Ezekiel 4

Siege of Jerusalem Symbolized

4“Now, son of man, take a block of clay, put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. ²Then lay siege to it: Erect siege works against it, build a ramp^g up to it, set up camps against it and put battering rams around it.^{h 3}Then take an iron pan,ⁱ place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward^j it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign^k to the people of Israel.^l

⁴“Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the people of Israel upon yourself.^a You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side. ⁵I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the people of Israel.

⁶“After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin^m of the people of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year.^{n 7}Turn your face^o toward the siege of Jerusalem and with bared arm prophesy against her. ⁸I will tie you up with ropes so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have finished the days of your siege.^p

⁹“Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt;^q put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself. You are to eat it during the 390 days you lie on your side. ¹⁰Weigh out twenty shekels^br of food to eat each day and eat it at set times. ¹¹Also measure out a sixth of a hin^c of water and drink it at set times.^{s 12}Eat the food as you would a loaf of barley bread; bake it in the sight of the people, using human excrement^t for fuel.” ¹³The Lord said, “In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them.”^u

¹⁴Then I said, “Not so, Sovereign Lord!^v I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have never eaten anything found dead^w or torn by wild animals. No impure meat has ever entered my mouth.^x”

¹⁵“Very well,” he said, “I will let you bake your bread over cow dung instead of human excrement.”

¹⁶He then said to me: “Son of man, I am about to cut off^y the food supply in Jerusalem. The people will eat rationed food in anxiety and drink rationed water in despair,^{z 17}for food and water will be scarce.^a They will be appalled at the sight of each other and will waste away because of^d their sin.^b