Ezekiel 4

1 But thou, O son of man, take thyself a tile, and lay it before thee, and engrave upon it a city, [namely, ] Jerusalem:

“And as for you, son of man, take up for yourself a tablet, and you shall set it before you. And you shall draw upon it the city of Jerusalem.

2 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.

And you shall set up a blockade against it, and you shall build fortifications, and you shall put together a rampart, and you shall encamp opposite it, and you shall place battering rams around it.

3 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.

And you shall take up for yourself an iron frying pan, and place it as an iron wall between you and the city. And harden your face against it, and it shall be under a siege, and you shall surround it. This is a sign to the house of Israel.

4 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.

And you shall sleep on your left side. And you shall place the iniquities of the house of Israel on it by the number of days that you will sleep on it. And you shall take upon yourself their iniquity.

5 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.

For I have given to you the years of their iniquity, by the number of the days: three hundred and ninety days. And you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

6 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.

And when you will have completed this, you shall sleep a second time, on your right side, and you shall assume the iniquity of the house of Judah for forty days: one day for each year; one day, I say, for each year, have I given to you.

7 And toward the siege of Jerusalem shalt thou direct thy face with thy arm uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.

And you shall turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and your arm shall be extended. And you shall prophesy against it.

8 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.

Behold, I have surrounded you with chains. And you shall not turn yourself from one side to the other side, until you have completed the days of your siege.

9 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.

And you shall take for yourself wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and vetch. And you shall set them in one vessel, and you shall make for yourself bread by the number of days that you will sleep upon your side: three hundred and ninety days shall you shall eat from it.

10 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.

But your food, which you will eat, shall be in weight twenty staters a day. You shall eat it from time to time.

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

And you shall drink water by measure, one sixth part of a hin. You shall drink it from time to time.

12 And in form of a barley-cake shalt thou eat it, and this shalt thou bake with balls of human excrement before their eyes.

And you shall eat it like barley bread baked under ashes. And you shall cover it, in their sight, with the dung that goes out of a man.”

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

And the Lord said: “So shall the sons of Israel eat their bread, polluted among the Gentiles, to whom I will cast them out.”

14 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.

And I said: “Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God! Behold, my soul has not been polluted, and from my infancy even until now, I have not eaten anything that has died of itself, nor that which has been torn up by beasts, and no unclean flesh at all has entered into my mouth.”

15 Then said he unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow's dung instead of human excrement; and thou shalt prepare thy bread thereupon.

And he said to me: “Behold, I have given to you cow manure in place of human dung, and you shall make your bread with it.”

16 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;

And he said to me: “Son of man, behold: I will crush the staff of bread in Jerusalem. And they will eat bread by weight and with anxiety. And they will drink water by measure and with anguish.

17 In order that they may want bread and water, and be confounded one with the other, and pine away for their iniquity.

So then, when bread and water fail, each one may fall against his brother. And they shall waste away in their iniquities.”