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Ezekiel 5

God turns Ezekiel’s shorn hair into a sign of Jerusalem’s devastation, declaring judgment for rebellion and the defilement of his sanctuary.

God commands Ezekiel to shave his head and beard with a sword, weigh the hair, and divide it into portions. Burning, cutting, and scattering the hair will portray Jerusalem’s fate under siege and judgment. A few hairs are tucked into his robe, though some of these must also burn. God then explains the sign: Jerusalem has rejected his commands and defiled his sanctuary. Famine, disease, and the sword will devastate the city before the watching nations.

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1“You, son of man, take a sharp sword. You shall take it as a barber’s razor to yourself, and shall cause it to pass over your head and over your beard. Then take balances to weigh and divide the hair.
2A third part you shall burn in the fire in the middle of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled. You shall take a third part, and strike with the sword around it. A third part you shall scatter to the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them.
3You shall take a small number of these and bind them in the folds of your robe.
4Of these again you shall take, and cast them into the middle of the fire, and burn them in the fire. From it a fire will come out into all the house of Israel.
5“The Lord GOD says: ‘This is Jerusalem. I have set her in the middle of the nations, and countries are around her.
6She has rebelled against my ordinances in doing wickedness more than the nations, and against my statutes more than the countries that are around her; for they have rejected my ordinances, and as for my statutes, they have not walked in them.’
7“Therefore the Lord GOD says: ‘Because you are more turbulent than the nations that are around you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my ordinances, neither have followed the ordinances of the nations that are around you;
8therefore the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I, even I, am against you; and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations.
9I will do in you that which I have not done, and which I will not do anything like it any more, because of all your abominations.
10Therefore the fathers will eat the sons within you, and the sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments on you; and I will scatter the whole remnant of you to all the winds.
11Therefore as I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things, and with all your abominations, therefore I will also diminish you. My eye won’t spare, and I will have no pity.
12A third part of you will die with the pestilence, and they will be consumed with famine within you. A third part will fall by the sword around you. A third part I will scatter to all the winds, and will draw out a sword after them.
13“‘Thus my anger will be accomplished, and I will cause my wrath toward them to rest, and I will be comforted. They will know that I, the LORD, have spoken in my zeal, when I have accomplished my wrath on them.
14“‘Moreover I will make you a desolation and a reproach among the nations that are around you, in the sight of all that pass by.
15So it will be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment, to the nations that are around you, when I execute judgments on you in anger and in wrath, and in wrathful rebukes—I, the LORD, have spoken it—
16when I send on them the evil arrows of famine that are for destruction, which I will send to destroy you. I will increase the famine on you and will break your staff of bread.
17I will send on you famine and evil animals, and they will bereave you. Pestilence and blood will pass through you. I will bring the sword on you. I, the LORD, have spoken it.’”
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Key verses
Ezekiel 5:12This verse explains the divided hair: Jerusalem’s people will face death within the city, slaughter outside, and pursuit after scattering.
Ezekiel 5:11God names the defilement of his sanctuary as grounds for judgment and declares that he will withhold pity.
Ezekiel 5:13The completion of judgment will make the people recognize that the Lord has spoken in his zeal.
Where this chapter reaches

Leviticus and Deuteronomy share Ezekiel’s warnings of covenant judgment through famine, disease, and scattering, including the horror of parents eating their children. Jeremiah and Lamentations also describe Jerusalem’s devastation through siege and hunger, linking the city’s suffering with rebellion against God.

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After reading the whole chapter

What does the movement from measured hair to devastated people make you notice about this judgment?

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How does Jerusalem’s place among the nations shape your reading of its responsibility before God?

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Questions people ask about Ezekiel 5

Why does Ezekiel shave his head and beard in Ezekiel 5?

God commands the shaving as a prophetic sign of Jerusalem’s coming judgment. The three portions of hair represent people dying from famine and disease, falling by the sword, or being scattered and pursued. A few hairs are kept in Ezekiel’s robe, but even some of those are then burned.

Why is God’s judgment on Jerusalem so severe in Ezekiel 5?

God charges Jerusalem with rejecting his statutes, exceeding the surrounding nations in wickedness, and defiling his sanctuary. The city he placed among the nations will become a public warning to them. The announced horrors express God’s wrath against these offenses, with no promise of relief within this chapter.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).