Ezekiel 4

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

“And as for you, son of man, take up for yourself a tablet, and you shall set it before you. And you shall draw upon it the city of 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 you shall set up a blockade against it, and you shall build fortifications, and you shall put together a rampart, and you shall encamp opposite it, and you shall place battering rams around it.

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 you shall take up for yourself an iron frying pan, and place it as an iron wall between you and the city. And harden your face against it, and it shall be under a siege, and you shall surround it. This is 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.

And you shall sleep on your left side. And you shall place the iniquities of the house of Israel on it by the number of days that you will sleep on it. And you shall take upon yourself 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 given to you the years of their iniquity, by the number of the days: three hundred and ninety days. And you 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 when you will have completed this, you shall sleep a second time, on your right side, and you shall assume the iniquity of the house of Judah for forty days: one day for each year; one day, I say, for each year, have I given to you.

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

And you shall turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and your arm shall be extended. And you 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.

Behold, I have surrounded you with chains. And you shall not turn yourself from one side to the other side, until you have completed the days of your 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.

And you shall take for yourself wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and vetch. And you shall set them in one vessel, and you shall make for yourself bread by the number of days that you will sleep upon your side: three hundred and ninety days shall you shall eat from it.

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

But your food, which you will eat, shall be in weight twenty staters a day. You 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 you shall drink water by measure, one sixth part of a hin. You shall drink it 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 you shall eat it like barley bread baked under ashes. And you shall cover it, in their sight, with the dung that goes 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: “So shall the sons of Israel eat their bread, polluted among the Gentiles, to whom I will cast them out.”

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.”

And I said: “Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God! Behold, my soul has not been polluted, and from my infancy even until now, I have not eaten anything that has died of itself, nor that which has been torn up by beasts, and no unclean flesh at all has entered 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.”

And he said to me: “Behold, I have given to you cow manure in place of human dung, and you shall make your bread with 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, behold: I will crush the staff of bread in Jerusalem. And they will eat bread by weight and with anxiety. And they will drink water by measure and with anguish.

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

So then, when bread and water fail, each one may fall against his brother. And they shall waste away in their iniquities.”