Ezekiel 4

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

And thou, O son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee: and draw upon it the plan of 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 lay siege against it, and build forts, and cast up a mount, and set a camp against it, and place battering rams round about 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 take unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face resolutely against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it: it 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 thou shalt sleep upon thy left side, and shalt lay the iniquities of the house of Israel upon it, according to the number of the days that thou shalt sleep upon it, and thou shalt take upon thee 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.

And I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days three hundred and ninety days: and thou shalt 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 thou hast accomplished this, thou shalt sleep again upon thy right side, and thou shalt take upon thee the iniquity of the house of Juda forty days: a day for it year, yea, a day for a year I have appointed to thee.

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

And thou shalt turn thy face to the siege of Jerusalem, and thy arm shall be stretched out: and thou shalt 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 encompassed thee with bands: and thou shalt not turn thyself from one side to the other, till thou hast ended 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.

And take to thee wheat and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side: three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.

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 meat that thou shalt eat, shall be in weight twenty staters a day: from time to time thou shalt eat it.

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 shalt drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin: from time to time thou shalt drink it,

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 shalt eat it as barley bread baked under the ashes: and thou shalt cover it, in their sight, with the dung that cometh 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 children of Israel Beat their bread all filthy among the nations whither 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: Ah, ah, ah, O Lord God, behold my soul hath not been defiled, and from my infancy even till now, I have not eaten any thing that died of itself, or was torn by beasts, and no unclean flesh hath 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 thee neat’s dung for man’s dung, and thou shalt make thy bread therewith.

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 break in pieces the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care: and they shall drink water by measure, and in distress.

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 when bread and water fail, every man may fall against his brother, and they may pine away in their iniquities.