5¹ 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; ⁹ and I will do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like, because of all thine abominations. ¹⁰ Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter to all the winds. ¹¹ Wherefore, [as] I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, verily because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also withdraw mine eye, and it shall not spare, nor will I have any pity. ¹² A third part of thee shall die by the pestilence, and shall be consumed by the famine in the midst of thee; and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part to all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them. ¹³ And mine anger shall be accomplished, and I will satisfy my fury upon them, and I will comfort myself; and they shall know that I Jehovah have spoken in my jealousy, when I have accomplished my fury upon them. ¹⁴ And I will make thee a waste and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by. ¹⁵ And it shall be a reproach, and a taunt, an instruction, and an astonishment unto the nations that are round about thee, when I shall execute judgments upon thee in anger, and in fury, and in furious rebukes: I, Jehovah, have spoken. ¹⁶ When I send upon them the evil arrows of famine, that are for [their] destruction, which I send to destroy you, then will I increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread. ¹⁷ And I will send upon you famine and evil beasts, which shall bereave thee of children; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword upon thee: I, Jehovah, have spoken.

3¹ And he said unto me, Son of man, eat what thou findest; eat this roll, and go, speak unto the house of Israel. ² So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll. ³ And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll which I give thee. And I ate, and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. ⁴ And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them. ⁵ For thou art not sent to a people of strange language, and of difficult speech, [but] to the house of Israel; ⁶ not to many peoples of strange language and of difficult speech, whose words thou canst not understand: had I sent thee to them, would they not hearken unto thee? ⁷ But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee, for none of them will hearken unto me. For all the house of Israel are hard of forehead and stiff of heart. ⁸ Behold, I have made thy face hard against their faces, and thy forehead hard against their foreheads. ⁹ As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead. Fear them not, neither be dismayed at them, for they are a rebellious house. ¹⁰ And he said unto me, Son of man, all my words which I shall speak unto thee, receive in thy heart, and hear with thine ears; ¹¹ and go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah,—whether they will hear or whether they will forbear. ¹² And the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the sound of a great rushing, [saying,] Blessed be the glory of Jehovah from his place! ¹³ —and the sound of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the sound of the wheels beside them, and the sound of a great rushing. ¹⁴ And the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away; and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit, and the hand of Jehovah was strong upon me. ¹⁵ And I came to them of the captivity at Tel-abib, that dwelt by the river Chebar, and I sat where they sat; and I sat there astonied among them seven days.

A Watchman to Israel

¹⁶ And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, ¹⁷ Son of man, I have appointed thee a watchman unto the house of Israel, and thou shalt hear the word from my mouth, and give them warning from me. ¹⁸ When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt certainly die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, that he may live: the same wicked [man] shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thy hand. ¹⁹ But if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. ²⁰ And when a righteous [man] doth turn from his righteousness, and do what is wrong, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die; because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous acts which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thy hand. ²¹ And if thou warn the righteous [man], that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall certainly live, for he hath taken warning; and thou hast delivered thy soul.

The Prophet Made Dumb

²² And the hand of Jehovah was there upon me; and he said unto me, Arise, go forth into the valley, and there I will talk with thee. ²³ And I arose, and went forth into the valley, and behold, the glory of Jehovah stood there, like the glory which I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face. ²⁴ And the Spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet; and he spoke with me, and said unto me, Go, shut thyself within thy house. ²⁵ And thou, son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon thee, and shall bind thee therewith, and thou shalt not go out among them. ²⁶ And I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them a reprover; for they are a rebellious house. ²⁷ And when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: He that heareth, let him hear; and he that forbeareth, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.