1 ⌊The Lord said,⌋ “Son of man, take a sharp blade, and use it as a barber’s razor to shave your head and beard. Take scales to weigh your hair and divide it ⌊into three even parts⌋.
2 When the blockade is over, burn one-third of your hair in a fire in the middle of the city. Take another third, and cut it up with a blade around the city. Then scatter the remaining third to the wind, and I will draw a sword and go after it.
3 Take a few strands of hair, and wrap them in the hem of your clothes.
4 Later, take some of them, and throw them in a fire and burn them up. From there a fire will spread throughout the whole nation of Israel.
5 “This is what the Almighty Lord says: This is Jerusalem! I have placed it in the center of the nations with countries all around it.