Ezekiel 5:2-12

2 When the blockade is over, burn one-third of your hair in a fire in the middle of the city. Take another third, and cut it up with a blade around the city. Then scatter the remaining third to the wind, and I will draw a sword and go after it.

3 Take a few strands of hair, and wrap them in the hem of your clothes.

4 Later, take some of them, and throw them in a fire and burn them up. From there a fire will spread throughout the whole nation of Israel.

5 "This is what the Almighty LORD says: This is Jerusalem! I have placed it in the center of the nations with countries all around it.

6 The people of Jerusalem have rebelled against my rules and my laws more than the surrounding nations. They have rejected my rules, and they don't live by my laws.

7 "So this is what the Almighty LORD says: [People of Jerusalem,] you have caused more trouble than the nations around you. You haven't lived by my laws or obeyed my rules. You haven't even lived up to the standards of the nations around you.

8 "So this is what the Almighty LORD says: I, too, am against you, and I will punish you in front of the nations.

9 Because of all the detestable things that you do, I will do things to you that I have never done before and will never do again.

10 That is why parents will eat their children, and children will eat their parents. I will punish you and scatter whoever is left to the wind.

11 "As I live, declares the Almighty LORD, because you have dishonored my holy worship place with all your disgusting and detestable things, I will have you killed. I will not have compassion for you or feel sorry for you.

12 One-third of you will die in plagues and be devoured in famines. Another third will die in battles against those around you. I will scatter the remaining third to the wind, and I will pursue them with a sword.

Ezekiel 5:2-12 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.