1. And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife; a barber's razor shalt thou take; and cause it to pass upon thy head and upon thy beard: and thou shalt take balances to weigh, and divide the hair.
2. A third part shalt thou burn in the fire 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 to the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them.
3. And thou shalt take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts;
4. and thou shalt take of these again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire: from it shall a fire come forth against all the house of Israel.
5. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: This is Jerusalem: I have set her in the midst of the nations, and the countries are round about her.
6. And she hath rebelled against my judgments in wickedness more than the nations, and against my statutes more than the countries that are round about her: for mine ordinances have they refused; and my statutes, they have not walked in them.
7. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because ye have been turbulent more than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept mine ordinances, nor even have done according to the ordinances of the nations that are round about you;
8. therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations;