Ezekiel 5

God commands Ezekiel to act out Jerusalem’s coming fate with his own shaved hair: some burned, some struck with the sword, some scattered, and a tiny remnant kept safe. God then explains the sign. Jerusalem, set at the center of the nations, has been worse than the pagans, so judgment of unmatched severity will fall on her, and she will know that the LORD has spoken.

Ezekiel 5:1

Ezekiel, a priest, is told to shave his head and beard with a sword used as a razor. Shaving was a sign of shame and mourning. He then weighs the hair on scales, showing that God’s judgment is exact, measured and fair.

BSA: scales (“balances, for weighing”): The weighing shows that nothing in the judgment is careless or random; God measures it precisely. divide (“apportion, separate”): The hair is split into portions, each portion standing for a different fate.

See also: Daniel 5:27.

Ezekiel 5:2

The hair is split in three. One part is burned in the city, one is struck with the sword around it, and one is scattered to the wind. These stand for death by siege, death by battle, and exile. God Himself sends the sword after the scattered.

BSA: scatter (“to disperse, to toss”): Those who escape the city are flung out like light hair on the wind, with no safe place to land. unleash (“to release, to draw out”): God draws the sword Himself, so even the exiles are not beyond His reach.

Ezekiel 5:3

A few strands are tucked into the folds of Ezekiel’s robe. Even in this severe picture, God keeps a small remnant safe. His mercy is never wholly absent from His judgment.

BSA: secure (“bind, tie up”): The strands are fastened tightly, picturing how carefully God guards those He preserves.

See also: Jeremiah 40:11-12.

Ezekiel 5:4

Even some of the saved strands are thrown into the fire. The remnant will not be untouched, and the fire spreads to all Israel. Sin and judgment are never limited to one place or one group.

BSA: fire (“divine judgment, refining presence”): Fire here is judgment, but it also hints at the purifying work God can do through hardship.

Ezekiel 5:5

God now explains the sign. Jerusalem was placed in the middle of the nations on purpose. She was meant to show the surrounding peoples what it looks like to live under the true God, not to copy their ways.

BSA: center (“midst, middle”): Jerusalem’s central position gave her a calling to be seen by all, which makes her failure all the more serious.

See also: Deuteronomy 4:6-8.

Ezekiel 5:6

The accusation is that Jerusalem rejected God’s own ordinances and statutes. She did so more wickedly than the nations that never had God’s law. Those who have been given the most light are held to the highest account.

BSA: ordinances (“just decrees, righteous judgments”): God’s laws were fair and right, so rejecting them was no small mistake.

See also: Luke 12:48.

Ezekiel 5:7

God repeats the charge and sharpens it. Jerusalem has not even met the moral standards of her pagan neighbors. She left God’s law and fell below ordinary human decency too.

BSA: insubordinate (“turbulent, rebellious”): The word suggests a restless, noisy defiance, like a crowd that will not be governed.

Hebrew: הֲמֹנְכֶם (hamonkhem, H1995) — “your uproar, your turbulence.” The Hebrew word describes a noisy, tumultuous crowd. God pictures Jerusalem as an unruly mob, not a people at peace under His rule.

Ezekiel 5:8

God declares, with great force, that He Himself is against Jerusalem. The judgment will be public, carried out where the nations can see it. The worst of it is that the God who once protected her now stands opposed.

BSA: Behold (“look, take notice”): God demands attention; this is a solemn announcement to be heeded, not a passing remark.

See also: Jeremiah 21:13.

Ezekiel 5:9

God says He will do what He has never done before and never will again. The judgment will be of unmatched severity because the sin is so great. The Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem would be remembered as a unique disaster.

BSA: abominations (“detestable idols, disgusting ways”): The word points mainly to idolatry and the practices that go with it, which God finds utterly repulsive.

Hebrew: תּוֹעֲבֹתֶיךָ (to’avotekha, H8441) — “your abominations, your detestable things.” This Hebrew word names what is hateful to God, especially idol worship. It is a favorite word of Ezekiel for Jerusalem’s sins.

Ezekiel 5:10

The horror of cannibalism during the siege is foretold. Such things were warned of in the law if Israel broke the covenant. The survivors are scattered in every direction. Sin ends in ruin even of the closest family bonds.

BSA: scatter (“disperse, winnow”): The picture is of grain tossed in the air so the wind carries off the chaff; the remnant is blown far from home.

See also: Leviticus 26:29; Lamentations 4:10.

Ezekiel 5:11

God swears by His own life. The root cause is that the people have defiled His sanctuary with idols. So He withdraws His favor and will show neither pity nor sparing. God’s holiness cannot live comfortably beside such pollution.

BSA: defiled (“made unclean, polluted”): Idols brought into God’s house made the holy place unclean, like dirt in a place meant to be pure. favor (“lovingkindness, mercy”): What God withdraws is His tender, covenant kindness, the very thing the people most depended on.

See also: Ezekiel 8:5-6.

Ezekiel 5:12

The three portions of hair are now explained. A third die by plague and famine inside the city, a third fall by the sword outside the walls, and a third are scattered, with the sword still pursuing them. No path of escape is left open.

BSA: famine (“hunger, lack of food”): A long siege starves a city slowly, which is why hunger is named alongside disease.

Ezekiel 5:13

God’s anger is not endless or out of control. It runs its course and is satisfied. The purpose is that the people will know the LORD has spoken. His zeal is a passionate commitment to His covenant and to His own honor.

BSA: zeal (“passionate devotion, jealous love”): God’s anger comes from a jealous love for His people, not from cold temper. appeased (“comforted, satisfied”): Once justice is done, God’s wrath is settled and no longer burns.

See also: Isaiah 42:13.

Ezekiel 5:14

The city that was meant to be a light to the nations will become a ruin and a disgrace. Every traveler passing by will see what became of her. Her fall will be a public lesson.

BSA: ruin (“desolate, waste”): Jerusalem becomes an empty, wasted place instead of a busy, praising city.

See also: Lamentations 2:15.

Ezekiel 5:15

Jerusalem will be a reproach, a taunt, a warning and a horror to all around. Other nations will learn from her fate that God judges sin. God stresses that this comes from His own word: I, the LORD, have spoken.

BSA: warning (“disciplinary”): Her fall is meant to teach and correct, not merely to punish.

Ezekiel 5:16

God pictures famine and destruction as deadly arrows He shoots at the city. He will deepen the hunger and cut off the people’s food. Bread, the basic support of life, will be taken away.

BSA: supply of food (“staff of bread, sustenance”): Bread is called a staff because people lean on it to stand; when it breaks, they collapse.

See also: Leviticus 26:26.

Ezekiel 5:17

The chapter closes with a list of the judgments: famine, wild beasts, plague, bloodshed and the sword. Mothers and fathers will be left childless. Ending as it began, it stresses that the LORD has spoken. His warnings are certain, and they were given so that people might heed them.

BSA: childless (“bereaved, without offspring”): The word describes parents robbed of their children, which is the deepest kind of loss.

See also: Leviticus 26:22.