Ezekiel 5 - Easy To Read Version

³ But then you must get a few of those hairs and wrap them up in your robe. \{This will show that I will save a few of my people.\}

⁴ You must also get some more of those hairs and throw them into the fire. \{This will show that\} a fire will start there and destroy the whole house of Israel. {\cf2\super [44]}

⁵ Then the Lord my Master said to me, “That \{brick\} is a picture of Jerusalem. I put Jerusalem in the middle of other nations. And there are countries all around her.

⁶ The people \{of Jerusalem\} rebelled against my commands. They were worse than any of the other nations! They broke more of my laws than any of the people in the countries around them. They refused to listen to my commands! They did not obey my laws!”

⁷ So, the Lord my Master says, “\{I will do terrible things to you! Why?\} Because you did not obey my laws. You did not obey my commands. You broke more of my laws than the people that live around you! And you even did things those people say are wrong!”

⁸ So the Lord my Master says, “So now, even I am against you! And I will punish you while those other people watch.

⁹ I will do things to you that I have never done before. And I will never do those terrible things again! Why? Because you did so many terrible things.

¹⁰ People in Jerusalem will be so hungry that parents will eat their own children and children will eat their own parents. I will punish you in many ways. And the people that are left alive, I will scatter them to the winds.

¹¹ The Lord my Master says, “\{Jerusalem,\} I promise by my life \{that I will punish you\}! I promise that I will punish you! Why? Because you did terrible things to my Holy Place. You did horrible things that made it dirty! I will punish you! I won’t show any mercy. I will not feel sorry for you!

¹² One third of your people will die inside the city from diseases and hunger. One third of your people will die in battle outside the city. And then I will pull out my sword and chase one third of your people into faraway countries.

^13-15 Only then will I stop being angry at your people. I will know that they have been punished for the bad things they did to me. And they will know that I am the Lord, and that I spoke to them because of my strong love {\cf2\super [45]} for them!”

¹⁶ Then God said to me, “Son of man, {\cf2\super [41]} I am destroying Jerusalem’s supply of bread. People will have only a little bread to eat. They will be very worried \{about their food supply\}. And they will have only a little water to drink. They will be very scared when they drink that water.

¹⁷ Why? Because there won’t be enough food and water for the people. People will be terrified of each other—they will see each other wasting away because of their sins.