Ezekiel 5:1-3

1 "And you, son of man, take for yourself a sword, sharp [as] {a barber's razor}. Take it for yourself, and you must cause [it] to pass over your head and over your beard, and you must take for yourself a set of scales for weighing, and you must divide them.

2 A third you must burn with fire in the midst of the city at {the completion} of the days of the siege, and you must take a third, and you must strike [it] with the sword around it, and a third you must scatter to the wind, and I will draw a sword behind them.

3 And you must take from these a few in number, and you must tuck them in your hem.

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.

Footnotes

• [a] Or "mortal," or "son of humankind"
• [b] Hebrew "you"
• [c] Literally "the razor of the barbers"
• [d] That is, the hairs
• [e] Or "middle"
• [f] Literally "the completing"