Ezekiel 4

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

But thou, O son of man, take thyself a tile, and lay it before thee, and engrave upon it a city, [namely, ] 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 place around it a siege, and build works of attack against it, and cast up a mound against it; and arrange around it encampments, and place against it battering rams 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.

Moreover take thou unto thyself an iron pan, and set it up as a wall of iron between thee and the city: and direct thy face against it, that it may be placed in a state of siege, and lay siege against it. This shall be a sign for 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 as for thyself, lie upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: [after] the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it shalt thou 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.

But as for myself, I lay upon thee the years of their iniquity, after the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou 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 made an end of them, thou shalt lie on thy right side, the second time, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: a day each for a year, a day for a year do I lay it on thee.

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

And toward the siege of Jerusalem shalt thou direct thy face with thy arm uncovered, 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.

And, behold, I will lay ropes upon thee, that thou mayest not turn thyself from one side to the other, till thou hast made an end of 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.

But thou take unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make thyself bread thereof, [after] the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days, shalt thou eat 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 shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels for every day: from one time to the other time shalt thou 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 water shalt thou drink by measure, the sixth part of a hin: from one time to the other time shalt thou 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 in form of a barley-cake shalt thou eat it, and this shalt thou bake with balls of human excrement before their eyes.

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 thus shall the children of Israel eat their bread unclean among the nations whither 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 said I, Ah Lord Eternal! behold, my soul hath not been defiled; and that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces, have I never eaten from my youth up even until now; and never is flesh of abomination 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 said he unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow's dung instead of human excrement; and thou shalt prepare thy bread thereupon.

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 unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem; and they shall eat bread by weight, and with anxious care; and they shall drink water by measure, and in confusion;

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

In order that they may want bread and water, and be confounded one with the other, and pine away for their iniquity.