God’s Razor of Judgment
1“Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor to shave your head and your beard. Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair. 2When the days of your siege come to an end, burn a third of the hair inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind. For I will pursue them with drawn sword. 3But take a few hairs and tuck them away in the folds of your garment. 4Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to all Israel.
5“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. 6Yet in her wickedness she has rebelled against my laws and decrees more than the nations and countries around her. She has rejected my laws and has not followed my decrees.
7“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: You have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or kept my laws. You have not even5:7 Most Hebrew manuscripts; some Hebrew manuscripts and Syriac You have conformed to the standards of the nations around you.
8“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will inflict punishment on you in the sight of the nations. 9Because of all your detestable idols, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again. 10Therefore in your midst parents will eat their children, and children will eat their parents. I will inflict punishment on you and will scatter all your survivors to the winds. 11Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your vile images and detestable practices, I myself will shave you; I will not look on you with pity or spare you. 12A third of your people will die of the plague or perish by famine inside you; a third will fall by the sword outside your walls; and a third I will scatter to the winds and pursue with drawn sword.
13“Then my anger will cease and my wrath against them will subside, and I will be avenged. And when I have spent my wrath on them, they will know that I the Lord have spoken in my zeal.
14“I will make you a ruin and a reproach among the nations around you, in the sight of all who pass by. 15You will be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and an object of horror to the nations around you when I inflict punishment on you in anger and in wrath and with stinging rebuke. I the Lord have spoken. 16When I shoot at you with my deadly and destructive arrows of famine, I will shoot to destroy you. I will bring more and more famine upon 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 the sword against you. I the Lord have spoken.”
1「人子啊，去拿一把快刀當作剃頭刀，剃掉你的頭髮和鬍鬚，然後用天平把鬚髮平均分成三份。 2圍城期滿後，你要把三分之一的鬚髮焚燒在城中，三分之一在城的四周用刀砍斷，三分之一要揚在風中吹散，因為我要拔刀追殺它們。 3你要從鬚髮中取出幾縷用衣服包上， 4再從中取出幾根扔進火裡焚燒，必有火從這裡燃起，蔓延到整個以色列。」
5主耶和華說：「這就是耶路撒冷！我把她安置在萬邦的中央，使列國環繞著她。 6但她違背我的典章，作惡甚於列邦，觸犯我的律例甚於她周圍的列國。他們拒絕我的典章，不遵守我的律例。」 7所以主耶和華說：「你們比周圍的國家更混亂不堪，你們沒有遵行我的律例，不謹守我的典章，連周圍的國家都不如。」 8因此主耶和華這樣說：「看啊，我要親自對付你們，我必在列國面前審判你們。 9因為你們一切的惡行，我必向你們施行空前絕後的懲罰。 10在你們中間，父親要吃自己的兒子，兒子要吃自己的父親。我必懲罰你們，把你們餘下的人分散到各地各方。」 11主耶和華說：「因為你們用一切可憎的偶像和惡行玷污我的聖所，我憑我的永恆起誓，我必毫不留情地剷除你們。 12你們三分之一的人要死於瘟疫和饑荒，三分之一的人要死於刀下，我必把其餘的三分之一分散到各地各方，並拔刀追殺他們。 13這樣，我的怒氣才會發完，我對你們的怒火才會盡消，我才會息怒。我把烈怒傾倒在你們身上的時候，你們就會知道我耶和華說這話是出於痛恨不貞。 14我必使你們的家園荒涼，使你們在周圍的列國中，在路人眼前飽受羞辱。 15當我在怒氣，義憤和烈怒中嚴厲地審判你們時，你們在各國必受羞辱和嘲諷，成為警戒，下場可怕。這是我耶和華說的。 16我要向你們射出饑荒的毒箭，破壞和毀滅你們，並且使饑荒越來越嚴重，斷絕你們的糧源。 17我必讓饑荒和猛獸來侵害你們，奪走你們的兒女，使你們飽受瘟疫、暴行和刀劍之災，這是我耶和華說的。」
