Ezekiel 4–5

The Siege of Jerusalem Symbolized

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

⁴“Then lie on your left side, and place the punishment¹ of the house of Israel upon it. For the number of the days that you lie on it, ^ayou shall bear their punishment. ⁵For I assign to you a number of days, ^b390 days, ^cequal to the number of the years of their punishment. ^aSo long shall you bear ^dthe punishment of the house of Israel. ⁶And when you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and ^ebear ^fthe punishment of the house of Judah. ^gForty days I assign you, a day for each year. ^7hAnd you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, ⁱwith your arm bared, and you shall prophesy against the city. ⁸And behold, ^jI will place cords upon you, so that you cannot turn from one side to the other, till you have completed ^kthe days of your siege.

⁹“And you, take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and emmer,² and put them into a single vessel and make your ^lbread from them. ^mDuring the number of days that you lie on your side, ⁿ390 days, you shall eat it. ¹⁰And your food that you eat shall be ^oby weight, ^ptwenty shekels³ a day; from day to day⁴ you shall eat it. ¹¹And water you shall drink ^oby measure, the sixth part of a hin;⁵ from day to day you shall drink. ¹²And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it ^qin their sight on human dung.” ¹³And the Lord said, “Thus shall the people of Israel eat ^rtheir bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them.” ¹⁴Then I said, ^s“Ah, Lord God! Behold, I have never defiled myself.^{6 t}From my youth up till now I have never eaten ^uwhat died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has ^vtainted meat come into my mouth.” ¹⁵Then he said to me, “See, I assign to you cow’s dung instead of human dung, on which you may prepare your bread.” ¹⁶Moreover, he said to me, ^w“Son of man, behold, ^xI will break the supply⁷ of bread in Jerusalem. They shall eat bread ^oby weight and with anxiety, and they shall drink water ^oby measure and in dismay. ¹⁷I will do this that they may lack bread and water, and ^ylook at one another in dismay, and ^zrot away because of their punishment.

Jerusalem Will Be Destroyed

5“And you, ^aO son of man, take a ^bsharp sword. Use it as ^ca barber’s razor and ^dpass it over your head and your beard. Then take balances for weighing and divide the hair. ^2eA third part you shall burn in the fire ^fin the midst of the city, ^gwhen the days of the siege are completed. And a third part you shall take and strike with the sword all around the city. ^hAnd a third part you shall scatter to the wind, and ⁱI will unsheathe the sword after them. ^3jAnd you shall take from these a small number and bind them in the skirts of your robe. ^4kAnd of these again you shall take some and cast them into the midst of the fire and burn them in the fire. From there a fire will come out into all the house of Israel.

⁵“Thus says the Lord God: ^lThis is Jerusalem. I have set her ^min the center of the nations, with countries all around her. ⁶And she has rebelled against my rules by doing wickedness ⁿmore than the nations, and against my statutes more than ^mthe countries all around her; for they have rejected my rules and have not walked in my statutes. ⁷Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you are ^omore turbulent than the nations that are all around you, ^pand have not walked in my statutes or obeyed my rules, ^qand have not¹ even acted according to the rules of the nations that are all around you, ⁸therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, even I, ^ram against you. ^sAnd I will execute judgments² in your midst ^tin the sight of the nations. ⁹And because of all your abominations I will do with you ^uwhat I have never yet done, and the like of which I will never do again. ¹⁰Therefore ^vfathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers. ^sAnd I will execute judgments on you, ^wand any of you who survive I will scatter to all the winds. ¹¹Therefore, ^xas I live, declares the Lord God, surely, ^ybecause you have defiled my sanctuary ^zwith all your detestable things and with all your ^aabominations, ^btherefore I will withdraw.^{3 c}My eye will not spare, and I will have no pity. ^12dA third part of you shall die of pestilence and be consumed with famine in your midst; ^da third part shall fall by the sword all around you; ^dand a third part I will scatter to all the winds and will unsheathe the sword after them.

^13e“Thus shall my anger spend itself, and I will vent my fury upon them and satisfy myself. And they shall know that ^fI am the Lord—that I have spoken in my jealousy—^ewhen I spend my fury upon them. ¹⁴Moreover, I will make you ^ga desolation and ^han object of reproach among ⁱthe nations all around you and in the sight of all who pass by. ¹⁵You shall be⁴ a reproach and a taunt, a warning ^jand a horror, to ⁱthe nations all around you, ^kwhen I execute judgments on you in anger and fury, and ^lwith furious rebukes—I am the Lord; I have spoken— ¹⁶when I send against you^{5 m}the deadly arrows of famine, arrows for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, and when I bring more and more famine upon ⁿyou and break your supply⁶ of bread. ¹⁷I will send famine and ^owild beasts against you, ^pand they will rob you of your children. Pestilence and ^qblood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword upon you. I am the Lord; I have spoken.”