“Thus says the Lord God: (A)This is Jerusalem. I have set her (B)in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. And she has rebelled against my rules by doing wickedness (C)more than the nations, and against my statutes more than (D)the countries all around her; for they have rejected my rules and have not walked in my statutes. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you are (E)more turbulent than the nations that are all around you, (F)and have not walked in my statutes or obeyed my rules, (G)and have not[a] even acted according to the rules of the nations that are all around you, therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, even I, (H)am against you. (I)And I will execute judgments[b] in your midst (J)in the sight of the nations. And because of all your abominations I will do with you (K)what I have never yet done, and the like of which I will never do again. 10 Therefore (L)fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers. (M)And I will execute judgments on you, (N)and any of you who survive I will scatter to all the winds. 11 Therefore, (O)as I live, declares the Lord God, surely, (P)because you have defiled my sanctuary (Q)with all your detestable things and with all your (R)abominations, (S)therefore I will withdraw.[c] (T)My eye will not spare, and I will have no pity. 12 (U)A third part of you shall die of pestilence and be consumed with famine in your midst; (V)a third part shall fall by the sword all around you; (W)and a third part I will scatter to all the winds and will unsheathe the sword after them.

13 (X)“Thus shall my anger spend itself, and I will vent my fury upon them and satisfy myself. And they shall know that (Y)I am the Lord—that I have spoken in my jealousy—(Z)when I spend my fury upon them. 14 Moreover, I will make you (AA)a desolation and (AB)an object of reproach among (AC)the nations all around you and in the sight of all who pass by. 15 You shall be[d] a reproach and a taunt, a warning (AD)and a horror, to (AE)the nations all around you, (AF)when I execute judgments on you in anger and fury, and (AG)with furious rebukes—I am the Lord; I have spoken— 16 when I send against you[e] (AH)the deadly arrows of famine, arrows for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, and when I bring more and more famine upon (AI)you and break your supply[f] of bread. 17 I will send famine and (AJ)wild beasts against you, (AK)and they will rob you of your children. Pestilence and (AL)blood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword upon you. I am the Lord; I have spoken.”

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Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 5:7 Some Hebrew manuscripts and Syriac lack not
  2. Ezekiel 5:8 The same Hebrew expression can mean obey rules, or execute judgments, depending on the context
  3. Ezekiel 5:11 Some Hebrew manuscripts I will cut you down
  4. Ezekiel 5:15 Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, Targum; Masoretic Text And it shall be
  5. Ezekiel 5:16 Hebrew them
  6. Ezekiel 5:16 Hebrew staff

Thus says the Lord Yahweh: This is Jerusalem in the midst of the nations where I have put her, and countries are around her. But she has rebelled against my regulations to the point of wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are around her; for they rejected my regulations, and as for my statutes, they did not walk in them. Therefore, thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because of your commotion more than the nations that are around you—you did not walk in my statutes, and you did not do my regulations, and according to the regulations of the nations that are around you, you did not do. Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Look! I, even I,[a] am against you, and I will execute judgment in the midst of you before the eyes of the nations, and I will do with you that which I have not done, and which I will not do again, because of all of your detestable things. 10 Therefore[b] parents[c] will eat children[d] in the midst of you, and children[e] will eat their parents,[f] and I will execute judgment in you, and I will scatter your entire remnant to every wind. 11 Therefore as surely as I live,[g] declares[h] the Lord Yahweh, Surely[i] because you have defiled my sanctuary with all of your vile idols and with all of your detestable things, now indeed I[j] will reduce, and my eye will not take pity, and surely I will show no compassion. 12 A third of you will die because of the plague, and because of the famine they will perish in the midst of you, and a third will fall through the sword around you, and a third I will scatter to every direction of the wind, and I will draw the sword behind them. 13 And my anger will come to an end, and I will place my rage on them, and I will relent, and they will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken in my passion when I fully vent my rage against them.[k] 14 And I will make you into a desolate place and into a disgrace among the nations that surround you before the eyes of every one who passes by.[l] 15 And it will be[m] an object of taunting[n] and an object of mockery, a warning and a horror to the nations that are around you whenever I execute judgments against you in anger and in wrath and in furious punishments! I, Yahweh, have spoken! 16 When I send my arrows of deadly famine against them, which will be as destruction that I will send in order to destroy you, I will increase famine against you, and I will break the supply of food[o] for you. 17 And I will send against you famine and fierce animals,[p] and they will make you childless; and plague and blood will pass through you, and I will bring the sword upon you. I, Yahweh, I have spoken!”

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Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 5:8 Literally “surely I”
  2. Ezekiel 5:10 Literally “to thus”
  3. Ezekiel 5:10 Or “fathers”
  4. Ezekiel 5:10 Or “sons”
  5. Ezekiel 5:10 Or “sons”
  6. Ezekiel 5:10 Or “fathers”
  7. Ezekiel 5:11 Literally “alive I am
  8. Ezekiel 5:11 Literally “declaration of”
  9. Ezekiel 5:11 Literally “If not”
  10. Ezekiel 5:11 Literally “and also I”
  11. Ezekiel 5:13 Literally “at my finishing my anger against them”
  12. Ezekiel 5:14 Literally “every one of passing by”
  13. Ezekiel 5:15 Or “and you will be”
  14. Ezekiel 5:15 Hebrew “taunt”
  15. Ezekiel 5:16 Literally “staff of bread”
  16. Ezekiel 5:17 Hebrew “animal”