Ezekiel 5:1-17
The Hair and the Sword
1“As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword, use it as a barber’s razor, and shave your head and beard. Then take a set of scales and divide the hair.
2When 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.
3But you are to take a few strands of hair and secure them in the folds of your garment.
4Again, take a few of these, throw them into the fire, and burn them. From there a fire will spread to the whole house of Israel.
5This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her.
6But she has rebelled against My ordinances more wickedly than the nations, and against My statutes worse than the countries around her. For her people have rejected My ordinances and have not walked in My statutes.’
7Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You have been more insubordinate than the nations around you; you have not walked in My statutes or kept My ordinances, nor have you even conformed to the ordinances of the nations around you.’
8Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I Myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations.
9Because of all your abominations, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again.
10As a result, fathers among you will eat their sons, and sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments against you and scatter all your remnant to every wind.’
11Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and abominations, I Myself will withdraw My favor; I will not look upon you with pity, nor will I spare you.
12A third of your people will die by plague or be consumed by famine within you, a third will fall by the sword outside your walls, and a third I will scatter to every wind and unleash a sword behind them.
13And when My anger is spent and I have vented My wrath against them, I will be appeased. And when I have spent My wrath on them, they will know that I, the LORD, in My zeal have spoken.
14I will make you a ruin and a disgrace among the nations around you, in the sight of all who pass by.
15So you will be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and a horror to the nations around you, when I execute judgments against you in anger, wrath, and raging fury. I, the LORD, have spoken.
16When I shower you with the deadly arrows of famine and destruction that I will send to destroy you, I will intensify the famine against you and cut off your supply of food.
17I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring a sword against you. I, the LORD, have spoken.”
Berean Standard Bible
Against the land of Israel, Ezekiel receives a sign involving a sharp sword used like a barber's razor on his head and beard. He weighs the hair and divides it into three portions. One third is burned inside the city, one third is struck with the sword, and one third is scattered to the wind, with a sword drawn after it.
The sign explains Jerusalem's coming judgment. The city has rebelled against God's rules more wickedly than the nations around it and has not walked in His statutes. It was placed among the nations to know and display God's ways, yet it has rejected them.
The language of the judgment is severe: famine, plague, sword, and scattering will come because the people have defiled the sanctuary with detestable things. Ezekiel is not describing random misfortune. He is announcing covenant judgment on a people who have repeatedly made violence and false worship ordinary.
Yet one small portion of the hair is tied in Ezekiel's robe. Even in a chapter dominated by judgment, the sign does not end with total erasure. The surviving remnant will still face testing, but the image leaves room for the LORD to preserve a people through the fire.
Questions
1 What did Ezekiel use on his head and beard?
AnswerHe used a sword as a barber's razor.
2 How was the hair divided?
AnswerIt was weighed and divided into three portions: burned, struck with the sword, and scattered to the wind.
3 Why was Jerusalem judged?
AnswerThe city rebelled against God's ways, defiled the sanctuary, and practiced detestable things.
4 What happened to the small portion of hair?
AnswerEzekiel tied it in the folds of his robe, indicating that a remnant would be preserved.
What This Means for Us
The image refuses the comforting idea that privilege makes a community immune from accountability. Jerusalem's nearness to the sanctuary makes its unfaithfulness more serious, not less.
Judgment passages should make us sober about evil, not eager to apply God's verdict to people we dislike. Leave vengeance to God, examine the loyalties of your own household, and look for the mercy that preserves a remnant.
Prayer
Holy God, keep us from presuming on privilege while tolerating sin. Make us sober about evil, honest about our own loyalties, and grateful for the mercy that preserves and restores. Amen.