Ezekiel 4
1 Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and portray upon it the 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 And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mound against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it on every side.
[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 Moreover take thou to thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign 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 Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.
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 For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
6 And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.
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 Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thy arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt 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, behold, I will lay cords upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast 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 Take thou also to thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread of them, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat of 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 Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an 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 thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.
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 And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, where 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 Lord GOD! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither hath abominable flesh come into my mouth.
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 Then he said to me, Lo, I have given thee cow’s dung for man’s dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread with them.
Yahweh replied, “Okay, I will allow you to bake your bread using dried cow manure instead of human [for fuel].”
16 Moreover he said to me, Son of man, behold, I will break 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 horror:
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 appalled one with another, and pine away for their iniquity.
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].”
