And you, son of man, take for yourself a sword sharper than a barber's razor; you shall acquire it for yourself and bring it upon your head and upon your beard; and you shall take a balance of weights and divide them.
A fourth you shall burn up in fire in the midst of the city, at the fulfilling of the days of the siege; and you shall take the fourth and burn it up in her midst; and the fourth you shall cut down with a sword round about her; and the fourth you shall scatter to the wind; and I will unsheathe a dagger after them.
And from these you shall take yet more and shall throw them into the midst of the fire and burn them up in fire; out of it shall come forth fire. And you shall say to all the house of Israel:
And you shall declare my ordinances to the lawless one from among the nations, and my statutes from the lands round about her; for they rejected my ordinances and did not walk in my statutes.
Therefore thus says the Lord: Because your resort is from the nations round about you, and you did not walk in my statutes and did not perform my ordinances, but have not even acted according to the ordinances of the nations round about you —
Therefore fathers shall eat children in your midst, and children shall eat fathers; and I will execute judgements in you, and I will scatter all your remnant to every wind.
Therefore, as I live, says the Lord, surely because you defiled my holy things with all your abominations, I also will reject you; my eye shall not spare, and I also will not show mercy.
A fourth of you shall be consumed by death, and a fourth of you shall be finished off by famine in your midst, and a fourth of you I will scatter to every wind, and a fourth of you shall fall by the sword round about you; and I will unsheathe a dagger after them.
And my wrath shall be completed, and my anger upon them; and you shall know that I the Lord have spoken in my zeal, when I have completed my anger upon them.
And you shall become an object of groaning and of misery among the nations round about you, when I execute judgements in you, in the vengeance of my wrath. I the Lord have spoken.
And I will send out against you famine and evil beasts, and I will punish you; and death and blood shall pass through you, and I will bring a sword upon you round about. I the Lord have spoken.