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.
“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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 Thus then unto the siege of Jerusalem, shalt thou direct thy face, with thine arm made bare, —so shalt thou prophesy against it.
Keep your face towards the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared, and 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.
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 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;
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 food 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 water by measure, shalt thou drink the sixth part of a 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 as a barley cake, shalt thou eat it, —and the same with dung proceeding from man, shalt thou bake, before their eyes.
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 Then said Yahweh, In like manner, shall the sons of Israel eat their bread defiled, —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! 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.
“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 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.
“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 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:
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 lack bread and water and be astonished one with another, and pine away in their punishment.
Running out of food and water, they will be horrified as they look at one another wasting away because of their sins.”
