Ezekiel 4

The Siege of Jerusalem Symbolized

1 "And you, son of man, take a brick and lay it before you, and engrave on it a city, even Jerusalem.2 And put siegeworks against it, and build a siege wall against it, and cast up a mound against it. Set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it all around.3 And you, take an iron griddle, and place it as an iron wall between you and the city; and set your face toward it, and let it be in a state of siege, and press the siege against it. This is a sign for the house of Israel.

4 "Then lie on your left side, and place the punishmentt of the house of Israel upon it. For the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear their punishment.5 For I assign to you a number of days, 390 days, equal to the number of the years of their punishment. So long shall you bear the punishment of the house of Israel.6 And when you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the punishment of the house of Judah. Forty days I assign you, a day for each year.7 And you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with your arm bared, and you shall prophesy against the city.8 And behold, I will place cords upon you, so that you cannot turn from one side to the other, till you have completed the days of your siege.

9 "And you, take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and emmer,t and put them into a single vessel and make your bread from them. During the number of days that you lie on your side, 390 days, you shall eat it.10 And your food that you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekelst a day; from day to dayt you shall eat it.11 And water you shall drink by measure, the sixth part of a hin;t from day to day you shall drink.12 And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it in their sight on human dung."13 And the Lord said, "Thus shall the people of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them."14 Then I said, "Ah, Lord God! Behold, I have never defiled myself.t From my youth up till now I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has tainted meat come into my mouth."15 Then he said to me, "See, I assign to you cow's dung instead of human dung, on which you may prepare your bread."16 Moreover, he said to me, "Son of man, behold, I will break the supplyt of bread in Jerusalem. They shall eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and they shall drink water by measure and in dismay.17 I will do this that they may lack bread and water, and look at one another in dismay, and rot away because of their punishment.

Ezekiel 4

Ominous Object Lessons

1 “And you, son of man, take a bricks and set it in front of you. Inscribet a city on it – Jerusalem.2 Lay siege to it! Build siege works against it. Erect a siege rampt against it! Post soldiers outside itt and station battering rams around it.

3 Then for your part take an iron frying pant and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your face toward it. It is to be under siege; you are to besiege it. This is a signt for the house of Israel.
4 “Also for your part lie on your left side and place the iniquityt of the house of Israel on it. For the number of days you lie on your side you will bear their iniquity.

5 I have determined that the number of the years of their iniquity are to be the number of dayst for you – 390 days.ss So bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.t
6 “When you have completed these days, then lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah 40 dayss – I have assigned one day for each year.7 You must turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared and prophesy against it.

8 Look here, I will tie you up with ropes, so you cannot turn from one side to the other until you complete the days of your siege.s
9 “As for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt,s put them in a single container, and make foodt from them for yourself. For the same number of days that you lie on your side – 390 dayss – you will eat it.10 The food you eat will be eight ouncess a day by weight; you must eat it at fixedt times.11 And you must drink water by measure, a pint and a half;s you must drink it at fixed times.12 And you must eat the food like you would a barley cake. You must bake it in front of them over a fire made with dried human excrement.”s

13 And the Lord said, “This is how the people of Israel will eat their unclean food among the nationss where I will banish them.”

14 And I said, “Ah, sovereign Lord, I have never been ceremonially defiled before. I have never eaten a carcass or an animal torn by wild beasts; from my youth up, unclean meatt has never entered my mouth.”

15 So he said to me, “All right then, I will substitute cow’s manure instead of human excrement. You will cook your food over it.”
16 Then he said to me, “Son of man, I am about to remove the bread supplyt in Jerusalem.s They will eat their bread ration anxiously, and they will drink their water ration in terror

17 because they will lack bread and water. Each one will be terrified, and they will rot for their iniquity.t