Ezekiel 4
1 [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.
And thou, O son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee: and draw upon it the plan of the city of Jerusalem.
2 [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).
And lay siege against it, and build forts, and cast up a mount, and set a camp against it, and place battering rams round about it.
3 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].
And take unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face resolutely against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it: it is a sign to the house of Israel.
4 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.
And thou shalt sleep upon thy left side, and shalt lay the iniquities of the house of Israel upon it, according to the number of the days that thou shalt sleep upon it, and thou shalt take upon thee their iniquity.
And I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days three hundred and ninety days: and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
6 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].
And when thou hast accomplished this, thou shalt sleep again upon thy right side, and thou shalt take upon thee the iniquity of the house of Juda forty days: a day for it year, yea, a day for a year I have appointed to thee.
7 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.
And thou shalt turn thy face to the siege of Jerusalem, and thy arm shall be stretched out: and thou shalt prophesy against it.
8 [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).
Behold I have encompassed thee with bands: and thou shalt not turn thyself from one side to the other, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.
9 [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.
And take to thee wheat and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and fitches, 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: three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.
10 You will eat (8 ounces/a small loaf) of bread each day.
And thy meat that thou shalt eat, shall be in weight twenty staters a day: from time to time thou shalt eat it.
11 [Also] measure out (1.5 pints/0.6 liter) of water to drink each day.
And thou shalt drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin: from time to time thou shalt drink it,
12 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.
And thou shalt eat it as barley bread baked under the ashes: and thou shalt cover it, in their sight, with the dung that cometh out of a man.
13 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.”
And the Lord said: So shall the children of Israel Beat their bread all filthy among the nations whither I will cast them out.
14 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.”
And I said: Ah, ah, ah, O Lord God, behold my soul hath not been defiled, and from my infancy even till now, I have not eaten any thing that died of itself, or was torn by beasts, and no unclean flesh hath entered into my mouth.
15 Yahweh replied, “Okay, I will allow you to bake your bread using dried cow manure instead of human [for fuel].”
And he said to me: Behold I have given thee neat’s dung for man’s dung, and thou shalt make thy bread therewith.
16 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,
And he said to me: Son of man: Behold, I will break in pieces the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care: and they shall drink water by measure, and in distress.
17 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].”
So that when bread and water fail, every man may fall against his brother, and they may pine away in their iniquities.
