Ezekiel 5:3
in Ezekiel 5But you are to take a few strands of hair and secure them in the folds of your garment.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And thou shalt take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts.
KJV
Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts.
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This verse in Ezekiel 5
Commentary
7 notes on this verseThou shall also take thereof a few in number,.... These are they that were left in the land of Judea by Nebuzaradan, for vinedressers and husbandmen, and such as returned out of Egypt into the land of Judah, Jer 44:28; and bind them in thy skirts; in the pockets of them; signifying both the very small number of them, and their preservation. Jarchi and Kimchi interpret these of those that were carried captive to Babylon, and lived there, and were preserved, and returned again.
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.
This site's exposition
take a few strands of hair
A few strands go into the folds of the garment. John Gill names them as the poor whom Nebuzaradan left in Judah to tend the vines. The folds show how few they are and that they are kept safe.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(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
This signified perhaps that little handful of people which were left under the government of Gedaliah, who, it was hoped, would keep possession of the land when the body of the people was carried into captivity.
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 Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Of the third part a few are yet to be taken and kept in the fold of the garment (representing those still to remain in their native land), and yet even of those few some are to be cast into the fire. Such was the fate of those left behind after the destruction of Jerusalem Jer. 40; 41. The whole prophecy is one of denunciation. Eze 5:4 Thereof - Or, from thence, out of the midst of the fire. Omit “For.”
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְלָקַחְתָּ֥ | velakachta | and you will take | H3947 → | 966 times |
| מִשָּׁ֖ם | misham | from there | H8033 → | 834 times |
| מְעַ֣ט | meat | a few | H4592 → | 101 times |
| בְּמִסְפָּ֑ר | bemispar | in number | H4557 → | 134 times |
| וְצַרְתָּ֥ | vetzarta | and you will confine | H6696 → | |
| אוֹתָ֖ם | ʾotam | <obj.> them | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בִּכְנָפֶֽיךָ׃ | bikhnafeikha | in skirts your | H3671 → | 109 times |
וְלָקַחְתָּ֥and you will take
velakachtaH3947 →966 times
מִשָּׁ֖םfrom there
mishamH8033 →834 times
מְעַ֣טa few
meatH4592 →101 times
בְּמִסְפָּ֑רin number
bemisparH4557 →134 times
וְצַרְתָּ֥and you will confine
vetzartaH6696 →
אוֹתָ֖ם<obj.> them
ʾotamH853 →10935 times
בִּכְנָפֶֽיךָ׃in skirts your
bikhnafeikhaH3671 →109 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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
Matthew 7:14But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.
it leads to
- Luke 13:23–30
“Lord,” someone asked Him, “will only a few people be saved?” Jesus answered,
- Matthew 22:14
For many are called, but few are chosen.”
- Matthew 16:24–25
Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.
- Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of…
- Isaiah 35:8
And there will be a highway called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not travel it—only those who walk in the Way—and fools will not stray onto it.
- Luke 13:23–30
Through
2 Kings 25:12But the captain of the guard left behind some of the poorest of the land to tend the vineyards and fields.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 40:7
When all the commanders and men of the armies in the field heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam over the land and that he had put him in…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ezekiel 33:24
“Son of man, those living in the ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he possessed the land. But we are many; surely the land has been…
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 40:7
Through
Jeremiah 39:10But Nebuzaradan left behind in the land of Judah some of the poor people who had no property, and at that time he gave them vineyards and fields.
it leads to
- 2 Kings 25:12
But the captain of the guard left behind some of the poorest of the land to tend the vineyards and fields.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 2 Kings 25:12
About Ezekiel
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; 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.