5:12 A third of your people will die of plague or be overcome by the famine within you. 1 A third of your people will fall by the sword surrounding you, 2 and a third I will scatter to the winds. I will unleash a sword behind them.
1 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.
2 sn Judgment by plague, famine, and sword occurs in Jer 21:9; 27:13; Ezek 6:11, 12; 7:15.