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.

Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and portray upon it the 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 fort against it, and cast a mound against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it on every side.

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 to thee an iron pan, and set 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.

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 the 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.

For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to 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 accomplished them, 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.

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

Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thy arm shall be 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 cords 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 to thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread of them, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat of 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 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 drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an 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.”

And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, 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 the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, where 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 GOD! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither hath abominable flesh 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, Lo, I have given thee cow’s dung for man’s dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread with them.

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.

Moreover 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 horror:

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

That they may lack bread and water, and be appalled one with another, and pine away for their iniquity.