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,

“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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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 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 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.

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 to the siege of Jerusalem you prepare your face, and your arm [is] uncovered, and you have prophesied concerning 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 have put thick bands on you, and you do not turn from side to side until your completing the days of your 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 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.

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 your food that you eat [is] by weight, twenty shekels daily; from time to time you 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 you drink water by measure, a sixth part of the hin; from time to time you 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 you eat it [as] barley-cake, and it with dung—the filth of man—you bake 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 YHWH says, “Thus the sons of Israel eat their defiled bread among the nations to where I 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 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.”

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 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.”

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 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;

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

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