Ezekiel 4

1 And thou, son of man, take thee a brick, and lay it before thee, and portray upon it a city, — Jerusalem:

“Son of man, you are to take a brick, put in front of you, and draw a picture of the city of Jerusalem on it.

2 and lay siege against it, and build forts against it, and cast a mound against it, and set camps against it, and place battering-rams against it round about.

Show that it's under siege: establish a siege perimeter all around it, build a siege ramp against it, set up the enemy camps beside it, and put battering rams on all sides around it.

3 And take thou unto thee an iron plate, and put 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.

Put an iron plate between yourself and the city so it's like an iron wall. Face the city and demonstrate that it's under siege, and that you are the one attacking it. This is a symbolic warning to the people of Israel.

4 And thou, lie upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: the number of the days that thou liest upon it, thou shalt bear their iniquity.

Then lie on your left side and take the Israelites' sins on yourself. You will carry their sins for the number of days you lie on your side.

5 And I have appointed 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.

I will make you stay there for 390 days, representing the number of years of their sins. You will bear the sins of the Israelites.

6 And when thou hast accomplished them, thou shalt 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.

Once you have finished doing this for these days, then you are to lie down again, but this time on your right side, and carry the sins of the people of Judah. I will make you stay there for 40 days, one day for every year.

7 And thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.

Keep your face towards the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared, and prophesy against it.

8 And behold, I lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thyself from one side to the other, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.

Be ready, because now I'm going to tie you up with ropes so you can't move from side to side until the days of your siege are over.

9 And thou, take unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, [according to] the number of the days that thou liest upon thy side: three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.

Get some wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, and mix them together in a storage jar. Use them to make bread for yourself. This is what you are to eat for the 390 days that you lie on your side.

10 And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.

You are allowed to eat twenty shekels weight of food each day, and you are to eat it at regular times.

11 And thou shalt drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.

Measure out a sixth of a hin of water to drink, and you are to drink it at regular times.

12 And thou shalt eat it [as] barley-cake, and thou shalt bake it in their sight with dung that cometh out of man.

You are to eat the bread as you would a barley loaf. You are to bake it over a fire burning dried human excrement as everyone watches.”

13 And Jehovah said, So shall the children of Israel eat their bread unclean among the nations whither I will drive them.

Then the Lord said, “This is the way the Israelites will eat their unclean bread among the nations where I'll exile them.”

14 Then said I, Ah, Lord Jehovah! behold, my soul hath not been defiled, and from my youth up even until now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or of that which is torn; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.

“Please no, Lord God!” I answered. “I have never made myself unclean. I haven't eaten anything found dead or killed by wild animals from the time I was young until now. I've never put unclean meat in my mouth.”

15 And he said unto me, See, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.

“All right,” he said. “I'll let you use cow manure instead of human excrement You can bake your bread over a fire using that.”

16 And he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I break the staff of bread in Jerusalem; and they shall eat bread by weight, and with anxiety; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:

Then he went on, “Son of man, watch! I am going to put a stop to Jerusalem's food supply. Worried sick, they will eat bread rationed by weight. Despairing at what's happening, they will drink water measured in small amounts.

17 because bread and water shall fail them, and they shall be astonied one with another, and waste away in their iniquity.

Running out of food and water, they will be horrified as they look at one another wasting away because of their sins.”