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.
[Yahweh also said to me, ] “You human, take a large clay tablet/brick and put it in front of you. Then on the [engrave/draw] on it lines that represent 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.
[draw figures around it to represent enemy soldiers who will] surround the city. Make mounds around it and a dirt ramp up against the [around the city]. [figures around it that represent] (battering rams/heavy logs that will break though the walls).
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.
Then take an iron pan, and place it [to be] like an iron wall between you [the drawing of] the city. Then turn your face toward the drawing. It will symbolize [enemy troops will] surround the city to attack it. That will be a warning to the Israeli people [MTY].
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 stay like that for 390 days. That [symbolize that the Israeli people will be punished for] their sins; you must lie like that one day for each year during which they will be punished.
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.
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.
After that, lie down again. This time, lie on your right side for 40 days. That [symbolize that the Israeli people will be punished more] for their sins, one day for each [during which they will be punished].
7 Thus then unto the siege of Jerusalem, shalt thou direct thy face, with thine arm made bare, —so shalt thou prophesy against it.
Turn your face [the drawing of] Jerusalem and bare your [like a soldier does who prepares to go into a battle] [MTY], and prophesy [what will happen to] the city.
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.
[You will not be able to move; it will be as though] I have tied you with ropes in order that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have [symbolizing how many years the city] will be (besieged/surrounded by enemy soldiers).
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;
[Before you do that, ] take some wheat and barley, beans, lentils, spelt and millet, and put them in a [storage] jar, and use that to bake [for yourself]. That is what you will eat during the 390 days while you lie on your [left] 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 will eat (8 ounces/a small loaf) of bread each day.
11 and water by measure, shalt thou drink the sixth part of a hin, -from time to time shalt thou drink;
[Also] measure out (1.5 pints/0.6 liter) of water to drink each day.
12 and as a barley cake, shalt thou eat it, —and the same with dung proceeding from man, shalt thou bake, before their eyes.
Eat that bread like you would eat a loaf of barley bread. But use your own dried dung for fuel to bake the bread while people are watching.
13 Then said Yahweh, In like manner, shall the sons of Israel eat their bread defiled, —among the nations whither I will drive them.
That will symbolize that the Israeli people will be forced to eat food that is unacceptable to me when they are living in the nations to which I will force them to go.”
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, “No, Yahweh God![Do not force me to do that]! I have never caused myself to become unacceptable to you [by doing anything like that]. From the time when I was young, I have never eaten meat of any [animal] that was found dead or that had been killed by wild animals. And I have never eaten any meat that is unacceptable to you.”
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.
Yahweh replied, “Okay, I will allow you to bake your bread using dried cow manure instead of human [for fuel].”
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 said to me, “You human, I will cause the supply of food to Jerusalem to be cut off. [Then] the people will eat the small amounts of food and drink the small amounts of [that the government permits them to have], and they will be [very] distressed and anxious as they do that,
17 that they may lack bread and water and be astonished one with another, and pine away in their punishment.
because water and food will be very scarce. They will see each other becoming extremely thin, and they will be appalled; [but this will happen] because they are being punished [for the sins that they have committed].”
