Ezekiel 4

¹And you, son of man, take a back and put it before you and on it make a picture of a town, even Jerusalem.

²And make an attack on it, shutting it in, building strong places against it, and making high an earthwork against it; and put up tents against it, placing engines all round it for smashing down its walls.

³And take a flat iron plate, and put it for a wall of iron between you and the town: and let your face be turned to it, and it will be shut in and you will make an attack on it. This will be a sign to the children of Israel.

⁴Then, stretching yourself out on your left side, take the sin of the children of Israel on yourself: for as long as you are stretched out, so long will the sin of the children of Israel be on you.

⁵For I have had the years of their sin measured for you by a number of days, even three hundred and ninety days: and you will take on yourself the sin of the children of Israel.

⁶And when these days are ended, turning on your right side, you are to take on yourself the sin of the children of Judah: forty days, a day for a year, I have had it fixed for you.

⁷And let your face be turned to where Jerusalem is shut in, with your arm uncovered, and be a prophet against it.

⁸And see, I will put bands on you; and you will be stretched out without turning from one side to the other till the days of your attack are ended.

⁹And take for yourself wheat and barley and different sorts of grain, and put them in one vessel and make bread for yourself from them; all the days when you are stretched on your side it will be your food.

¹⁰And you are to take your food by weight, twenty shekels a day: you are to take it at regular times.

¹¹And you are to take water by measure, the sixth part of a hin: you are to take it at regular times.

¹²And let your food be barley cakes, cooking it before their eyes with the waste which comes out of a man.

¹³And the Lord said, Even so the children of Israel will have unclean bread for their food among the nations where I am driving them.

¹⁴Then I said, Ah, Lord! see, my soul has never been unclean, and I have never taken as my food anything which has come to a natural death or has been broken by beasts, from the time when I was young even till now; no disgusting flesh has ever come into my mouth.

¹⁵Then he said to me, See, I have given you cow's waste in place of man's waste, and you will make your bread ready on it.

¹⁶And he said to me, Son of man, see, I will take away from Jerusalem her necessary bread: they will take their bread by weight and with care, measuring out their drinking-water with fear and wonder:

¹⁷So that they may be in need of bread and water and be wondering at one another, wasting away in their sin.

Ezekiel 4

¹"You also, son of man, take a tile, and lay it before yourself, and portray on it a city, even Jerusalem:

²and lay siege against it, and build forts against it, and cast up a mound against it; set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it all around.

³Take for yourself an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between you and the city: and set your face toward it, and it shall be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. This shall be 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.

⁵For 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.

⁶"Again, when you have accomplished these, you shall lie on your right side, and shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah: forty days, each day for a year, have I appointed it to you.

⁷You shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with your arm uncovered; and you shall prophesy against it.

⁸Behold, I lay bands on you, and you shall not turn you from one side to the other, until you have accomplished the days of your siege.

⁹"Take for yourself also wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make bread of it; according to the number of the days that you shall lie on your side, even three hundred ninety days, you shall eat of it.

¹⁰Your food which you shall eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time you shall eat it.

¹¹You shall drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin: from time to time you shall drink.

¹²You shall eat it as barley cakes, and you shall bake it in their sight with dung that comes out of man."

¹³The Lord said, "Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them."

¹⁴Then I said, "Ah Lord God! Behold, my soul has not been polluted; for from my youth up even until now have I not eaten of that which dies of itself, or is torn of animals; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth."

¹⁵Then he said to me, "Behold, I have given you cow's dung for man's dung, and you shall prepare your bread thereon."

¹⁶Moreover 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 fearfulness; and they shall drink water by measure, and in dismay:

¹⁷that they may want bread and water, and be dismayed one with another, and pine away in their iniquity.