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.

“And you, son of man, take a brick for yourself, and you have put it before you, and have carved a city on it—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 have placed a siege against it, and built a fortification against it, and poured out a mound against it, and placed camps against it, indeed, set battering-rams against it all around.

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.

And you, take an iron pan for yourself, and you have made it a wall of iron between you and the city; and you have prepared your face against it, and it has been in a siege, indeed, you have laid siege against it. It [is] a sign to 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 you, lie on your left side, and you have placed the iniquity of the house of Israel on it; the number of the days that you lie on it, you 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.

And I have laid the years of their iniquity on you, the number of days, three hundred and ninety days; and you have borne 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 you have completed these, and have lain on your right side, a second time, and have borne the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days—a day for a year—a day for a year I have appointed to you.

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

And to the siege of Jerusalem you prepare your face, and your arm [is] uncovered, and you have prophesied concerning 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 have put thick bands on you, and you do not turn from side to side until your completing the days of your 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.

And you, take for yourself wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and spelt, and you have put them in one vessel, and made them for bread for yourself; the number of the days that you are lying on your side—three hundred and ninety days—you 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 your food that you eat [is] by weight, twenty shekels daily; from time to time you 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 you drink water by measure, a sixth part of the hin; from time to time you drink [it].

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

And you eat it [as] barley-cake, and it with dung—the filth of man—you bake 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 YHWH says, “Thus the sons of Israel eat their defiled bread among the nations to where I 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!”

And I say, “Aah! Lord YHWH, behold, my soul is not defiled, and carcass, and torn thing, I have not eaten from my youth, even until now; nor has abominable flesh 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.”

And He says to me, “See, I have given to you bullock’s dung instead of man’s dung, and you have made your bread by it.”

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 says to me, “Son of man, behold, I am breaking the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they have eaten bread by weight and with fear; and water by measure and with astonishment, they drink;

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

so that they lack bread and water, and have been astonished with one another, and been consumed in their iniquity.”