5 “As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor.^[a] Shave off some of the hair from your head and your beard.^[b] Then take scales and divide up the hair you cut off. ² Burn a third of it in the fire inside the city when the days of your siege are completed. Take a third and slash it with a sword all around the city. Scatter a third to the wind, and I will unleash a sword behind them. ³ But take a few strands of hair^[c] from those and tie them in the ends of your garment.^{[d] 4} Again, take more of them and throw them into the fire,^[e] and burn them up. From there a fire will spread to all the house of Israel.