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, son of man, take to thee a brick, and thou hast put it before thee, and hast graven on it a city — 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 hast placed against it a siege, and builded against it a fortification, and poured out against it a mount, and placed against it camps, yea, set thou against it battering-rams round about.

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 thou, take to thee an iron pan, and thou hast made it a wall of iron between thee and the city; and thou hast prepared thy face against it, and it hath been in a siege, yea, thou hast laid siege against it. A sign it [is] 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, lie on thy left side, and thou hast placed the iniquity of the house of Israel on it; the number of the days that thou liest on it, thou bearest 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 — I have laid on thee the years of their iniquity, the number of days, three hundred and ninety days; and thou hast borne 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 thou hast completed these, and hast lain on thy right side, a second time, and hast borne the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days — a day for a year — 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 unto the siege of Jerusalem thou dost prepare thy face, and thine arm [is] uncovered, and thou hast prophesied concerning 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.

And lo, I have put on thee thick bands, and thou dost not turn from side to side till thy completing 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 thou, take to thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and spelt, and thou hast put them in one vessel, and made them to thee for bread; the number of the days that thou art lying on thy side — three hundred and ninety days — thou dost eat it.

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

And thy food that thou dost eat [is] by weight, twenty shekels daily; from time to time thou dost 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 water by measure thou dost drink, a sixth part of the hin; from time to time thou dost drink [it].

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

A barley-cake thou dost eat it, and it with dung — the filth of man — thou dost bake before their eyes.

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 Jehovah saith, 'Thus do the sons of Israel eat their defiled bread among the nations whither I drive 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.

And I say, 'Ah, Lord Jehovah, lo, my soul is not defiled, and carcase, and torn thing, I have not eaten from my youth, even till now; nor come into my mouth hath abominable flesh.'

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 saith unto me, 'See, I have given to thee bullock's dung instead of man's dung, and thou hast made thy bread by it.'

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 saith unto me, 'Son of man, lo, I am breaking the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they have eaten bread by weight and with fear; and water by measure and with astonishment, they do drink;

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 they lack bread and water, and have been astonished one with another, and been consumed in their iniquity.