Ezekiel 4

1 Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and trace upon it a city, even 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 up a mound against it; set camps also against it, and set 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 griddle, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city; and set thy face toward 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 Moreover lie thou 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.

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 For I have appointed the years of their iniquity to be unto thee a number of days, even three hundred and ninety days; so shalt thou 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 again, when thou hast accomplished these, thou shalt lie on thy right side, and shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah; forty days, each day for a year, have I appointed it unto thee.

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, with thine arm 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 thee from one side to another, till thou hast accomplished 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 Take thou also 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 shalt lie upon thy side, even 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 food 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 Thou shalt drink also 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 cakes, 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 the LORD said: 'Even thus 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 GOD! behold, my soul hath not been polluted; for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn of beasts; neither came there abhorred 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 Then He said unto me: 'See, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread thereon.'

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

16 Moreover 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 anxiety; and they shall drink water by measure, and in appalment;

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 that they may want bread and water, and be appalled one with another, and pine 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.