Ezekiel 5:1-9

YAHWEH said, “Son of man, take a sharp sword; use it like a barber’s razor and shave your head and beard. Then take scales and divide the hair into three piles. When the days of your siege are over, burn up a third in the midst of the city of Jerusalem. Take another third and chop it up with the sword around the perimeter of the tile-city. Then scatter the last third to the wind. I will pursue those who escape the city with my sword. Also keep back a few hairs and wrap them up in the folds of your cloak. And of those, take just a few hairs and throw them on the fire and burn them. That fire will spread to all the people of Israel.” Listen to what the Lord YAHWEH says: “This represents Jerusalem. I have placed her in the center of the nations, encircled by foreign countries. Yet she has rebelled more wickedly against my ways and against my laws than the gentile nations that surround her. Indeed, she has deliberately rejected my commands and not kept my laws.” Therefore, the Lord YAHWEH says, “Because you acted more wickedly than the nations around you, since you do not keep my laws or respect my commands, and since you do not respect even the moral standards of the surrounding nations, therefore, behold—I, Lord YAHWEH, declare that I am against you. And I will pass my judgment on you for all the nations to see. Because of all your loathsome practices, I am coming against you more severely than I have ever done before or will ever do again.