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 to thee a brick, and thou hast put it before thee, and hast graven on it a city — 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 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 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.

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 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.

'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 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.

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 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 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 you shall turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and your arm shall be extended. And you shall prophesy 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 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 put on thee thick bands, and thou dost not turn from side to side till thy completing 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.

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

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.”

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

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

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 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.”

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

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