Ezekiel 5:1-6

Jerusalem Will Be Destroyed

1 "And you, 1O son of man, take a 2sharp sword. Use it as 3a barber's razor and 4pass it over your head and your beard. Then take balances for weighing and divide the hair.
2 5A third part you shall burn in the fire 6in the midst of the city, 7when the days of the siege are completed. And a third part you shall take and strike with the sword all around the city. 8And a third part you shall scatter to the wind, and 9I will unsheathe the sword after them.
3 10And you shall take from these a small number and bind them in the skirts of your robe.
4 11And 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: 12This is Jerusalem. I have set her 13in the center of the nations, with countries all around her.
6 And she has rebelled against my rules by doing wickedness 14more than the nations, and against my statutes more than 15the countries all around her; for they have rejected my rules and have not walked in my statutes.

Ezekiel 5:1-6 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 5

This chapter is of the same argument with the former; and contains a type of Jerusalem's destruction; an explanation of that type; what were the reasons of God's judgments on that city; and the nature, rise, and end of them. The type is in Eze 5:1-4; the explanation of that type is in Eze 5:5; the reasons of the severe judgments threatened are changing the statutes of the Lord, and not walking in them, and defiling the sanctuary with their abominations, Eze 5:6-11; an account of the judgments of God, answerable to each of the parts in the type, Eze 5:12; the ends of these judgments are, with respect to God, the accomplishment of his anger, and the satisfaction of his justice; with respect to the Jews, bringing them to an acknowledgment that he had spoken in his zeal; and, with respect to the nations, their instruction and astonishment, Eze 5:13-15; and the chapter is concluded with an assurance that these judgments would be sent, Eze 5:16,17.

Cross References 15

  • 1. See Ezekiel 2:1
  • 2. Psalms 57:4; Isaiah 49:2
  • 3. [Isaiah 7:20]
  • 4. [Ezekiel 1:3; Ezekiel 44:20; Leviticus 21:5]
  • 5. See ver. 12
  • 6. [ver. 5; Ezekiel 4:1]
  • 7. See Ezekiel 4:8
  • 8. [ver. 10]
  • 9. ver. 12; Ezekiel 12:14; [Jeremiah 9:16]
  • 10. [Jeremiah 40:6; Jeremiah 52:16]
  • 11. [Jeremiah 42:18; Jeremiah 44:14]
  • 12. [ver. 2; Ezekiel 4:1]
  • 13. [Ezekiel 38:12]
  • 14. See Ezekiel 16:47, 48
  • 15. [See ver. 5 above]
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.