Ezekiel 4
Chapter 4
A Sign of the Coming Siege
1 “And now, son of man, take a large clay brick and set it down in front of you. Then draw a map of the city of Jerusalem on it.2 Show the city under siege. Build a wall around it so no one can escape. Set up the enemy camp, and surround the city with siege ramps and battering rams.
3 Then take an iron griddle and place it between you and the city. Turn toward the city and demonstrate how harsh the siege will be against Jerusalem. This will be a warning to the people of Israel.
4 “Now lie on your left side and place the sins of Israel on yourself. You are to bear their sins for the number of days you lie there on your side.5 I am requiring you to bear Israel’s sins for 390 days—one day for each year of their sin.
6 After that, turn over and lie on your right side for 40 days—one day for each year of Judah’s sin.
7 “Meanwhile, keep staring at the siege of Jerusalem. Lie there with your arm bared and prophesy her destruction.
8 I will tie you up with ropes so you won’t be able to turn from side to side until the days of your siege have been completed.
9 “Now go and get some wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and emmer wheat, and mix them together in a storage jar. Use them to make bread for yourself during the 390 days you will be lying on your side.10 Ration this out to yourself, eight ouncest of food for each day, and eat it at set times.11 Then measure out a jart of water for each day, and drink it at set times.12 Prepare and eat this food as you would barley cakes. While all the people are watching, bake it over a fire using dried human dung as fuel and then eat the bread.”
13 Then the LORD said, “This is how Israel will eat defiled bread in the Gentile lands to which I will banish them!”
14 Then I said, “O Sovereign LORD, must I be defiled by using human dung? For I have never been defiled before. From the time I was a child until now I have never eaten any animal that died of sickness or was killed by other animals. I have never eaten any meat forbidden by the law.”
15 “All right,” the LORD said. “You may bake your bread with cow dung instead of human dung.”16 Then he told me, “Son of man, I will make food very scarce in Jerusalem. It will be weighed out with great care and eaten fearfully. The water will be rationed out drop by drop, and the people will drink it with dismay.
17 Lacking food and water, people will look at one another in terror, and they will waste away under 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
