“And you, son of man,a take for yourselfb a sword, sharp as ⌊a barber’s razor⌋.c Take it for yourself, and you must cause it to pass over your head and over your beard, and you must take for yourself a set of scales for weighing, and you must divide them.d 2 A third you must burn with fire in the midste of the city at ⌊the completion⌋f of the days of the siege, and you must take a third, and you must strike it with the sword around it, and a third you must scatter to the wind, and I will draw a sword behind them. 3 And you must take from these a few in number, and you must tuck them in your hem. 4 And from them again you shall take some, and you must throw them in the middle of the fire, and you must burn them with fire; from it a fire will go out to all of the house of Israel. 5 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: This is Jerusalem in the midst of the nations where I have put her, and countries are around her. 6 But she has rebelled against my regulations to the point of wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are around her; for they rejected my regulations, and as for my statutes, they did not walk in them. 7 Therefore, thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because of your commotion more than the nations that are around you—you did not walk in my statutes, and you did not do my regulations, and according to the regulations of the nations that are around you, you did not do. 8 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Look! I, ⌊even I⌋,g am against you, and I will execute judgment in the midst of you before the eyes of the nations, 9 and I will do with you that which I have not done, and which I will not do again, because of all of your detestable things. 10 Thereforeh parentsi will eat childrenj in the midst of you, and childrenk will eat their parents,l and I will execute judgment in you, and I will scatter your entire remnant to every wind. 11 Therefore ⌊as surely as I live⌋,m ⌊declares⌋n the Lord Yahweh, ⌊Surely⌋o because you have defiled my sanctuary with all of your vile idols and with all of your detestable things, ⌊now indeed I⌋p will reduce, and my eye will not take pity, and surely I will show no compassion. 12 A third of you will die because of the plague, and because of the famine they will perish in the midst of you, and a third will fall through the sword around you, and a third I will scatter to every direction of the wind, and I will draw the sword behind them. 13 And my anger will come to an end, and I will place my rage on them, and I will relent, and they will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken in my passion ⌊when I fully vent my rage against them⌋.q 14 And I will make you into a desolate place and into a disgrace among the nations that surround you before the eyes of ⌊every one who passes by⌋.r 15 And it will bes an object of tauntingt and an object of mockery, a warning and a horror to the nations that are around you whenever I execute judgments against you in anger and in wrath and in furious punishments! I, Yahweh, have spoken! 16 When I send my arrows of deadly famine against them, which will be as destruction that I will send in order to destroy you, I will increase famine against you, and I will break ⌊the supply of food⌋u for you. 17 And I will send against you famine and fierce animals,v and they will make you childless; and plague and blood will pass through you, and I will bring the sword upon you. I, Yahweh, I have spoken!”

Idolatrous Worship and Idolatrous Objects Denounced

6 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man,a set your face to the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them, 3 and you must say, ‘Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh, thus says the Lord Yahweh to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys: “Look, I am bringing upon you the sword, and I will destroy your high places, 4 and your altars will be desolate, and your incense altars will be broken, and I will throw down your slain ones ⌊before⌋b your idols, 5 and I will placec the corpses of the children of Israel ⌊before⌋d their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars. 6 In all of your dwellings, the cities will be desolate and the high places will be ruined, so that your altars will be desolate and will suffer punishment. Your idols will be broken and will come to an end, and your incense altars will be cut down, and your works will be destroyed, 7 and the slain one will fall in the midst of you, and then you will know that I am Yahweh. 8 Bute I will spare some, ⌊so there will be⌋f for you fugitives from the sword among the nations ⌊when you are scattered⌋g in the countries. 9 And your fugitives will remember me among the nations to which they were taken captive, that I was shattered by ⌊their adulterous heart⌋h which departed from me, and by ⌊their adulterous eyes⌋i which went after their idols, and they will feel loathing ⌊for themselves⌋,j for the evil that they did, for all of their detestable things. 10 And they will know that I am Yahweh; not ⌊in vain⌋k I spoke to bring to them this evil.” ’ 11 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Clap your hand and stamp with your foot, and say, “Alas, for all of the detestable things of the evil of the house of Israel, ⌊because of which⌋l they will fall with the sword, with the famine, and with the plague. 12 The one who is far away will die by the plague, and the one who is near will fall by the sword, and the one who is being left behind and being spared will die by the famine, and I will complete my rage onm them. 13 And you will know that I am Yahweh ⌊when their slain ones are in the midst of their idols⌋n around their altars at every high hill, on the tops of all the mountains and under every green tree and under every leafy oak—the place at which they gave a pleasing scent for all of their idols. 14 And I will stretch out my hand against them, and I will make the land a desolation and a wasteland from the desert to Riblah in all of their dwellings, and they will know that I am Yahweh.” ’ ”