Ezekiel 5:1

1 And thou, son of man, take to thee a sharp sword, [or (a) razor,] (for) shaving hairs; and thou shalt take it, and shalt lead it by thine head, and by thy beard. And thou shalt take to thee a balance of weight(s), and thou shalt part those. (And thou, son of man, get thee a sharp razor for shaving hair; and thou shalt take it, and shalt lead it over thy head, and over thy beard. And thou shalt get thee a balance of weights, and thou shalt separate, or divide, that hair.)

Ezekiel 5:1 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 5:1

And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife
Or, "sword" {m}. The word signifies any sharp instrument, by which anything is cut off, or cut asunder; what is here meant is explained by the following: take thee a barber's razor.
The Septuagint and Arabic versions read this in conjunction with the former, thus, "take thee a knife", or "sword, sharper than a barber's razor"; and so the Syriac version, "take thee a sword sharp as a barber's razor"; this sharp knife, sword, or razor, signifies, as Jarchi interprets it, Nebuchadnezzar; and very rightly; so the king of Assyria is called in ( Isaiah 7:20 ) : and cause [it] to pass upon thine head, and upon thy beard;
the "head" was a symbol of the city of Jerusalem, the metropolis of Judea; the "beard", of the cities, towns, and villages about it; and the "hair" of both, of the common people; compared to hair for their numbers, for their levity and unsteadiness, and for their being the beauty and ornament of the places where they lived; and the shaving of them denotes their disgrace and destruction, and mourning on account thereof: then take thee balances to weigh and divide the [hair].
The Syriac version adds, "into three parts"; signifying, that several distinct punishments would be inflicted on them, and these according to the righteous judgment of God; balances being a symbol of justice.

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 (brx) "gladium", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Polanus, Starckius.

Ezekiel 5:1 In-Context

1 And thou, son of man, take to thee a sharp sword, [or (a) razor,] (for) shaving hairs; and thou shalt take it, and shalt lead it by thine head, and by thy beard. And thou shalt take to thee a balance of weight(s), and thou shalt part those. (And thou, son of man, get thee a sharp razor for shaving hair; and thou shalt take it, and shalt lead it over thy head, and over thy beard. And thou shalt get thee a balance of weights, and thou shalt separate, or divide, that hair.)

2 Thou shalt burn the third part with fire in the midst of the city, by the [ful]filling of days of besieging. And thou shalt take the third part, and shalt cut (it) by sword in the compass thereof. But thou shalt scatter the tother third part into the wind; and I shall make naked a sword after them. (Thou shalt burn a third part of it with fire in the midst of the city, at the fulfilling, or at the end, of the days of the besieging. And thou shalt take another third part, and shalt cut it by the sword all around the city. And thou shalt scatter the other third part into the wind; and I shall make naked a sword to go after that hair.)

3 And thou shalt take thereof a little number (of those hairs), and thou shalt bind those in the highness of thy mantle.

4 And again thou shalt take of them, and thou shalt cast forth them into the midst of the fire (and thou shalt throw them forth into the midst of the fire). And thou shalt burn them in (the) fire; and (the) fire shall go out of that into all the house of Israel.

5 The Lord God saith these things, This is Jerusalem; I have set it in the midst of heathen men, and lands in the compass thereof. (The Lord God saith these things, This is Jerusalem; I have set it in the midst of the heathen, and the other lands all around it.)