Ezekiel 5:2-4
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 1 from those and tie them in the ends of your garment. 2
5:4 Again, take more of them and throw them into the fire, 3 and burn them up. From there a fire will spread to all the house of Israel.
Ezekiel 5:12
5:12 A third of your people will die of plague or be overcome by the famine within you. 4 A third of your people will fall by the sword surrounding you, 5 and a third I will scatter to the winds. I will unleash a sword behind them.
1 tn Heb “from there a few in number.” The word “strands” has been supplied in the translation for clarification.
2 sn Objects could be carried in the end of a garment (Hag 2:12).
3 tn Heb “into the midst of” (so KJV, ASV). This phrase has been left untranslated for stylistic reasons.
4 sn The judgment of plague and famine comes from the covenant curse (Lev 26:25-26). As in v. 10, the city of Jerusalem is figuratively addressed here.
5 sn Judgment by plague, famine, and sword occurs in Jer 21:9; 27:13; Ezek 6:11, 12; 7:15.