Ezekiel 4

1 “And as for you, son of man, take up for yourself a tablet, and you shall set it before you. And you shall draw upon it the city of Jerusalem.

And thou, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and portray upon it a city, even Jerusalem.

2 And you shall set up a blockade against it, and you shall build fortifications, and you shall put together a rampart, and you shall encamp opposite it, and you shall place battering rams around it.

And lay siege against it, and build a tower against it, and cast up a mound against it; set a camp also against it, and place battering-rams against it round about.

3 And you shall take up for yourself an iron frying pan, and place it as an iron wall between you and the city. And harden your face against it, and it shall be under a siege, and you shall surround it. This is a sign to the house of Israel.

Moreover, take thou an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city; and set thy face against it, that it may be besieged; and lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.

4 And you shall sleep on your left side. And you shall place the iniquities of the house of Israel on it by the number of days that you will sleep on it. And you shall take upon yourself their iniquity.

Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it. According to the number of days that thou shalt lie upon it, thou shalt bear their iniquity.

5 For I have given to you the years of their iniquity, by the number of the days: three hundred and ninety days. And you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

But for the years of their iniquity I appoint thee days, three hundred and ninety days; so long shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

6 And when you will have completed this, you shall sleep a second time, on your right side, and you shall assume the iniquity of the house of Judah for forty days: one day for each year; one day, I say, for each year, have I given to you.

And when thou hast brought them to an end, then lie upon thy right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days. I have appointed thee a day for a year.

7 And you shall turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and your arm shall be extended. And you shall prophesy against it.

And set thy face against besieged Jerusalem, and uncover thine arm, and prophesy against it!

8 Behold, I have surrounded you with chains. And you shall not turn yourself from one side to the other side, until you have completed the days of your siege.

And behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.

9 And you shall take for yourself wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and vetch. And you shall set them in one vessel, and you shall make for yourself bread by the number of days that you will sleep upon your side: three hundred and ninety days shall you shall eat from it.

Take thou also wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and spelt, and put them into one vessel, and make thereof thy bread for the number of days that thou shalt lie upon thy side; three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.

10 But your food, which you will eat, shall be in weight twenty staters a day. You shall eat it from time to time.

And thy food which thou eatest shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day; from time to time shalt thou eat it.

11 And you shall drink water by measure, one sixth part of a hin. You shall drink it from time to time.

Thou shalt also drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin; from time to time shalt thou drink.

12 And you shall eat it like barley bread baked under ashes. And you shall cover it, in their sight, with the dung that goes out of a man.”

Thou shalt also eat barley-cakes; and with dung that cometh out of man shalt thou bake them in their sight.

13 And the Lord said: “So shall the sons of Israel eat their bread, polluted among the Gentiles, to whom I will cast them out.”

And Jehovah said, Even thus shall the sons of Israel eat their polluted food among the nations, whither I will drive them.

14 And I said: “Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God! Behold, my soul has not been polluted, and from my infancy even until now, I have not eaten anything that has died of itself, nor that which has been torn up by beasts, and no unclean flesh at all has entered into my mouth.”

Then said I: Ah! Lord Jehovah, behold, I have never been polluted; for from my youth until now have I not eaten that which died of itself, or was torn in pieces; neither hath unclean food come into my mouth.

15 And he said to me: “Behold, I have given to you cow manure in place of human dung, and you shall make your bread with it.”

Then he said to me: Behold, I give thee cow's dung for man's dung; and with that shalt thou prepare thy food.

16 And he said to me: “Son of man, behold: I will crush the staff of bread in Jerusalem. And they will eat bread by weight and with anxiety. And they will drink water by measure and with anguish.

And he said to me: Son of man, behold, I will break 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 amazement;

17 So then, when bread and water fail, each one may fall against his brother. And they shall waste away in their iniquities.”

so that they shall be in want of bread and water, and be astonished one at another, and consume away for their iniquity.