Ezekiel 5:3

3 Then you shall take from these a small number, and bind them in the skirts of your robe.

Ezekiel 5:3 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 5:3

Thou shall also take thereof a few in number
These are they that were left in the land of Judea by Nebuzaradan, for vinedressers and husbandmen, and such as returned out of Egypt into the land of Judah, ( Jeremiah 44:28 ) ( 52:16 ) ; and bind them in thy skirts;
in the pockets of them; signifying both the very small number of them, and their preservation. Jarchi and Kimchi interpret these of those that were carried captive to Babylon, and lived there, and were preserved, and returned again.

Ezekiel 5:3 In-Context

1 And you, O mortal, take a sharp sword; use it as a barber's razor and run it over your head and your beard; then take balances for weighing, and divide the hair.

2 One third of the hair you shall burn in the fire inside the city, when the days of the siege are completed; one third you shall take and strike with the sword all around the city; and one third you shall scatter to the wind, and I will unsheathe the sword after them.

3 Then you shall take from these a small number, and bind them in the skirts of your robe.

4 From these, again, you shall take some, throw them into the fire and burn them up; from there a fire will come out against all the house of Israel.

5 Thus says the Lord God: This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the center of the nations, with countries all around her.