The Razor of Judgment

1O thou sonne of man, take thee then a sharpe knife namely a barbers rasour, take that to thee, and cause it to passe vpon thy head and vpon thy beard: then take thee waight scales and deuide the heere. 2Thou shalt burne with fire the thirde part in the middest of the citie when the dayes of the siege are fulfylled, and thou shalt take the other thirde part and smite about it with a knife, and the last thirde part thou shalt scatter in the wynde, and I wyll drawe out a sworde after them. 3Thou shalt also take therof a fewe in number, and bynde them in thy lappe. 4Of them yet shalt thou take, and cast them into the middest of the fire, & burne them in the fire: therof shall a fire come foorth into all the house of Israel.

5Moreouer, thus saith the Lorde God: This same is Hierusalem, which I set in the middest of nations, and countreis rounde about her. 6But she hath chaunged my iudgementes into wickednesse more then the nations, and my statutes more then the countreis that are rounde about her: for they haue refused my iudgementes and my statutes, and not walked in them. 7Therfore thus saith the Lorde God: For your multiplying more then the gentiles that dwell rounde about you, and because ye haue not walked in my lawes, neither haue ye kept my ordinaunces, no ye haue not done accordyng to the iudgementes of the nations that are rounde about you: 8Therfore thus saith the Lorde God, Beholde I will also come agaynst thee, I my selfe I say: for in the middest of thee wyll I execute iudgement in the sight of the heathen. 9And I wyll handle thee of such a fashion as I neuer did before, & as I will neuer do from that tyme foorth, and that because of all thine abhominations. 10For in thee the fathers shalbe fayne to eate their owne sonnes, and the sonnes their owne fathers, I wyll execute iudgement in thee, and the whole remnaunt of thee wyll I scatter into all the wyndes.

Famine, Sword, and Dispersion

11Wherfore, as truly as I lyue saith the Lorde God, seyng thou hast defiled my sanctuarie with all maner of abhominations, and with all shamefull offences: (5:12) For this cause will I also destroy thee, mine eye shall not spare thee, neither wyll I haue any pitie.

12(5:13) One thirde part within thee shall dye of the pestilence and be consumed of hunger, another thirde part shalbe slayne downe rounde about thee with the sworde, the other thirde part that remayneth, wyll I scatter abrode towarde all the wyndes, and drawe out a sworde after them.

13(5:14) Thus wyll I perfourme mine indignation, & make my wrath to settle vpon them, and I will be comforted: so that when I haue fulfylled myne anger agaynst them, they shall knowe that I am the Lorde, which with a seruent gelousie haue spoken it. 14(5:15) Moreouer, I wyll make thee waste and reuiled among all the heathen that dwell about thee, in the sight of all them that go by thee. 15(5:16) So thou shalt be a reproche and shame, a chastisement and a wondryng vnto the nations that are rounde about thee, when I shall execute iudgementes in thee, in anger & in wrath, and in sharpe rebukes, I the Lorde haue spoken it: 16(5:17) When I shoote among them the perilous dartes of hunger, which shalbe for their destruction, yea therfore shall I shoote them because I wyll destroy you, I wyll encrease hunger vpon you, and wyll breake your staffe of bread. 17(5:18) Plagues wyll I sende vpon you, yea and wicked beastes also to spoyle thee, pestilence and bloodsheddyng shal come vpon thee, and the sworde wyll I bring ouer thee: I the Lorde haue spoken it.