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.

“But you, son of man, take a brick for yourself and place it before you. Then carve the city of Jerusalem on it.

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.

Then lay siege against it, and build forts against it. Raise up an assault ramp against it and set camps around it. Place battering rams all around 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.

Then take for yourself an iron pan and use it as an iron wall between yourself and the city and set your face against it, for it will be under siege, and you are to put the siege against it. This will be 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.

Then, lie on your left side and put the sin of the house of Israel on it; you will carry their sin for the number of the days that you lie down against the house of Israel.

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.

I myself am assigning to you one day to represent each year of their punishment: 390 days! In this way, you will carry the sin 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.

When you have completed these days, then lie down a second time on your right side, for you will carry the sin of the house of Judah for forty days. I am assigning to you one day for each year.

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

Set your face toward Jerusalem that is under siege, and with your arm uncovered 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.

For behold! I am placing bonds on you so you will not turn from one side to the other until you have completed the days of your 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.

Take for yourself wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt; put them in a single container and make bread for yourself according to the number of the days that you will lie upon your side. For 390 days you will eat it.

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

The food you will eat will be by weight, twenty shekels per day, and you will eat it at set times each day.

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

Then you will drink water, measured out to a sixth of a hin, and you will drink it at set times.

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

You will eat it as barley cakes, but you will bake it on excrement of human dung within their sight!”

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.

For Yahweh says, “This means that the bread that the people of Israel will eat will be unclean, there among the nations where I will banish them.”

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.

But I said, “Alas, Lord Yahweh! I have never been unclean! I have never eaten either anything that died or anything killed by animals, from my youth until now, and foul meat has never entered 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.

So he said to me, “Look! I have given you cow manure instead of human dung so you can prepare your bread over that.”

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:

He also said to me, “Son of man! Behold! I am breaking the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they will eat bread while rationing it in anxiety and drink water while rationing it in trembling.

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

Because they will lack bread and water, every man will be dismayed at his brother and waste away because of their iniquity.”