Ezekiel 5:10

5:10 Therefore fathers will eat their sons within you, Jerusalem, ¹  and sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments on you, and I will scatter any survivors ²  to the winds. ³ 

Ezekiel 5:16

5:16 I will shoot against them deadly, ⁴  destructive ⁵  arrows of famine, ⁶  which I will shoot to destroy you. ⁷  I will prolong a famine on you and will remove the bread supply. ⁸ 

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¹ tn In context “you” refers to the city of Jerusalem. To make this clear for the modern reader, “Jerusalem” has been supplied in the translation in apposition to “you.”

sn This cannibalism would occur as a result of starvation due to the city being besieged. It is one of the judgments threatened for a covenant law violation (Lev 26:29; see also Deut 28:53; Jer 19:9; Lam 2:20; Zech 11:9).

² tn Heb “all of your survivors.”

³ tn Heb “to every wind.”

⁴ tn The Hebrew word carries the basic idea of “bad, displeasing, injurious,” but when used of weapons has the nuance “deadly” (see Ps 144:10).

⁵ tn Heb “which are/were to destroy.”

⁶ tn The language of this verse may have been influenced by Deut 32:23.

⁷ tn Or “which were to destroy those whom I will send to destroy you” (cf. NASB).

⁸ tn Heb, “break the staff of bread.” The bread supply is compared to a staff that one uses for support. See 4:16, as well as the covenant curse in Lev 26:26.