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Ezekiel 5:1-9
New International Reader's Version
Ezekiel 5:1-9
New International Reader's Version
God’s Judgment Will Be Like a Barber’s Razor
5 “Son of man, get a sharp sword. Use it as a barber’s razor. Shave your head and beard with it. Then get a set of scales and weigh the hair. Separate it into three piles. 2 Burn up a third of the hair inside the city. Do this when you stop attacking the model of Jerusalem. Next, get another third of the hair. Strike it with a sword all around the city. Then scatter the last third to the winds. That is because I will chase the people with a sword that is ready to strike them down. 3 But save a few hairs. Tuck them away in the clothes you are wearing. 4 Next, get a few more hairs. Throw them into the fire. Burn them up. The fire will spread to all the people of Israel.”
5 The Lord and King says, “What you do with the hair stands for what I will do with Jerusalem’s people. I have placed that city in the center of the nations. Countries are all around it. 6 But its people are sinful. They have refused to obey my laws and rules. They have turned their backs on my laws. They have not followed my rules. These people are worse than the nations and countries around them.”
7 The Lord and King continues, “You people have been worse than the nations around you. You have not lived by my rules or kept my laws. You have not even lived up to the standards of the nations around you.”
8 The Lord and King continues, “Jerusalem, I myself am against you. I will punish you in the sight of the nations. 9 I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again. That is because you worship statues of gods. I hate them.
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Ezekiel 5:1-9
New International Version
Ezekiel 5:1-9
New International Version
God’s Razor of Judgment
5 “Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor(A) to shave(B) your head and your beard.(C) Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair. 2 When the days of your siege come to an end, burn(D) a third(E) of the hair inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind.(F) For I will pursue them with drawn sword.(G) 3 But take a few hairs and tuck them away in the folds of your garment.(H) 4 Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire(I) and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to all Israel.
5 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her.(J) 6 Yet in her wickedness she has rebelled against my laws and decrees more than the nations and countries around her. She has rejected my laws and has not followed my decrees.(K)
7 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: You have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or kept my laws. You have not even[a] conformed to the standards of the nations around you.(L)
8 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will inflict punishment on you in the sight of the nations.(M) 9 Because of all your detestable idols, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again.(N)
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 5:7 Most Hebrew manuscripts; some Hebrew manuscripts and Syriac You have
New International Reader's Version (NIRV) 
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New International Version (NIV) 
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