Ezekiel 5

Jerusalem's Desolation Foretold

1 "As for you, son of man, take a ¹sharp sword; take and use it as a barber's razor on your head and beard. Then take ²scales for weighing and divide the hair.

2 "One third you shall burn in the fire at the center of the city, when the ³days of the siege are completed. Then you shall take one third and strike it with the sword all around the city, and one third you shall scatter to the wind; and I will ⁴unsheathe a sword behind them.

3 "Take also a few in number from them and bind them in the edges of your robes.

4 "Take again some of them and throw them into the fire and burn them in the fire; from it a fire will spread to all the house of Israel.

5 "Thus says the Lord GOD, 'This is ⁵Jerusalem; I have set her at the ⁶center of the nations, with lands around her.

6 'But she has rebelled against My ordinances more wickedly than the nations and against My statutes ⁷more than the lands which surround her; for they have ⁸rejected My ordinances and have not walked in My statutes.'

7 "Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, 'Because you have ⁹more turmoil than the nations which surround you and have not walked in My statutes, nor observed My ordinances, nor observed the ordinances of the nations which surround you,'

8 therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, 'Behold, I, even I, am ¹⁰against you, and I will ¹¹execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations.

9 'And because of all your abominations, I will do among you what I have ¹²not done, and the like of which I will never do again.

10 'Therefore, ¹³fathers will eat their sons among you, and sons will eat their fathers; for I will execute judgments on you and ¹⁴scatter all your remnant to every wind.

11 'So as I live,' declares the Lord GOD, 'surely *, because you have ¹⁵defiled My sanctuary with all your ¹⁶detestable idols and with all your abominations, therefore I will also withdraw, and My eye will have no pity and I will not spare.

12 'One third of you will die by ¹⁷plague or be consumed by famine among you, one third will fall by the sword around you, and one third I will ¹⁸scatter to every wind, and I will ¹⁹unsheathe a sword behind them.

13 'Thus My anger will be spent and I will satisfy My wrath on them, and I will be ²⁰appeased; then they will know that I, the LORD, have ²¹spoken in My zeal when I have spent My wrath upon them.

14 'Moreover, I will make you a desolation and a ²²reproach among the nations which surround you, in the sight of all who pass by.

15 'So it will be a reproach, a reviling, a ²³warning and an object of horror to the nations who surround you when I ²⁴execute judgments against you in anger, wrath and raging rebukes. I, the LORD, have spoken.

16 'When I send against them the deadly arrows of famine which were for the destruction of those whom I will send to destroy you, then I will also intensify the famine upon you and break the staff of bread.

17 'Moreover, ²⁵I will send on you famine and wild beasts, and they will bereave you of children; ²⁶plague and bloodshed also will pass through you, and I will bring the sword on you. I, the LORD, have spoken.' "

Ezekiel 5 Commentary

Chapter 5

A type of hair, showing the judgments about to come upon the Jews. (1-4) These awful judgments are declared. (5-17)

Verses 1-4 The prophet must shave off the hair of his head and beard, which signifies God's utter rejecting and abandoning that people. One part must be burned in the midst of the city, denoting the multitudes that should perish by famine and pestilence. Another part was to be cut in pieces, representing the many who were slain by the sword. Another part was to be scattered in the wind, denoting the carrying away of some into the land of the conqueror, and the flight of others into the neighbouring countries for shelter. A small quantity of the third portion was to be bound in his shirts, as that of which he is very careful. But few were reserved. To whatever refuge sinners flee, the fire and sword of God's wrath will consume them.

Verses 5-17 The sentence passed upon Jerusalem is very dreadful, the manner of expression makes it still more so. Who is able to stand in God's sight when he is angry? Those who live and die impenitent, will perish for ever unpitied; there is a day coming when the Lord will not spare. Let not persons or churches, who change the Lord's statutes, expect to escape the doom of Jerusalem. Let us endeavour to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. Sooner or later God's word will prove itself true.

Cross References

• 1. Leviticus 21:5; Isaiah 7:20; Ezekiel 44:20
• 2. Daniel 5:27
• 3. Jeremiah 39:1, 2; Ezekiel 4:2-8
• 4. Leviticus 26:33
• 5. Jeremiah 6:6; Ezekiel 4:1
• 6. Deuteronomy 4:6; Lamentations 1:1; Ezekiel 16:14
• 7. 2 Kings 17:8-20; Ezek 16:47, 48, 51
• 8. Nehemiah 9:16, 17; Psalms 78:10; Jeremiah 11:10; Zechariah 7:11
• 9. 2 Kings 21:9-11; 2 Chronicles 33:9; Jeremiah 2:10, 11
• 10. Jeremiah 21:5, 13; Ezekiel 15:7; Ezekiel 21:3; Zechariah 14:2
• 11. Jeremiah 24:9; Ezekiel 5:15; Ezekiel 11:9
• 12. Daniel 9:12; Amos 3:2; Matthew 24:21
• 13. Leviticus 26:29; Jeremiah 19:9; Lamentations 4:10
• 14. Psalms 44:11; Ezekiel 5:2, 12; Ezekiel 6:8; Ezekiel 12:14; Amos 9:9; Zechariah 2:6; Zechariah 7:14
• 15. Jeremiah 7:9-11; Ezek 8:5, 6, 16
• 16. Jeremiah 16:18; Ezekiel 7:20
• 17. Jeremiah 15:2; Jeremiah 21:9; Ezekiel 5:17; Ezekiel 6:11, 12
• 18. Ezekiel 5:2, 10; Amos 9:9; Zechariah 2:6
• 19. Jeremiah 43:10, 11; Jeremiah 44:27; Ezekiel 5:2; Ezekiel 12:14
• 20. Isaiah 1:24
• 21. Isaiah 59:17; Ezekiel 36:5, 6; Ezekiel 38:19
• 22. Psalms 74:3-10; Psalms 79:1-4; Ezekiel 22:4
• 23. Isaiah 26:9; Jeremiah 22:8, 9; 1 Corinthians 10:11
• 24. Isaiah 66:15, 16; Ezekiel 5:8; Ezekiel 25:17
• 25. Leviticus 26:22; Revelation 6:8
• 26. Ezekiel 38:22

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "make it pass over your head"
• [b]. Lit "them"
• [c]. Lit "it"
• [d]. Lit "there"
• [e]. Lit "go out"
• [f]. Heb "YHWH," usually rendered LORD, and so throughout the ch
• [g]. Lit "in them, My statutes"
• [h]. Lit "cause to rest"
• [i]. Lit "comforted"
• [j]. Ancient versions read "you"
• [k]. Lit "evil"
• [l]. Or "are for destruction, which I will send"

Chapter Summary

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.