Ezekiel 4:1–12

Jerusalem’s Siege Dramatized

4“Now you, son of man, take a brick, set it in front of you, and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. ²Then lay siege against it: ^lconstruct a siege wall, build a ramp, pitch military camps, and place battering rams against it on all sides. ³Take an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between yourself and the city. Turn your face toward it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This will be a sign for the house of Israel. ^m

⁴“Then lie down on your left side and place the iniquity ⁿof the house of Israel on it. You will bear their iniquity for the number of days you lie on your side. ⁵For I have assigned you the years of their iniquity according to the number of days you lie down, 390 days; so you will bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. ^o6When you have completed these days, lie down again, but on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year. ⁷You must turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared, and prophesy against it. ⁸Be aware that I will put cords on you so you cannot turn from side to side until you have finished the days of your siege. ^p

⁹“Also take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt. Put them in a single container and make them into bread for yourself. You are to eat it during the number of days you lie on your side, 390 days. ¹⁰The food you eat each day will be eight ounces ^qby weight; you will eat it from time to time. ^r11You are also to drink water by measure, a sixth of a gallon, ^swhich you will drink from time to time. ¹²You will eat it as you would a barley cake and bake it over dried human excrement in their sight.”