5:1 “As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor. 1 Shave off some of the hair from your head and your beard. 2 Then take scales and divide up the hair you cut off. 5:2 Burn a third of it in the fire inside the city when the days of your siege are completed. Take a third and slash it with a sword all around the city. Scatter a third to the wind, and I will unleash a sword behind them. 5:3 But take a few strands of hair 3 from those and tie them in the ends of your garment. 4 5:4 Again, take more of them and throw them into the fire, 5 and burn them up. From there a fire will spread to all the house of Israel.
1 tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.
2 tn Heb, “pass (it) over your head and your beard.”
3 tn Heb “from there a few in number.” The word “strands” has been supplied in the translation for clarification.
4 sn Objects could be carried in the end of a garment (Hag 2:12).
5 tn Heb “into the midst of” (so KJV, ASV). This phrase has been left untranslated for stylistic reasons.