Ezekiel 4

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

And you, son of man, take a back and put it before you and on it make a picture of a town, 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 make an attack on it, shutting it in, building strong places against it, and making high an earthwork against it; and put up tents against it, placing engines all round it for smashing down its walls.

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 a flat iron plate, and put it for a wall of iron between you and the town: and let your face be turned to it, and it will be shut in and you will make an attack on it. This will be a sign to the children 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.

Then, stretching yourself out on your left side, take the sin of the children of Israel on yourself: for as long as you are stretched out, so long will the sin of the children of Israel be on you.

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 had the years of their sin measured for you by a number of days, even three hundred and ninety days: and you will take on yourself the sin of the children 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 when these days are ended, turning on your right side, you are to take on yourself the sin of the children of Judah: forty days, a day for a year, I have had it fixed for you.

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

And let your face be turned to where Jerusalem is shut in, with your arm uncovered, and be a prophet 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 see, I will put bands on you; and you will be stretched out without turning from one side to the other till the days of your attack are ended.

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.

And take for yourself wheat and barley and different sorts of grain, and put them in one vessel and make bread for yourself from them; all the days when you are stretched on your side it will be your food.

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

And you are to take your food by weight, twenty shekels a day: you are to take it at regular times.

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 you are to take water by measure, the sixth part of a hin: you are to take it at regular times.

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 let your food be barley cakes, cooking it before their eyes with the waste which comes out of a 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 the Lord said, Even so the children of Israel will have unclean bread for their food among the nations where I am driving 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! see, my soul has never been unclean, and I have never taken as my food anything which has come to a natural death or has been broken by beasts, from the time when I was young even till now; no disgusting flesh has ever 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 you cow's waste in place of man's waste, and you will make your bread ready on 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.

And he said to me, Son of man, see, I will take away from Jerusalem her necessary bread: they will take their bread by weight and with care, measuring out their drinking-water with fear and wonder:

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

So that they may be in need of bread and water and be wondering at one another, wasting away in their sin.