< Ezekiel 4 >

1 Thou therefore O son of man Take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, —and portray thereon a city, even Jerusalem.
And you, son of man, take you a brick, and you shall set it before your face, and shall portray on it the city, [even] Jerusalem.
2 Then shalt thou lay siege against it And build up against it a siege-wall And cast up against it, a mound, — And set against it camps, And place against it battering-rams, round about.
And you shall besiege it, and build works against it, and throw up a mound round about it, and pitch camps against it, and set up engines round about.
3 Thou, therefore take thee a pan of iron, and set it for a wall of iron, between thee and the city, —then shalt thou direct thy face against it and it shall come into siege and thou shalt lay siege to it, a sign, shall it be to the house of Israel.
And take you to yourself an iron pan, and you shall set it [for] an iron wall between you and the city: and you shall set your face against it, and it shall be in a siege, and you shall besiege it. This is a sign to the children of Israel.
4 Thou, therefore lie thou on thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it, — during the number of the days which thou shalt lie thereon, shalt thou bear their punishment.
And you shall lie upon your left side, and lay the iniquities of the house of Israel upon it, according to the number of the hundred and fifty days [during] which you shall lie upon it: and you shall bear their iniquities.
5 I therefore have appointed thee the years of their punishment, by the number of days a hundred and ninety days, —so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
For I have appointed you their iniquities for a number of days, for a hundred and ninety days: so you shall bear the iniquities of the house of Israel.
6 And when thou hast ended these, then shalt thou lie, on thy right side. a second time, and shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah, — forty days, one day for each year, have I appointed thee.
And you shall accomplish this, and [then] shall lie on your right side, and shall bear the iniquities of the house of Juda forty days: I have appointed you a day for a year.
7 Thus then unto the siege of Jerusalem, shalt thou direct thy face, with thine arm made bare, —so shalt thou prophesy against it.
So you shall set your face to the siege of Jerusalem, and shall strengthen your arm, and shall prophesy against it.
8 And lo! I have laid upon thee-bands, —and thou shalt not turn thee from thy one side to thine other, until thou have ended the days of thy siege.
And, behold, I have prepared bonds for you, land you may not turn from your one side to the other, until the days of your siege shall be accomplished.
9 Thou, therefore, take thee wheat and barley and peas and lentils and millet and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make them ready for thee as bread, —during the number of days which thou art lying on thy side. a hundred and ninety days, shalt thou eat it;
Take you also to you wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and bread-corn; and you shall cast them into one earthen vessel, and shall make them into loaves for yourself; and you shall eat them a hundred and ninety days, according to the number of the days [during] which you sleep on your side.
10 and thy food which thou shalt eat shall be by weight twenty shekels a day, — from time to time, shalt thou eat it;
And you shall eat your food by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shall you eat them.
11 and water by measure, shalt thou drink the sixth part of a hin, -from time to time shalt thou drink;
And you shall drink water by measure, even from time to time you shall drink the sixth part of a hin.
12 and as a barley cake, shalt thou eat it, —and the same with dung proceeding from man, shalt thou bake, before their eyes.
And you shall eat them [as] a barley cake: you shall bake them before their eyes in man's dung.
13 Then said Yahweh, In like manner, shall the sons of Israel eat their bread defiled, —among the nations whither I will drive them.
And you shall say, Thus says the Lord God of Israel; Thus shall the children of Israel eat unclean things amongst the Gentiles.
14 Then said, I, Ah! My Lord. Yahweh, lo! my person, hath not been defiled: neither of what hath died of itself nor of what hath been torn in pieces: have I eaten, from my youthful days even unto now, neither hath come into my mouth the flesh of a foul thing.
Then I said, Not so, Lord God of Israel: surely my soul has not been defiled with uncleanness; nor have I eaten, that which died of itself or was torn of beasts from my birth until now; neither has any corrupt flesh entered into my mouth.
15 So then he said unto me, See I have granted thee cow’s dung for man’s dung, —and thou shalt prepare thy bread thereupon.
And he said to me, Behold, I have given you dung of oxen instead of man's dung, and you shall prepare your loaves upon it.
16 And he said unto me, Son of man Behold me! breaking the staff of bread in Jerusalem, So shall they eat bread by weight and with anxious care, And water by measure, and in astonishment, shall they drink:
And he said to me, Son of man, behold, I break the support of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight and in lack; and shall drink water by measure, and in a state of ruin:
17 that they may lack bread and water and be astonished one with another, and pine away in their punishment.
that they may lack bread and water; and a man and his brother shall be brought to ruin, and they shall pine away in their iniquities.

< Ezekiel 4 >