Ezekiel 4

1 Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it a city, even Jerusalem:

“Son of man, you are to take a brick, put in front of you, and draw a picture of the city of Jerusalem on it.

2 and lay siege against it, and build forts against it, and cast up a mount against it; set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it round about.

Show that it's under siege: establish a siege perimeter all around it, build a siege ramp against it, set up the enemy camps beside it, and put battering rams on all sides around it.

3 And take thou unto thee an iron pan, 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.

Put an iron plate between yourself and the city so it's like an iron wall. Face the city and demonstrate that it's under siege, and that you are the one attacking it. This is a symbolic warning to the people 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 on your left side and take the Israelites' sins on yourself. You will carry their sins 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.

I will make you stay there for 390 days, representing the number of years of their sins. You will bear the sins of the Israelites.

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.

Once you have finished doing this for these days, then you are to lie down again, but this time on your right side, and carry the sins of the people of Judah. I will make you stay there for 40 days, one day for every year.

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

Keep your face towards 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.

Be ready, because now I'm going to tie you up with ropes so you can't move from side to side until the days of your siege are over.

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.

Get some wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, and mix them together in a storage jar. Use them to make bread for yourself. This is what you are to eat for the 390 days that you lie on your side.

10 And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.

You are allowed to eat twenty shekels weight of food each day, and you are to eat it at regular times.

11 And thou shalt drink water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.

Measure out a sixth of a hin of water to drink, and you are to drink it at regular 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.

You are to eat the bread as you would a barley loaf. You are to bake it over a fire burning dried human excrement as everyone watches.”

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 the way the Israelites will eat their unclean bread among the nations where I'll exile 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 abominable flesh into my mouth;

“Please no, Lord God!” I answered. “I have never made myself unclean. I haven't eaten anything found dead or killed by wild animals from the time I was young until now. I've never put unclean meat in 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.

“All right,” he said. “I'll let you use cow manure instead of human excrement You can bake your bread over a fire using 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 carefulness; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:

Then he went on, “Son of man, watch! I am going to put a stop to Jerusalem's food supply. Worried sick, they will eat bread rationed by weight. Despairing at what's happening, they will drink water measured in small amounts.

17 that they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and pine away in their iniquity.

Running out of food and water, they will be horrified as they look at one another wasting away because of their sins.”