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Ezekiel 5:1

in Ezekiel 5

“As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword, use it as a barber’s razor, and shave your head and beard. Then take a set of scales and divide the hair.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp sword; as a barber’s razor shalt thou take it unto thee, and shalt cause it to pass upon thy head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair.

KJV

And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber’s razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair.

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This verse in Ezekiel 5

Commentary

8 notes on this verse
And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife,.... Or, "sword" (m). The word signifies any sharp instrument, by which anything is cut off, or cut asunder; what is here meant is explained by the following: take thee a barber's razor.

This site's exposition

use it as a barber’s razor

on Ezekiel 5:1-4

Ezekiel shaves his head and beard with “a sharp sword” used as “a barber’s razor” and divides the hair in three. A third is burned “inside the city,” a third struck “with the sword,” and a third scattered “to the wind,” as Ezekiel 5:12 explains.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ezekiel · Written before 420.

proposed

(Chapter 5, verses 1 onwards) And you, son of man, take for yourself a sharp sword, like a barber's razor, and pass it over your head and your beard; then take scales for weighing and divide them. One third you shall burn in the midst of the city when the days of the siege are completed, one third you shall strike with the sword all around it, and one third you shall scatter to the wind; and I will unsheathe a sword after them.

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

He must weigh the hair and divide it into three parts. This intimates the very exact directing of God's judgments according to equity (by him men and their actions are weighed in the unerring balance of truth and righteousness) and the proportion which divine justice observes in punishing some by one judgment and others by another; one way or other, they shall all be met with.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

That sign is expounded, and applied to Jerusalem. Sin is charged upon Jerusalem as the cause of this desolation--contempt of God's law (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

Translate it: take thee a sharp sword, for a barber’s razor thou shalt take it thee. Even if the action were literal, the use of an actual sword would best enforce the symbolic meaning. The “head” represents the chief city, the “hair” the inhabitants - its ornament and glory - the “hair cut from the head” the exiles cast forth from their homes. It adds to the force of the representation that “to shave the head” was a token of mourning Job 1:20, and was forbidden to the priests Lev 21:

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

knife . . . razor--the sword of the foe (compare Isa 7:20). This vision implies even severer judgments than the Egyptian afflictions foreshadowed in the former, for their guilt was greater than that of their forefathers. thine head--as representative of the Jews. The whole hair being shaven off was significant of severe and humiliating (2Sa 10:4, 5) treatment.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

1 more voice on this verse

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Take thee a sharp knife - Among the Israelites, and indeed among most ancient nations, there were very few edge-tools. The sword was the chief; and this was used as a knife, a razor, etc., according to its different length and sharpness. It is likely that only one kind of instrument is here intended; a knife or short sword, to be employed as a razor. Here is a new emblem produced, in order to mark out the coming evils. 1. The prophet represents the Jewish nation. 2. His hair, the people. 3. The razor, the Chaldeans. 4. The cutting the beard and hair, the calamities, sorrows, and disgrace coming upon the people. Cutting off the hair was a sign of mourning; see on Jer 45:5 (note); Jer 48:37 (note); and also a sign of great disgrace; see 2Sa 10:4. 5. He is ordered to divide the hair, 2Sa 10:2, into three equal parts, to intimate the different degrees and kinds of punishment which should fall upon the people. 6. The balances, 2Sa 10:1, were to represent the Divine justice, and the exactness with which God’s judgments should be distributed among the offenders. 7. This hair, divided into three parts, is to be disposed of thus: 1. A third part is to be burnt in the midst of the city, to show that so many should perish by famine and pestilence during the siege. 2. Another third part he was to cut in small portions about the city, (that figure which he had pourtrayed upon the brick), to signify those who should perish in different sorties, and in defending the walls. 3. And the remaining third part he was to scatter in the wind, to point out those who should be driven into captivity. And, 4. The sword following them was intended to show that their lives should be at the will of their captors, and that many of them should perish by the sword in their dispersions. 5. […]

The words behind it

21 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְאַתָּ֨הand you

    veatahH859 →1094 times

  • בֶן־O son of

    ven-H1121 →4930 times

  • אָדָ֜םhumankind

    ʾadamH120 →551 times

  • קַח־take

    kach-H3947 →966 times

  • לְךָ֣׀<for> yourself

    lekha

  • חֶ֣רֶבa sword

    cherevH2719 →413 times

  • חַדָּ֗הsharp

    chadahH2299 →

  • תַּ֤עַר<the> razor of

    taarH8593 →13 times

  • הַגַּלָּבִים֙<the> barbers

    hagalavimH1532 →

  • תִּקָּחֶ֣נָּהyou will take it

    tikachenahH3947 →966 times

  • לָּ֔ךְ<for> yourself

    lakh

  • וְהַעֲבַרְתָּ֥and you will make [it] pass

    vehaavartaH5674 →556 times

  • עַל־over

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • רֹאשְׁךָ֖head your

    roshekhaH7218 →599 times

  • וְעַל־and over

    veal-H5921 →5755 times

  • זְקָנֶ֑ךָbeard your

    zekanechaH2206 →

  • וְלָקַחְתָּ֥and you will take

    velakachtaH3947 →966 times

  • לְךָ֛<for> yourself

    lekha

  • מֹאזְנֵ֥יscales of

    mozneiH3976 →

  • מִשְׁקָ֖לweight

    mishkalH4948 →

  • וְחִלַּקְתָּֽם׃and you will divide them

    vechilaktamH2505 →

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

5 in all, six open

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Leviticus 21:5

    Priests must not make bald spots on their heads, shave off the edges of their beards, or make cuts in their bodies.

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 14:1

      You are sons of the LORD your God; do not cut yourselves or shave your foreheads on behalf of the dead,

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Ezekiel 44:20

      They must not shave their heads or let their hair grow long, but must carefully trim their hair.

    • Leviticus 19:27–28

      You must not cut off the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.

  • Through

    Daniel 5:27

    TEKEL means that you have been weighed on the scales and found deficient.

    it leads to

    • Job 31:6

      let God weigh me with honest scales, that He may know my integrity.

    • Psalms 62:9

      Lowborn men are but a vapor, the exalted but a lie. Weighed on the scale, they go up; together they are but a vapor.

    • 1 Corinthians 3:13

      his workmanship will be evident, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will prove the quality of each man’s work.

    • Jeremiah 6:30

      They are called rejected silver, because the LORD has rejected them.”

    • Ezekiel 22:18–20

      “Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me. All of them are copper, tin, iron, and lead inside the furnace; they are but the dross of silver.

About Ezekiel

Ezekiel’s Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Ezekiel’s Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Ezekiel: the study guide →Read Ezekiel 5 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Ezekiel 5 →