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.

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

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 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 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 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 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 Keep your face towards the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared, and prophesy against it.

And set thy face against besieged Jerusalem, and uncover thine arm, and 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 bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another till thou hast ended 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.

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 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 eatest shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day; from time to 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.

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

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.”

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

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 Jehovah said, Even thus shall the sons of Israel eat their polluted food 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 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 “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 he said to me: Behold, I give thee cow's dung for man's dung; and with that shalt thou prepare thy food.

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 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 Running out of food and water, they will be horrified as they look at one another wasting away because of their sins.”

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