Ezekiel 4

1 “And you, son of man, take a brick for yourself, and you have put it before you, and have carved a city on it—Jerusalem,

“Now you, son of man, take a brick, place it before you, and draw on it the city of Jerusalem.

2 and have placed a siege against it, and built a fortification against it, and poured out a mound against it, and placed camps against it, indeed, set battering-rams against it all around.

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 you, take an iron pan for yourself, and you have made it a wall of iron between you and the city; and you have prepared your face against it, and it has been in a siege, indeed, you have laid siege against it. It [is] 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 And you, lie on your left side, and you have placed the iniquity of the house of Israel on it; the number of the days that you lie on it, you 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 And I have laid the years of their iniquity on you, the number of days, three hundred and ninety days; and you have borne 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 you have completed these, and have lain on your right side, a second time, and have borne the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days—a day for a year—a day for a year I have appointed to you.

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 to the siege of Jerusalem you prepare your face, and your arm [is] uncovered, and you have prophesied concerning it.

You must turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared, and prophesy against it.

8 And behold, I have put thick bands on you, and you do not turn from side to side until your completing the days of your 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 And you, take for yourself wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and spelt, and you have put them in one vessel, and made them for bread for yourself; the number of the days that you are lying on your side—three hundred and ninety days—you eat it.

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 your food that you eat [is] by weight, twenty shekels daily; from time to time you 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 And you drink water by measure, a sixth part of the hin; from time to time you drink [it].

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 you eat it [as] barley-cake, and it with dung—the filth of man—you bake before their eyes.”

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 YHWH says, “Thus the sons of Israel eat their defiled bread among the nations to where I 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 And I say, “Aah! Lord YHWH, behold, my soul is not defiled, and carcass, and torn thing, I have not eaten from my youth, even until now; nor has abominable flesh come 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 And He says to me, “See, I have given to you bullock’s dung instead of man’s dung, and you have made your bread by it.”

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

16 And He says to me, “Son of man, behold, I am breaking the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they have eaten bread by weight and with fear; and water by measure and with astonishment, they drink;

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 so that they lack bread and water, and have been astonished with one another, and been consumed 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.