Ezekiel5
World English Bible · Public Domain
1“You, son of man, take a sharp sword. You shall take it as a barber’s razor to yourself, and shall cause it to pass over your head and over your beard. Then take balances to weigh and divide the hair.
2A 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.
3You shall take a small number of these and bind them in the folds of your robe.
4Of these again you shall take, and cast them into the middle of the fire, and burn them in the fire. From it a fire will come out into all the house of Israel.
5“The Lord Yahweh says: ‘This is Jerusalem. I have set her in the middle of the nations, and countries are around her.
6She has rebelled against my ordinances in doing wickedness more than the nations, and against my statutes more than the countries that are around her; for they have rejected my ordinances, and as for my statutes, they have not walked in them.’
7“Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Because you are more turbulent than the nations that are around you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my ordinances, neither have followed the ordinances of the nations that are around you;
8therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I, even I, am against you; and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations.
9I will do in you that which I have not done, and which I will not do anything like it any more, because of all your abominations.
10Therefore the fathers will eat the sons within you, and the sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments on you; and I will scatter the whole remnant of you to all the winds.
11Therefore as I live,’ says the Lord Yahweh, ‘surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things, and with all your abominations, therefore I will also diminish you. My eye won’t spare, and I will have no pity.
12A third part of you will die with the pestilence, and they will be consumed with famine 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.
13“‘Thus my anger will be accomplished, and I will cause my wrath toward them to rest, and I will be comforted. They will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken in my zeal, when I have accomplished my wrath on them.
14“‘Moreover I will make you a desolation and a reproach among the nations that are around you, in the sight of all that pass by.
15So it will be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment, to the nations that are around you, when I execute judgments on you in anger and in wrath, and in wrathful rebukes—I, Yahweh, have spoken it—
16when I send on them the evil arrows of famine that are for destruction, which I will send to destroy you. I will increase the famine on you and will break your staff of bread.
17I will send on you famine and evil animals, and they will bereave you. Pestilence and blood will pass through you. I will bring the sword on you. I, Yahweh, have spoken it.’”
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Ezekiel 5.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: A type of hair, showing the judgments about to come upon the Jews. (1-4). These awful judgments are declared. (5-17).
vv1-4
The prophet must shave off the hair of his head and beard, which signifies God's utter rejecting and abandoning that people. One part must be burned in the midst of the city, denoting the multitudes that should perish by famine and pestilence. Another part was to be cut in pieces, representing the many who were slain by the sword. Another part was to be scattered in the wind, denoting the carrying away of some into the land of the conqueror, and the flight of others into the neighbouring countries for shelter. A small quantity of the third portion was to be bound in his shirts, as that of which he is very careful. But few were reserved. To whatever refuge sinners flee, the fire and sword of God's wrath will consume them.
vv5-17
The sentence passed upon Jerusalem is very dreadful, the manner of expression makes it still more so. Who is able to stand in God's sight when he is angry? Those who live and die impenitent, will perish for ever unpitied; there is a day coming when the Lord will not spare. Let not persons or churches, who change the Lord's statutes, expect to escape the doom of Jerusalem. Let us endeavour to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. Sooner or later God's word will prove itself true.
Key Words
אַתָּה: thou and thee, or (plural) ye and you
בֵּן: a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)
אָדָם: ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species, mankind, etc.)
לָקַח: to take (in the widest variety of applications)
חַד: sharp
חֶרֶב: drought; also a cutting instrument (from its destructive effect), as a knife, sword, or other sharp implement
גַּלָּב: a barber
תַּעַר: a knife or razor (as making bare); also a scabbard (as being bare, i.e. empty)
עָבַר: to cross over; used very widely of any transition (literal or figurative; transitive, intransitive, intensive, causative); specifically, to cover (in copulation)
עַל: above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applications
Cross References
Ezekiel 5Prophetic imagery of a razor hired to shave the head/beard represents humiliating judgment through a foreign king.
Supported by JFB
Priests were forbidden to make baldness; shaving the priestly prophet shows the ceremonial yielding to moral judgment.
Supported by JFB
Daniel confirms that the catastrophe upon Jerusalem was a unique judgment, unequaled under the whole heaven.
Supported by JFB
Lamentations verifies that Jerusalem's punishment surpassed even the sudden, historic overthrow of Sodom.
Supported by JFB
Fulfills the horrific covenant curse of parents eating their children during extreme siege conditions.
Supported by John Calvin
Parallel distribution of the people to specific appointed destines: death, sword, famine, and captivity.
Supported by John Calvin
Jeremiah remaining with Gedaliah represents the tiny remnant bound in the prophet's skirts.
Supported by JFB
The Chaldean captain left a small number of the poorest of the land as a remnant.
Supported by JFB
Ishmael's conspiracy represents the fire coming out from the remnant to consume others.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The nations did not change their false gods, but Israel shamefully changed their true Glory.
Supported by JFB
Detailed Pentateuchal warning of cannibalism during the desperate straits of a hostile siege.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The covenant curse of being scattered among the heathen while God draws out a sword after them.
Supported by John Calvin
Moses warns of God breaking the staff of bread, leaving the people hungry despite eating.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The Song of Moses lists God spending His arrows of judgment and famine upon rebellious Israel.
Supported by Matthew Poole