A Sword against Jerusalem

5 “And you, O mortal, take a sharp sword; use it as a barber’s razor and run it over your head and your beard; then take balances for weighing, and divide the hair.^{(A) 2} One third of the hair you shall burn in the fire inside the city when the days of the siege are completed; one third you shall take and strike with the sword all around the city;^[a] and one third you shall scatter to the wind, and I will unsheathe the sword after them.^{(B) 3} Then you shall take from these a small number and bind them in the hem of your robe.^{(C) 4} From these, again, you shall take some, throw them into the fire and burn them up; from there a fire will come out against all the house of Israel.^(D)