Ezekiel 5:1-3

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.

Ezekiel 5:1-3 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

• 1. 5:1 See ch. 2:1
• 2. 5:1 Ps. 57:4; Isa. 49:2
• 3. 5:1 [Isa. 7:20]
• 4. 5:1 [ch. 1:3; 44:20; Lev. 21:5]
• 5. 5:2 See ver. 12
• 6. 5:2 [ver. 5; ch. 4:1]
• 7. 5:2 See ch. 4:8
• 8. 5:2 [ver. 10]
• 9. 5:2 ver. 12; ch. 12:14; [Jer. 9:16]
• 10. 5:3 [Jer. 40:6; 52:16]