Jezekiel 4

1 And you, son of man, take you a brick, and you shall set it before your face, and shall portray on it the city, [even] Jerusalem.

[Yahweh also said to me, ] “You human, take a large clay tablet/brick and put it in front of you. Then on the [engrave/draw] on it lines that represent Jerusalem.

2 And you shall besiege it, and build works against it, and throw up a mound round about it, and pitch camps against it, and set up engines round about.

[draw figures around it to represent enemy soldiers who will] surround the city. Make mounds around it and a dirt ramp up against the [around the city]. [figures around it that represent] (battering rams/heavy logs that will break though the walls).

3 And take you to yourself an iron pan, and you shall set it [for] an iron wall between you and the city: and you shall set your face against it, and it shall be in a siege, and you shall besiege it. This is a sign to the children of Israel.

Then take an iron pan, and place it [to be] like an iron wall between you [the drawing of] the city. Then turn your face toward the drawing. It will symbolize [enemy troops will] surround the city to attack it. That will be a warning to the Israeli people [MTY].

4 And you shall lie upon your left side, and lay the iniquities of the house of Israel upon it, according to the number of the hundred and fifty days [during] which you shall lie upon it: and you shall bear their iniquities.

Then lie on your left side, and stay like that for 390 days. That [symbolize that the Israeli people will be punished for] their sins; you must lie like that one day for each year during which they will be punished.

5 For I have appointed you their iniquities for a number of days, for a hundred and ninety days: so you shall bear the iniquities of the house of Israel.

6 And you shall accomplish this, and [then] shall lie on your right side, and shall bear the iniquities of the house of Juda forty days: I have appointed you a day for a year.

After that, lie down again. This time, lie on your right side for 40 days. That [symbolize that the Israeli people will be punished more] for their sins, one day for each [during which they will be punished].

7 So you shall set your face to the siege of Jerusalem, and shall strengthen your arm, and shall prophesy against it.

Turn your face [the drawing of] Jerusalem and bare your [like a soldier does who prepares to go into a battle] [MTY], and prophesy [what will happen to] the city.

8 And, behold, I have prepared bonds for you, land you may not turn from your one side to the other, until the days of your siege shall be accomplished.

[You will not be able to move; it will be as though] I have tied you with ropes in order that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have [symbolizing how many years the city] will be (besieged/surrounded by enemy soldiers).

9 Take you also to you wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and bread-corn; and you shall cast them into one earthen vessel, and shall make them into loaves for yourself; and you shall eat them a hundred and ninety days, according to the number of the days [during] which you sleep on your side.

[Before you do that, ] take some wheat and barley, beans, lentils, spelt and millet, and put them in a [storage] jar, and use that to bake [for yourself]. That is what you will eat during the 390 days while you lie on your [left] side.

10 And you shall eat your food by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shall you eat them.

You will eat (8 ounces/a small loaf) of bread each day.

11 And you shall drink water by measure, even from time to time you shall drink the sixth part of a hin.

[Also] measure out (1.5 pints/0.6 liter) of water to drink each day.

12 And you shall eat them [as] a barley cake: you shall bake them before their eyes in man's dung.

Eat that bread like you would eat a loaf of barley bread. But use your own dried dung for fuel to bake the bread while people are watching.

13 And you shall say, Thus says the Lord God of Israel; Thus shall the children of Israel eat unclean things amongst the Gentiles.

That will symbolize that the Israeli people will be forced to eat food that is unacceptable to me when they are living in the nations to which I will force them to go.”

14 Then I said, Not so, Lord God of Israel: surely my soul has not been defiled with uncleanness; nor have I eaten, that which died of itself or was torn of beasts from my birth until now; neither has any corrupt flesh entered into my mouth.

Then I said, “No, Yahweh God![Do not force me to do that]! I have never caused myself to become unacceptable to you [by doing anything like that]. From the time when I was young, I have never eaten meat of any [animal] that was found dead or that had been killed by wild animals. And I have never eaten any meat that is unacceptable to you.”

15 And he said to me, Behold, I have given you dung of oxen instead of man's dung, and you shall prepare your loaves upon it.

Yahweh replied, “Okay, I will allow you to bake your bread using dried cow manure instead of human [for fuel].”

16 And he said to me, Son of man, behold, I break the support of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight and in lack; and shall drink water by measure, and in a state of ruin:

Then he said to me, “You human, I will cause the supply of food to Jerusalem to be cut off. [Then] the people will eat the small amounts of food and drink the small amounts of [that the government permits them to have], and they will be [very] distressed and anxious as they do that,

17 that they may lack bread and water; and a man and his brother shall be brought to ruin, and they shall pine away in their iniquities.

because water and food will be very scarce. They will see each other becoming extremely thin, and they will be appalled; [but this will happen] because they are being punished [for the sins that they have committed].”