Ezekiel 5:12
A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.
Study Note
Study Note
Ezekiel's tripartite judgment oracle — pestilence/famine, sword, and scattering — mimics the triadic curse structure of Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, placing the prophet's action-sign of dividing his shaved hair (v. 2) within a deliberate covenant-curse fulfillment framework. The precision of 'one third' for each fate suggests a comprehensive accounting rather than random catastrophe, reinforcing the deuteronomistic theology that the exile was a measured covenantal response. The sword 'drawn after' the scattered third intensifies the image: there is no safe refuge in dispersion, since divine judgment pursues even the diaspora. Jeremiah 15:2's parallel 'those for the sword, those for the pestilence, those for the famine' demonstrates that this tripartite formula was a shared prophetic convention for total judgment.
Other Translations
A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee; and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and a third part I will scatter unto all the winds, and will draw out a sword after them.
Thy third part--by pestilence they die, And by famine are consumed in thy midst, And the third part, by sword they fall round about thee, And the third part, to every wind I scatter, And a sword I draw out after them.
A third of you will come to death from disease, wasting away among you through need of food; a third will be put to the sword round about you; and a third I will send away to every wind, letting loose a sword after them.
Cross References
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Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of …
So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there; they …
Now therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the …
And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will send and take …
And when he cometh, he shall smite the land of Egypt, and deliver such as are for death to death; …