Ezekiel 4
1 [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.
'And thou, son of man, take to thee a brick, and thou hast put it before thee, and hast graven on it a city — Jerusalem,
2 [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).
and hast placed against it a siege, and builded against it a fortification, and poured out against it a mount, and placed against it camps, yea, set thou against it battering-rams round about.
3 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].
And thou, take to thee an iron pan, and thou hast made it a wall of iron between thee and the city; and thou hast prepared thy face against it, and it hath been in a siege, yea, thou hast laid siege against it. A sign it [is] to the house of Israel.
4 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.
'And thou, lie on thy left side, and thou hast placed the iniquity of the house of Israel on it; the number of the days that thou liest on it, thou bearest their iniquity.
And I — I have laid on thee the years of their iniquity, the number of days, three hundred and ninety days; and thou hast borne the iniquity of the house of Israel.
6 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].
And thou hast completed these, and hast lain on thy right side, a second time, and hast borne the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days — a day for a year — a day for a year I have appointed to thee.
7 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.
'And unto the siege of Jerusalem thou dost prepare thy face, and thine arm [is] uncovered, and thou hast prophesied concerning it.
8 [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).
And lo, I have put on thee thick bands, and thou dost not turn from side to side till thy completing the days of thy siege.
9 [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.
'And thou, take to thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and spelt, and thou hast put them in one vessel, and made them to thee for bread; the number of the days that thou art lying on thy side — three hundred and ninety days — thou dost eat it.
10 You will eat (8 ounces/a small loaf) of bread each day.
And thy food that thou dost eat [is] by weight, twenty shekels daily; from time to time thou dost eat it.
11 [Also] measure out (1.5 pints/0.6 liter) of water to drink each day.
'And water by measure thou dost drink, a sixth part of the hin; from time to time thou dost drink [it].
12 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.
A barley-cake thou dost eat it, and it with dung — the filth of man — thou dost bake before their eyes.
13 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.”
And Jehovah saith, 'Thus do the sons of Israel eat their defiled bread among the nations whither I drive them.'
14 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.”
And I say, 'Ah, Lord Jehovah, lo, my soul is not defiled, and carcase, and torn thing, I have not eaten from my youth, even till now; nor come into my mouth hath abominable flesh.'
15 Yahweh replied, “Okay, I will allow you to bake your bread using dried cow manure instead of human [for fuel].”
And He saith unto me, 'See, I have given to thee bullock's dung instead of man's dung, and thou hast made thy bread by it.'
16 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,
And He saith unto me, 'Son of man, lo, 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 do drink;
17 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].”
so that they lack bread and water, and have been astonished one with another, and been consumed in their iniquity.
