And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber's rasor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair.
Take thee a sharp knife ... a barber's razor - the sword of the foe (cf. Isaiah 7:20). This vision implies even severer judgments than the Egyptian afflictions foreshadowed in the former, because their guilt was greater than that of their forefathers. Cause it to pass upon thine head - as representative of the Jews. The whole hair being shaven off was significant of severe and humiliating treatment (2 Samuel 10:4-5 "Hanun took David's servant, and shaved off the one half of their beards"), especially in the case of a priest, because priests (Leviticus 21:5) were forbidden "to make baldness upon their head," their hair being the token of consecration. Hereby it was intimated that the ceremonial must give place to the moral law.
Take thee balances - implying the just discrimination with which Yahweh weighs out the portion of punishment "divided" - i:e., allotted to each. The "hairs" are the Jews; the divine scales do not allow even one hair to escape accurate weighing (cf. Matthew 10:30).