1

Now, you, son of man, take a brick and set it before you; then inscribe on it the city of Jerusalem.

Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:

2

Build siege works against it, construct a ramp, set up camps around it, and place battering rams against it all around.

And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.

3

Then take an iron plate and place it as an iron wall between yourself and the city. Set your face against it, besiege it, and let it be under siege. This will be a sign for the house of Israel.

Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.

4

Lie on your left side and put the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it. You will bear their iniquity for the number of days you lie on that side.

Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.

5

I assign you the years of their iniquity as the number of days—three hundred ninety days—during which you will bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

6

When you have completed these, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah for forty days, a day for each year. I have assigned you this period.

And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.

7

Direct your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with your arm bared, and prophesy against it.

Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.

8

I will tie you up with ropes so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have completed the days of your siege.

And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.

9

Take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, put them in one container, and make bread for yourself. For the number of days that you lie on your side—three hundred ninety days—you will eat it.

Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.

10

The amount you eat each day will be twenty shekels by weight, and you will eat it at set times each day.

And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.

11

You are to drink water by measure, a sixth of a hin, at set times each day.

Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.

12

Eat it as you would a barley cake, baking it over human dung in their sight.

And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.

13

The Lord said, 'In this way the people of Israel will eat their defiled bread among the nations where I will drive them.'

And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them.

14

Then I said, 'Ah, Lord God, I have never been defiled! From my youth until now, I have never eaten anything that died naturally or was torn by animals. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth.'

Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.

15

He said to me, 'Look, I have given you cow dung instead of human excrement, and you may use it to bake your bread.'

Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.

16

Then He said to me, 'Son of man, I am about to cut off the supply of bread in Jerusalem. They will eat bread by weight and in anxiety, and they will drink water by measure and in despair.'

Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:

17

'In this way, they will lack bread and water, and they will be appalled at one another and waste away because of their iniquity.'

That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume away for their iniquity.