5 And you, son of man [Ezekiel], take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor and shave your head and your beard. Then take balances for weighing and divide the hair into three parts.

² You shall burn one part with fire in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled; and you shall take a second part and strike with the sword round about it; and a third part you shall scatter to the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them.

³ You shall also take from these a small number of hairs and bind them in the skirts of your robe.

⁴ And of these again take some hairs and cast them into the midst of the fire and burn them in the fire; from there a fire shall come forth into all the house of Israel.

⁵ Thus says the Lord God: This is Jerusalem; in the center of the nations I have set her, and countries are round about her.

⁶ And she has changed and rebelled against My ordinances more wickedly than the [heathen] nations, and against My statutes more than the countries that are round about her; for [Israel] rejected My ordinances, and as for My statutes, they have not walked in them.^(A)

⁷ Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you were more turbulent and raged [against Me] more than the nations that are round about you and have not walked in My statutes, neither have kept My ordinances, nor have done according to the ordinances [concerning] the nations that are round about you;^(B)

⁸ Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, even I, am against you, and I will execute judgments in the midst of you in the sight of the nations.

⁹ And because of all your abominations, I will do in you that which I have not done and the like of which I will never do again.^(C)

¹⁰ Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments on you and all who are left of you I will scatter to all the winds.^(D)

¹¹ Therefore, as I live, says the Lord God, surely because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations, therefore will I also diminish you and withdraw My eye that it shall not spare you. And I also will have no pity.

¹² And a third of you shall die of pestilence and be consumed by famine in the midst of you; a third shall fall by the sword round about you; and I will scatter a third to all the winds and will draw out a sword after them.

¹³ Thus shall My anger be spent and I will cause My wrath toward them to rest and I will be eased and comforted. And they shall know, understand, and realize that I the Lord have spoken in My zeal, when I have accomplished My wrath upon them.^(E)

¹⁴ Moreover, I will make you a desolation and a reproach among the nations that are round about you and in the sight of all who pass by.^(F)

¹⁵ So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and a horror and an astonishment to the [heathen] nations around you when I shall execute judgments upon you in anger and in wrath and in furious chastisements and rebukes—I the Lord have spoken it.^(G)

¹⁶ When I shall loose against them the evil arrows of hunger that are for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, then I will increase the famine upon you and will break your staff of bread.

¹⁷ And I will send upon you hunger and wild beasts, and they shall bereave you [of your loved ones]; and pestilence and blood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword upon you. I the Lord have spoken it.

6 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

² Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them,

³ And say, You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and the hills, to the river ravines and the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places [of idolatrous worship],

⁴ And your altars shall be made desolate and your sun-pillars shall be broken in pieces, and I will cast down your slain before your idols.^(H)

⁵ And I will lay the dead bodies of the children of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones round about your altars.

⁶ In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste and the high places shall be made desolate, that your altars may bear their guilt and be laid waste and made desolate, your idols may be broken and destroyed, your sun-images may be hewn down, and your handiworks may be wiped away and blotted out.

⁷ And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and you shall ^[a]know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord.

⁸ Yet will I leave some of you alive. When you have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when you shall be scattered through the countries,

⁹ Then those of you who escape shall [earnestly] remember Me among the nations to which they shall be carried captive, how that I have been broken by their lewdness and have Myself broken their wanton heart which has departed from Me and blinded their eyes which turn after their idols wantonly; and they shall be loathsome in their own sight for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.

¹⁰ And they shall know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord. I have not said in vain that I would bring this evil calamity [in punishment] upon them.

¹¹ Thus says the Lord God: Strike with your fist, stamp with your foot, and say, Alas! over all the vile abominations of the house of Israel for which [Israel] shall fall by sword, by famine, and by pestilence.

¹² He who is far off shall die of the pestilence, and he that is near shall fall by the sword, and he who remains and is preserved shall die by the famine. Thus will I accomplish My wrath upon them.

¹³ Then shall you know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord, when their slain shall lie among their idols round about their altars upon every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, under every green tree, and under every thickly leafed oak, the places where they were accustomed to offer sweet incense to all their idols.

¹⁴ And I will stretch out My hand upon them and make the land desolate and waste, yes, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblah [a Moabite city], throughout all their dwelling places; and they shall know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord.

7 Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

² Also, son of man, thus says the Lord God to the land of Israel: An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land.^(I)

³ Now is the end upon you, and I will send My anger upon you and will judge you according to your ways and will bring upon you retribution for all your abominations.

⁴ And My eye will not spare you, neither will I have pity; but I will bring recompense for your evil ways upon you, while your abominations are in the midst of you [calling down punishment from a righteous God]; and you shall know (recognize, understand, and realize) that I am the Lord.

⁵ Thus says the Lord God: Behold, an evil is coming, [an evil so destructive and injurious, so sudden and violent, that it stands alone, not as a succession but as] only one evil.

⁶ An end has come! The end has come! [The end—after sleeping so long] awakes against you. See, it has come!

⁷ Your turn (your doom) has come upon you, O inhabitant of the land; the time has come, the day is near, a day not of joyful shouting, but a day of tumult upon the mountains.

⁸ Now will I shortly pour out My wrath upon you and finish spending My anger against you, and I will judge you according to your ways and will recompense you with punishment for all your abominations.

⁹ And My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. I will punish you according to your ways while your abominations are right in the midst of you. And you shall know, understand, and realize that it is I the Lord Who smites you.

¹⁰ Behold, the day! Behold, it has come! Your doom has gone forth, the rod has blossomed, pride has budded.

¹¹ Violence has grown up into a rod of wickedness; none of [Israel] shall remain, none of their abundance, none of their wealth; neither shall there be preeminence among them or wailing for them.

¹² The time has come, the day draws near. Let not the buyer rejoice nor the seller mourn, for wrath is upon all their multitude.

¹³ For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, even were they yet alive. For the vision [of punishment] is touching [Israel’s] whole multitude; he shall not come back, neither shall any strengthen himself whose life is in his iniquity.

¹⁴ They have blown the trumpet and have made all ready, but none goes to the battle, for My wrath is upon all their multitude.

¹⁵ The sword is without and pestilence and famine are within. He who is in the field shall die by the sword, and him who is in the city shall famine and pestilence devour.

¹⁶ But those of them that escape shall escape, but shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, every one in his iniquity’s [punishment].

¹⁷ All hands shall be feeble and all knees shall be weak as water.^(J)

¹⁸ They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth; horror and dismay shall cover them, and shame shall be upon all faces and baldness upon all their heads [as evidence of grief].

¹⁹ They shall cast their silver into the streets, and their gold shall be [discarded] like an unclean thing or rubbish; their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord; they shall not satisfy their animal cravings nor fill their stomachs with them, for [wealth] has been the stumbling block of their iniquity.^(K)

²⁰ As for the beauty of gold for ornament, they turned it to pride and made of it the images of their abominations (idols) and of their detestable things. Therefore I will make it to them as an unclean thing.

²¹ And I will give it for plunder into the hands of strangers and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil, and they shall profane it.

²² Also I will turn My face from them and they shall profane My secret treasure [the temple]; and robbers shall enter into it and profane it.

²³ Prepare the chain [of imprisonment], for the land is full of bloodguiltiness [murders committed with pretended formalities of justice] and the city is full of violence.

²⁴ Therefore I will bring in the worst of the [heathen] nations, who will take possession of the houses [of the people of Judah]; I will also silence their strongholds and put an end to their proud might, and their holy places and those who sanctify them shall be profaned.

²⁵ Distress, panic, and destruction shall come, and they [of Judah] shall seek peace, and there shall be none.

²⁶ Calamity shall come upon calamity and rumor shall be upon rumor, and they shall seek a vision of the prophet; and the law and instruction shall cease from the [distracted] priest and counsel from the [dismayed] elders.^(L)

²⁷ The king [of Judah] shall wear mourning and the prince shall clothe himself with garments of despair and desolation, while the hands of the people of the land shall tremble [palsied by terror]; for I will do to them in accordance with their ways, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know, recognize, and realize that I am the Lord.

12 Therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who have borne testimony to the Truth], let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us,

² Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God.^(A)

³ Just think of Him Who endured from sinners such grievous opposition and bitter hostility against Himself [reckon up and consider it all in comparison with your trials], so that you may not grow weary or exhausted, losing heart and relaxing and fainting in your minds.

⁴ You have not yet struggled and fought agonizingly against sin, nor have you yet resisted and withstood to the point of pouring out your [own] blood.

⁵ And have you [completely] forgotten the divine word of appeal and encouragement in which you are reasoned with and addressed as sons? My son, do not think lightly or scorn to submit to the correction and discipline of the Lord, nor lose courage and give up and faint when you are reproved or corrected by Him;

⁶ For the Lord corrects and disciplines everyone whom He loves, and He punishes, even scourges, every son whom He accepts and welcomes to His heart and cherishes.

⁷ You must submit to and endure [correction] for discipline; God is dealing with you as with sons. For what son is there whom his father does not [thus] train and correct and discipline?

⁸ Now if you are exempt from correction and left without discipline in which all [of God’s children] share, then you are illegitimate offspring and not true sons [at all].^(B)

⁹ Moreover, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we yielded [to them] and respected [them for training us]. Shall we not much more cheerfully submit to the Father of spirits and so [truly] live?

¹⁰ For [our earthly fathers] disciplined us for only a short period of time and chastised us as seemed proper and good to them; but He disciplines us for our certain good, that we may become sharers in His own holiness.

¹¹ For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems grievous and painful; but afterwards it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it [a harvest of fruit which consists in righteousness—in conformity to God’s will in purpose, thought, and action, resulting in right living and right standing with God].

¹² So then, brace up and reinvigorate and set right your slackened and weakened and drooping hands and strengthen your feeble and palsied and tottering knees,^(C)

¹³ And cut through and make firm and plain and smooth, straight paths for your feet [yes, make them safe and upright and happy paths that go in the right direction], so that the lame and halting [limbs] may not be put out of joint, but rather may be cured.

¹⁴ Strive to live in peace with everybody and pursue that consecration and holiness without which no one will [ever] see the Lord.

¹⁵ Exercise foresight and be on the watch to look [after one another], to see that no one falls back from and fails to secure God’s grace (His unmerited favor and spiritual blessing), in order that no root of resentment (rancor, bitterness, or hatred) shoots forth and causes trouble and bitter torment, and the many become contaminated and defiled by it—

¹⁶ That no one may become guilty of sexual vice, or become a profane (godless and sacrilegious) person as Esau did, who sold his own birthright for a single meal.^(D)

¹⁷ For you understand that later on, when he wanted [to regain title to] his inheritance of the blessing, he was rejected (disqualified and set aside), for he could find no opportunity to repair by repentance [what he had done, no chance to recall the choice he had made], although he sought for it carefully with [bitter] tears.^(E)

¹⁸ For you have not come [as did the Israelites in the wilderness] to a [material] mountain that can be touched, [a mountain] that is ablaze with fire, and to gloom and darkness and a raging storm,

¹⁹ And to the blast of a trumpet and a voice whose words make the listeners beg that nothing more be said to them.^(F)

²⁰ For they could not bear the command that was given: If even a wild animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.^(G)

²¹ In fact, so awful and terrifying was the [phenomenal] sight that Moses said, I am terrified (aghast and trembling with fear).^(H)

²² But rather, you have come to Mount Zion, even to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless multitudes of angels in festal gathering,

²³ And to the church (assembly) of the Firstborn who are registered [as citizens] in heaven, and to the God Who is Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous (the redeemed in heaven) who have been made perfect,

²⁴ And to Jesus, the Mediator (Go-between, Agent) of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which speaks [of mercy], a better and nobler and more gracious message than the blood of Abel [which cried out for vengeance].^(I)

²⁵ So see to it that you do not reject Him or refuse to listen to and heed Him Who is speaking [to you now]. For if they [the Israelites] did not escape when they refused to listen and heed Him Who warned and divinely instructed them [here] on earth [revealing with heavenly warnings His will], how much less shall we escape if we reject and turn our backs on Him Who cautions and admonishes [us] from heaven?

²⁶ Then [at Mount Sinai] His voice shook the earth, but now He has given a promise: Yet once more I will shake and make tremble not only the earth but also the [starry] heavens.^(J)

²⁷ Now this expression, Yet once more, indicates the final removal and transformation of all [that can be] shaken—that is, of that which has been created—in order that what cannot be shaken may remain and continue.^(K)

²⁸ Let us therefore, receiving a kingdom that is firm and stable and cannot be shaken, offer to God pleasing service and acceptable worship, with modesty and pious care and godly fear and awe;

²⁹ For our God [is indeed] a consuming fire.^(L)