Ezekiel 4

1 “Now you, son of man, take a brick, place it before you, and draw on it the city of Jerusalem.

Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and portray upon it a city, even Jerusalem.

2 Then lay siege against it: Construct a siege wall, build a ramp to it, set up camps against it, and place battering rams around it on all sides.

And lay siege against it, and build forts against it, and cast up a mound against it. Also set camps against it, and plant battering rams against it round about.

3 Then take an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between yourself and the city. Turn your face toward it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.

And take thou to thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city. And set thy face toward it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shall lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.

4 Then lie down on your left side and place the iniquity of the house of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their iniquity for the number of days you lie on your side.

Moreover lie thou upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it. According to the number of the days that thou shall lie upon it, thou shall bear their iniquity.

5 For I have assigned to you 390 days, according to the number of years of their iniquity. So you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

For I have appointed the years of their iniquity to be a number of days to thee, even three hundred and ninety days. So thou shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

6 When you have completed these days, lie down again, but on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. I have assigned to you 40 days, a day for each year.

And again, when thou have accomplished these, thou shall lie on thy right side, and shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days, each day for a year. I have appointed it to thee.

7 You must turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared, and prophesy against it.

And thou shall set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with thine arm uncovered, and thou shall prophesy against it.

8 Now behold, I will tie you up with ropes so you cannot turn from side to side until you have finished the days of your siege.

And, behold, I lay bands upon thee, and thou shall not turn thee from one side to the other, till thou have accomplished the days of thy siege.

9 But take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt; put them in a single container and make them into bread for yourself. This is what you are to eat during the 390 days you lie on your side.

Also take thou to thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread of it, according to the number of the days that thou shall lie upon thy side, even three hundred and ninety days, thou shall eat of it.

10 You are to weigh out twenty shekels of food to eat each day, and you are to eat it at set times.

And thy food which thou shall eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day. Thou shall eat it from time to time.

11 You are also to measure out a sixth of a hin of water to drink, and you are to drink it at set times.

And thou shall drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin. Thou shall drink from time to time.

12 And you shall eat the food as you would a barley cake, after you bake it over dried human excrement in the sight of the people.”

And thou shall eat it as barley cakes, and thou shall bake it in their sight with dung that comes out of man.

13 Then the LORD said, “This is how the Israelites will eat their defiled bread among the nations to which I will banish them.”

And Jehovah said, Even thus shall the sons of Israel eat their bread unclean among the nations where I will drive them.

14 “Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have not eaten anything found dead or mauled by wild beasts. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth.”

Then I said, Ah lord Jehovah! Behold, my soul has not been polluted. For from my youth up even till now I have not eaten of that which dies of itself, or is torn of beasts, neither has abominable flesh come into my mouth.

15 “Look,” He replied, “I will let you use cow dung instead of human excrement, and you may bake your bread over that.”

Then he said to me, See, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shall prepare thy bread of it.

16 Then He told me, “Son of man, I am going to cut off the supply of food in Jerusalem. They will anxiously eat bread rationed by weight, and in despair they will drink water by measure.

Moreover he said to me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they shall eat bread by weight, and with fearfulness, and they shall drink water by measure, and in dismay,

17 So they will lack food and water; they will be appalled at the sight of one another wasting away in their iniquity.

that they may lack bread and water, and be dismayed one with another, and pine away in their iniquity.