5 Then you, son of humanity, take a sharp sword as a barber’s razor for yourself, and use it to shave your head and beard, then get some scales so you can weigh your hair and divide it equally into three piles. 2 Burn a third of it in the middle of the city when the days representing the siege have finished, and take the second pile of hair and hit it with the sword all around the city. Then scatter the final third to the wind, and I’ll draw out a sword to chase after the people. 3 But take a few hairs from them and tie them into the folds of your robe. 4 Then take a bit more of the hair and throw it into the middle of the fire to be burnt up—from there a fire will spread out to all the Israeli people.”

5 My master Yahweh says, “That brick model is Yerushalem (Jerusalem) where I’ve placed her in the middle of the nations, and where I’ve surrounded her with other countries. 6 But due to her wickedness, she’s rejected my decrees more than other nations have, and avoided my regulations more than the countries that surround her. Her people have rejected my judgements and haven’t followed my regulations.” 7 Therefore my master Yahweh says this, “Because you’re more troublesome than the nations that surround you, and haven’t followed my statutes or obeyed my regulations, or even acted according to the surrounding nations’ regulations,” 8 therefore my master Yahweh says this, “Listen, I myself will work against you. I’ll execute judgements among you for the other nations to see. 9 Because of your detestable actions, I’ll do things to you that I’ve never done before, and which I’ll never do again: 10 Fathers will eat children among you,[ref] and sons will eat their fathers, since I’ll execute judgement on you and scatter all of you who are left in every direction.”

11 This is my master Yahweh’s declaration: As surely as I live, it’s certainly because you’ve defiled my sanctuary with all your hateful things, and with all the disgusting things you’ve done, that I myself will reduce you in number—I won’t have pity on you, and I won’t spare you. 12 A third of you will die from deadly diseases, plus they’ll be consumed by a famine that comes to you. A third will die by violence in the area surrounding you. Then I’ll scatter a third in every direction, and draw out a sword to chase after them as well.

13 Then my rage will be over, and I’ll end my fury at them. I’ll be satisfied, and they’ll know that I, Yahweh, have spoken in my rage and I’ve completed my furious punishment of them. 14 I’ll make you into a city of ruins so that those from other nations will mock you as they pass by. 15 So Yerushalem (Jerusalem) will become something for other people to condemn and to mock—a warning and a horror to the nations that surround you. I’ll execute judgements against you in rage and fury, and with an angry rebuke. I, Yahweh have declared that. 16 I’ll send out harsh arrows of famine against you that’ll become my way of destroying you, because I’ll make the famine more severe and destroy your food supply. 17 I’ll send a famine and disasters against you so you’ll be childless. Plague and bloodshed will pass through you, and I’ll bring a sword against you.[ref] I, Yahweh, have declared that.