You shall burn with fire one-third in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are finished; then you shall take one-third and strike around it with the sword, and one-third you shall scatter in the wind: I will draw out a sword after them.
Parallel translations
- WEB A third part you shall burn in the fire in the middle of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled. You shall take a third part, and strike with the sword around it. A third part you shall scatter to the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them.
- KJV Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.
- BSB When the days of the siege have ended, you are to burn up a third of the hair inside the city; you are also to take a third and slash it with the sword all around the city; and you are to scatter a third to the wind. For I will unleash a sword behind them.
- NASB A third you shall burn in the fire at the center of the city, when the days of the siege are completed. Then you shall take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city, and a third you shall scatter to the wind; for I will unsheathe a sword behind them.
- NLT Place a third of it at the center of your map of Jerusalem. After acting out the siege, burn it there. Scatter another third across your map and chop it with a sword. Scatter the last third to the wind, for I will scatter my people with the sword.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The hair is divided in thirds: burned, struck with the sword, and scattered to the wind, with a sword pursuing. It depicts the threefold destruction of Jerusalem's inhabitants.
Overview
Each portion of hair represents a fate for the people: death by plague and famine, death by sword, and scattering into exile with pursuit. The vivid division shows that judgment will be comprehensive, leaving no group untouched. God's word here is precise and certain, and history confirmed its fulfillment in Jerusalem's fall to Babylon.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ezek 5:12A third part of you will die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed within you. A third part will fall by the sword around you. A third part I will scatter to all the winds, and will draw out a sword after them.
- Lev 26:33I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw out the sword after you. Your land will be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.
- Ezek 4:1–8“You also, son of man, take a tile, and lay it before yourself, and portray on it a city, even Jerusalem.
- Ezek 12:14I will scatter toward every wind all who are around him to help him, and all his bands. I will draw out the sword after them.
- Jer 9:16I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.”
- Jer 15:2It shall happen, when they tell you, ‘Where shall we go out?’ Then you shall tell them, ‘Yahweh says: “Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for captivity, to captivity.”’
- Jer 24:10I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, until they be consumed from off the land that I gave to them and to their fathers.’”
- Jer 9:21–22For death has come up into our windows. It has entered into our palaces; to cut off the children from outside, and the young men from the streets.
- Amos 9:2–3Though they dig into Sheol, there my hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, there I will bring them down.
- Jer 38:2“Yahweh says, ‘He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; but he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live, and his life shall be to him for a prey, and he shall live.’
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How Ezekiel 5:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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