Ezekiel 4

1 And thou, son of man, take thee a brick, and lay it before thee, and portray upon it a city, — Jerusalem:

“Now you, son of man, take a brick, place it before you, and draw on it the city of Jerusalem.

2 and lay siege against it, and build forts against it, and cast a mound against it, and set camps against it, and place battering-rams against it round about.

Then lay siege against it: Construct a siege wall, build a ramp to it, set up camps against it, and place battering rams around it on all sides.

3 And take thou unto thee an iron plate, and put it [for] a wall of iron between thee and the city; and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it: this shall be a sign to the house of Israel.

Then take an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between yourself and the city. Turn your face toward it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.

4 And thou, lie upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: the number of the days that thou liest upon it, thou shalt bear their iniquity.

Then lie down on your left side and place the iniquity of the house of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their iniquity for the number of days you lie on your side.

5 And I have appointed thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days; and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

For I have assigned to you 390 days, according to the number of years of their iniquity. So you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

6 And when thou hast accomplished them, thou shalt lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.

When you have completed these days, lie down again, but on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. I have assigned to you 40 days, a day for each year.

7 And thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.

You must turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared, and prophesy against it.

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

Now behold, I will tie you up with ropes so you cannot turn from side to side until you have finished the days of your siege.

9 And thou, take unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, [according to] the number of the days that thou liest upon thy side: three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.

But take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt; put them in a single container and make them into bread for yourself. This is what you are to eat during the 390 days you lie on your side.

10 And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.

You are to weigh out twenty shekels of food to eat each day, and you are to eat it at set times.

11 And thou shalt drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.

You are also to measure out a sixth of a hin of water to drink, and you are to drink it at set times.

12 And thou shalt eat it [as] barley-cake, and thou shalt bake it in their sight with dung that cometh out of man.

And you shall eat the food as you would a barley cake, after you bake it over dried human excrement in the sight of the people.”

13 And Jehovah said, So shall the children of Israel eat their bread unclean among the nations whither I will drive them.

Then the LORD said, “This is how the Israelites will eat their defiled bread among the nations to which I will banish them.”

14 Then said I, Ah, Lord Jehovah! behold, my soul hath not been defiled, and from my youth up even until now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or of that which is torn; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.

“Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have not eaten anything found dead or mauled by wild beasts. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth.”

15 And he said unto me, See, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.

“Look,” He replied, “I will let you use cow dung instead of human excrement, and you may bake your bread over that.”

16 And he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I break the staff of bread in Jerusalem; and they shall eat bread by weight, and with anxiety; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:

Then He told me, “Son of man, I am going to cut off the supply of food in Jerusalem. They will anxiously eat bread rationed by weight, and in despair they will drink water by measure.

17 because bread and water shall fail them, and they shall be astonied one with another, and waste away in their iniquity.

So they will lack food and water; they will be appalled at the sight of one another wasting away in their iniquity.