Ezekiel 4
1 “Son of man, you are to take a brick, put in front of you, and draw a picture of the city of Jerusalem on it.
But thou, O son of man, take thyself a tile, and lay it before thee, and engrave upon it a city, [namely, ] Jerusalem:
2 Show that it's under siege: establish a siege perimeter all around it, build a siege ramp against it, set up the enemy camps beside it, and put battering rams on all sides around it.
And place around it a siege, and build works of attack against it, and cast up a mound against it; and arrange around it encampments, and place against it battering rams round about.
3 Put an iron plate between yourself and the city so it's like an iron wall. Face the city and demonstrate that it's under siege, and that you are the one attacking it. This is a symbolic warning to the people of Israel.
Moreover take thou unto thyself an iron pan, and set it up as a wall of iron between thee and the city: and direct thy face against it, that it may be placed in a state of siege, and lay siege against it. This shall be a sign for the house of Israel.
4 Then lie on your left side and take the Israelites' sins on yourself. You will carry their sins for the number of days you lie on your side.
And as for thyself, lie upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: [after] the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it shalt thou bear their iniquity.
5 I will make you stay there for 390 days, representing the number of years of their sins. You will bear the sins of the Israelites.
But as for myself, I lay upon thee the years of their iniquity, after the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
6 Once you have finished doing this for these days, then you are to lie down again, but this time on your right side, and carry the sins of the people of Judah. I will make you stay there for 40 days, one day for every year.
And when thou hast made an end of them, thou shalt lie on thy right side, the second time, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: a day each for a year, a day for a year do I lay it on thee.
7 Keep your face towards the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared, and prophesy against it.
And toward the siege of Jerusalem shalt thou direct thy face with thy arm uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.
8 Be ready, because now I'm going to tie you up with ropes so you can't move from side to side until the days of your siege are over.
And, behold, I will lay ropes upon thee, that thou mayest not turn thyself from one side to the other, till thou hast made an end of the days of thy siege.
9 Get some wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, and mix them together in a storage jar. Use them to make bread for yourself. This is what you are to eat for the 390 days that you lie on your side.
But thou take unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make thyself bread thereof, [after] the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days, shalt thou eat it.
10 You are allowed to eat twenty shekels weight of food each day, and you are to eat it at regular times.
And thy food which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels for every day: from one time to the other time shalt thou eat it.
11 Measure out a sixth of a hin of water to drink, and you are to drink it at regular times.
And water shalt thou drink by measure, the sixth part of a hin: from one time to the other time shalt thou drink [it].
12 You are to eat the bread as you would a barley loaf. You are to bake it over a fire burning dried human excrement as everyone watches.”
And in form of a barley-cake shalt thou eat it, and this shalt thou bake with balls of human excrement before their eyes.
13 Then the Lord said, “This is the way the Israelites will eat their unclean bread among the nations where I'll exile them.”
And the Lord said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their bread unclean among the nations whither I will drive them.
14 “Please no, Lord God!” I answered. “I have never made myself unclean. I haven't eaten anything found dead or killed by wild animals from the time I was young until now. I've never put unclean meat in my mouth.”
Then said I, Ah Lord Eternal! behold, my soul hath not been defiled; and that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces, have I never eaten from my youth up even until now; and never is flesh of abomination come into my mouth.
15 “All right,” he said. “I'll let you use cow manure instead of human excrement You can bake your bread over a fire using that.”
Then said he unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow's dung instead of human excrement; and thou shalt prepare thy bread thereupon.
16 Then he went on, “Son of man, watch! I am going to put a stop to Jerusalem's food supply. Worried sick, they will eat bread rationed by weight. Despairing at what's happening, they will drink water measured in small amounts.
And he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem; and they shall eat bread by weight, and with anxious care; and they shall drink water by measure, and in confusion;
17 Running out of food and water, they will be horrified as they look at one another wasting away because of their sins.”
In order that they may want bread and water, and be confounded one with the other, and pine away for their iniquity.
