Ezekiel 4

1 And you, son of man, take a back and put it before you and on it make a picture of a town, even 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 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.

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 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.

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, 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 And let your face be turned to where Jerusalem is shut in, with your arm uncovered, and be a prophet 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 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.

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 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.

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 And you are to take your food by weight, twenty shekels a day: you are to take it at regular 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 And you are to take water by measure, the sixth part of a hin: you are to take it at regular times.

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

12 And let your food be barley cakes, cooking it before their eyes with the waste which comes out of a man.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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:

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

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