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:
[Yahweh also said to me, ] “You human, take a large clay tablet/brick and put it in front of you. Then on the [engrave/draw] on it lines that represent 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.
[draw figures around it to represent enemy soldiers who will] surround the city. Make mounds around it and a dirt ramp up against the [around the city]. [figures around it that represent] (battering rams/heavy logs that will break though the walls).
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.
Then take an iron pan, and place it [to be] like an iron wall between you [the drawing of] the city. Then turn your face toward the drawing. It will symbolize [enemy troops will] surround the city to attack it. That will be a warning to the Israeli people [MTY].
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.
Then lie on your left side, and stay like that for 390 days. That [symbolize that the Israeli people will be punished for] their sins; you must lie like that one day for each year during which they will be punished.
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.
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.
After that, lie down again. This time, lie on your right side for 40 days. That [symbolize that the Israeli people will be punished more] for their sins, one day for each [during which they will be punished].
7 And toward the siege of Jerusalem shalt thou direct thy face with thy arm uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.
Turn your face [the drawing of] Jerusalem and bare your [like a soldier does who prepares to go into a battle] [MTY], and prophesy [what will happen to] the city.
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.
[You will not be able to move; it will be as though] I have tied you with ropes in order that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have [symbolizing how many years the city] will be (besieged/surrounded by enemy soldiers).
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.
[Before you do that, ] take some wheat and barley, beans, lentils, spelt and millet, and put them in a [storage] jar, and use that to bake [for yourself]. That is what you will eat during the 390 days while you lie on your [left] side.
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.
You will eat (8 ounces/a small loaf) of bread each day.
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].
[Also] measure out (1.5 pints/0.6 liter) of water to drink each day.
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.
Eat that bread like you would eat a loaf of barley bread. But use your own dried dung for fuel to bake the bread while people are watching.
13 And the Lord said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their bread unclean among the nations whither I will drive them.
That will symbolize that the Israeli people will be forced to eat food that is unacceptable to me when they are living in the nations to which I will force them to go.”
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.
Then I said, “No, Yahweh God![Do not force me to do that]! I have never caused myself to become unacceptable to you [by doing anything like that]. From the time when I was young, I have never eaten meat of any [animal] that was found dead or that had been killed by wild animals. And I have never eaten any meat that is unacceptable to you.”
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.
Yahweh replied, “Okay, I will allow you to bake your bread using dried cow manure instead of human [for fuel].”
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;
Then he said to me, “You human, I will cause the supply of food to Jerusalem to be cut off. [Then] the people will eat the small amounts of food and drink the small amounts of [that the government permits them to have], and they will be [very] distressed and anxious as they do that,
17 In order that they may want bread and water, and be confounded one with the other, and pine away for their iniquity.
because water and food will be very scarce. They will see each other becoming extremely thin, and they will be appalled; [but this will happen] because they are being punished [for the sins that they have committed].”
