1 And thou, son of man, take a sharp knife, take a barber’s razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard; then take balances to weigh, and divide the hair. 2 Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled; and thou shalt take a third part and smite about it with a knife; and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them. 3 Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number and bind them in the skirt of thy garment. 4 Then take of them again and cast them into the midst of the fire and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.
5 Thus hath the Lord GOD said: This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the midst of the Gentiles and of the lands that are round about her. 6 And she has changed my judgments and my statutes into wickedness more than the Gentiles and more than the lands that are round about her; for they have disregarded my judgments and my commandments and have not walked in them. 7 Therefore thus hath the Lord GOD said: Because I multiplied you more than the Gentiles that are round about you, ye have not walked in my commandments, neither have ye kept my judgments. Ye have not even acted according to the judgments of the Gentiles that are round about you. 8 Therefore thus hath the Lord GOD said: Behold, I, even I, am against thee and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the Gentiles. 9 And I will do in thee that which I have not done and whereunto I will not do any more the like because of all thine abominations. 10 For the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee I will scatter into all the winds. 11 Therefore, as I live, said the Lord GOD, surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy contaminations and with all thine abominations, therefore I will also destroy thee; neither shall my eye forgive, neither will I have mercy. 12 A third part of thee shall die of pestilence, and shall be consumed with famine in the midst of thee, and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee, and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.
13 Thus shall my anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to cease in them, and I will be comforted; and they shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken it in my zeal when I have accomplished my fury in them. 14 And I will make thee a desert and a reproach among the Gentiles that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by. 15 And thou shalt be a reproach and a dishonour, and a chastisement and a terror unto the Gentiles that are round about thee when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I, the LORD, have spoken. 16 When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction and which I will send to destroy you, then I will increase the famine upon you and will destroy your sustenance of bread. 17 So I will send upon you famine and evil beasts that will destroy thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword upon thee. I, the LORD, have spoken.