< Ezekiel 4 >

1 “You also, son of man, take a tile, and lay it before yourself, and portray on it a city, even Jerusalem.
“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 Lay siege against it, build forts against it, and cast up a mound against it. Also set camps against it and plant battering rams against it all around.
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 Take for yourself an iron pan and set it for a wall of iron between you and the city. Then set your face toward it. It will be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. This shall 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 “Moreover lie on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it. According to the number of the days that you shall lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity.
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 For I have appointed the years of their iniquity to be to you a number of days, even three hundred ninety days. So you shall bear the iniquity 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 “Again, when you have accomplished these, you shall lie on your right side, and shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. I have appointed forty days, each day for a year, to you.
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 You shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with your arm uncovered; and you shall 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 Behold, I put ropes on you, and you shall not turn yourself from one side to the other, until you have accomplished 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 also wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel. Make bread of it. According to the number of the days that you will lie on your side, even three hundred ninety days, you shall eat of 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 Your food which you shall eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day. From time to time you shall eat it.
And your food that you eat [is] by weight, twenty shekels daily; from time to time you eat it.
11 You shall drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin. From time to time you shall drink.
And you drink water by measure, a sixth part of the hin; from time to time you drink [it].
12 You shall eat it as barley cakes, and you shall bake it in their sight with dung that comes out of man.”
And you eat it [as] barley-cake, and it with dung—the filth of man—you bake before their eyes.”
13 Yahweh said, “Even thus will the children of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them.”
And YHWH says, “Thus the sons of Israel eat their defiled bread among the nations to where I drive them.”
14 Then I said, “Ah Lord Yahweh! Behold, my soul has not been polluted; for from my youth up even until now I have not eaten of that which dies of itself, or is torn of animals. No abominable meat has come into 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 Then he said to me, “Behold, I have given you cow’s dung for man’s dung, and you shall prepare your bread on it.”
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 Moreover he said to me, “Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem. They will eat bread by weight, and with fearfulness. They will drink water by measure, and in dismay;
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 that they may lack bread and water, be dismayed one with another, and pine away in their iniquity.
so that they lack bread and water, and have been astonished with one another, and been consumed in their iniquity.”

< Ezekiel 4 >