Ezekiel 4

1 “But you, son of man, take a brick for yourself and place it before you. Then carve the city of Jerusalem on it.

But thou, O son of man, take thyself a tile, and lay it before thee, and engrave upon it a city, [namely, ] Jerusalem:

2 Then lay siege against it, and build forts against it. Raise up an assault ramp against it and set camps around it. Place battering rams all around it.

And place around it a siege, and build works of attack against it, and cast up a mound against it; and arrange around it encampments, and place against it battering rams round about.

3 Then take for yourself an iron pan and use it as an iron wall between yourself and the city and set your face against it, for it will be under siege, and you are to put the siege against it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.

Moreover take thou unto thyself an iron pan, and set it up as a wall of iron between thee and the city: and direct thy face against it, that it may be placed in a state of siege, and lay siege against it. This shall be a sign for the house of Israel.

4 Then, lie on your left side and put the sin of the house of Israel on it; you will carry their sin for the number of the days that you lie down against the house of Israel.

And as for thyself, lie upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: [after] the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it shalt thou bear their iniquity.

5 I myself am assigning to you one day to represent each year of their punishment: 390 days! In this way, you will carry the sin of the house of Israel.

But as for myself, I lay upon thee the years of their iniquity, after the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

6 When you have completed these days, then lie down a second time on your right side, for you will carry the sin of the house of Judah for forty days. I am assigning to you one day for each year.

And when thou hast made an end of them, thou shalt lie on thy right side, the second time, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: a day each for a year, a day for a year do I lay it on thee.

7 Set your face toward Jerusalem that is under siege, and with your arm uncovered prophesy against it.

And toward the siege of Jerusalem shalt thou direct thy face with thy arm uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.

8 For behold! I am placing bonds on you so you will not turn from one side to the other until you have completed the days of your siege.

And, behold, I will lay ropes upon thee, that thou mayest not turn thyself from one side to the other, till thou hast made an end of the days of thy siege.

9 Take for yourself wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt; put them in a single container and make bread for yourself according to the number of the days that you will lie upon your side. For 390 days you will eat it.

But thou take unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make thyself bread thereof, [after] the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days, shalt thou eat it.

10 The food you will eat will be by weight, twenty shekels per day, and you will eat it at set times each day.

And thy food which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels for every day: from one time to the other time shalt thou eat it.

11 Then you will drink water, measured out to a sixth of a hin, and you will drink it at set times.

And water shalt thou drink by measure, the sixth part of a hin: from one time to the other time shalt thou drink [it].

12 You will eat it as barley cakes, but you will bake it on excrement of human dung within their sight!”

And in form of a barley-cake shalt thou eat it, and this shalt thou bake with balls of human excrement before their eyes.

13 For Yahweh says, “This means that the bread that the people of Israel will eat will be unclean, there among the nations where I will banish them.”

And the Lord said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their bread unclean among the nations whither I will drive them.

14 But I said, “Alas, Lord Yahweh! I have never been unclean! I have never eaten either anything that died or anything killed by animals, from my youth until now, and foul meat has never entered my mouth!”

Then said I, Ah Lord Eternal! behold, my soul hath not been defiled; and that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces, have I never eaten from my youth up even until now; and never is flesh of abomination come into my mouth.

15 So he said to me, “Look! I have given you cow manure instead of human dung so you can prepare your bread over that.”

Then said he unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow's dung instead of human excrement; and thou shalt prepare thy bread thereupon.

16 He also said to me, “Son of man! Behold! I am breaking the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they will eat bread while rationing it in anxiety and drink water while rationing it in trembling.

And 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 anxious care; and they shall drink water by measure, and in confusion;

17 Because they will lack bread and water, every man will be dismayed at his brother and waste away because of their iniquity.”

In order that they may want bread and water, and be confounded one with the other, and pine away for their iniquity.