Zealous Judge} and that I have spoken in my zeal{qina: burning passion} when I have finished my wrath upon them.
14 And I {YHWH, Avenging Sovereign} will make you a desolation {chorbah: place of ruin} and a reproach among the nations surrounding you, before the eyes of all who pass by.
15 So you will become a reproach and a taunt, an instruction {musar: discipline and correction} and a horror to the nations around you, when I carry out judgments against you in anger, in wrath, and with furious rebukes. I, the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge}, have spoken it.
16 When I {YHWH, Righteous Judge} send against you the evil arrows of famine {ra’av: severe scarcity}—arrows meant for destruction—which I will send to destroy you, and when I add famine upon you, I will break the staff of bread.
17 And I will dispatch famine upon you, and a savage creature will leave you childless {shikkelukh: to deprive of offspring}. Scourges of pestilence and blood will pass through you, and I will unleash the sword against you. I, the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge}, have decreed this.