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.

Thou therefore O son of man Take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, —and portray thereon 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.

Then shalt thou lay siege against it And build up against it a siege-wall And cast up against it, a mound, — And set against it camps, And place against it battering-rams, 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.

Thou, therefore take thee a pan of iron, and set it for a wall of iron, between thee and the city, —then shalt thou direct thy face against it and it shall come into siege and thou shalt lay siege to it, a sign, shall it be 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.

Thou, therefore lie thou on thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it, — during the number of the days which thou shalt lie thereon, shalt thou bear their punishment.

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.

I therefore have appointed thee the years of their punishment, by the number of days a hundred and ninety days, —so 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 ended these, then shalt thou lie, on thy right side. a second time, and shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah, — forty days, one day for each year, have I appointed thee.

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

Thus then unto the siege of Jerusalem, shalt thou direct thy face, with thine arm made bare, —so shalt thou 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 lo! I have laid upon thee-bands, —and thou shalt not turn thee from thy one side to thine other, until thou have 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.

Thou, therefore, take thee wheat and barley and peas and lentils and millet and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make them ready for thee as bread, —during the number of days which thou art lying on thy side. a hundred and ninety days, shalt thou eat it;

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 shalt eat 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.

and water by measure, shalt thou drink 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.”

and as a barley cake, shalt thou eat it, —and the same with dung proceeding from man, shalt thou bake, before their eyes.

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.”

Then said Yahweh, In like manner, shall the sons of Israel eat their bread defiled, —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! My Lord. Yahweh, lo! my person, hath not been defiled: neither of what hath died of itself nor of what hath been torn in pieces: have I eaten, from my youthful days even unto now, neither hath come into my mouth the flesh of a foul thing.

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.”

So then he said unto me, See I have granted thee cow’s dung for man’s dung, —and thou shalt prepare thy bread thereupon.

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 unto me, Son of man Behold me! breaking the staff of bread in Jerusalem, So shall they eat bread by weight and with anxious care, And water by measure, and in astonishment, shall they drink:

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

that they may lack bread and water and be astonished one with another, and pine away in their punishment.