Hesekiel 4,7 | New International Reader’s Version

An attack on Jerusalem is pictured

1 ‘Son of man, get a block of clay. Put it in front of you. Draw the city of Jerusalem on it. 2 Then pretend to surround it and attack it. Make some little models of war machines. Build a ramp up to it. Set camps up around it. Surround it with models of logs to be used for knocking down its gates. 3 Then get an iron pan. Put it between you and the city. Pretend it is an iron wall. Turn your face towards the city. It will be under attack when you begin to attack it. That will show the people of Israel what is going to happen to Jerusalem. 4 ‘Next, lie down on your left side. Pretend that you are putting Israel’s sin on yourself. Keep their sin on you for the number of days you lie on your side. 5 Let each day you lie there stand for one year of their sin. So you will keep Israel’s sin on you for 390 days. 6 ‘After you have finished this, lie down again. This time lie on your right side. Pretend that you are putting Judah’s sin on yourself. Lie there for 40 days. That is one day for each year of their sin. 7 Next, turn your face towards the model of Jerusalem under attack. Uncover your arm as if you were a soldier ready to fight. Prophesy against the city. 8 I will tie you up with ropes. Then you will not be able to turn from one side to the other. You will stay that way until you have finished attacking Jerusalem. 9 ‘Get some wheat and barley. Also get some beans and lentils. And get some millet and spelt. Put everything in a storage jar. Use it to make some bread for yourself. Eat it during the 390 days you are lying down on your side. 10 Weigh out 250 grams of food to eat each day. Eat it at your usual mealtimes. 11 Also measure out half a litre of water. Drink it at your usual mealtimes. 12 Eat your food as you would eat a loaf of barley bread. Bake it over human waste in front of the people.’ 13 The LORD said, ‘That is how the people of Israel will eat “unclean” food. They will eat it in the nations where I will drive them.’ 14 Then I said, ‘No, LORD and King! I won’t do this! I’ve never eaten anything “unclean”. From the time I was young until now, I’ve never eaten anything that was found dead. And I’ve never eaten anything torn apart by wild animals. “Unclean” meat has never entered my mouth.’ 15 ‘All right’, he said. ‘I will let you bake your bread over waste from cows. You can use that instead of human waste.’ 16 He continued, ‘Son of man, I am about to cut off the food supply in Jerusalem. The people will be worried as they eat their tiny share of food. They will not have any hope as they drink their tiny share of water. 17 There will be very little food and water. The people will be shocked as they look at one another. They will become weaker and weaker because of their sin.

English Standard Version

The Siege of Jerusalem Symbolized

1 “And you, son of man, take a brick and lay it before you, and engrave on it a city, even Jerusalem. 2 And put siegeworks against it, and build a siege wall against it, and cast up a mound against it. Set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it all around. 3 And you, take an iron griddle, and place it as an iron wall between you and the city; and set your face toward it, and let it be in a state of siege, and press the siege against it. This is a sign for the house of Israel. 4 “Then lie on your left side, and place the punishment* of the house of Israel upon it. For the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear their punishment. 5 For I assign to you a number of days, 390 days, equal to the number of the years of their punishment. So long shall you bear the punishment of the house of Israel. 6 And when you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the punishment of the house of Judah. Forty days I assign you, a day for each year. 7 And you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with your arm bared, and you shall prophesy against the city. 8 And behold, I will place cords upon you, so that you cannot turn from one side to the other, till you have completed the days of your siege. 9 “And you, take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and emmer,* and put them into a single vessel and make your bread from them. During the number of days that you lie on your side, 390 days, you shall eat it. 10 And your food that you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels* a day; from day to day* you shall eat it. 11 And water you shall drink by measure, the sixth part of a hin;* from day to day you shall drink. 12 And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it in their sight on human dung.” 13 And the Lord said, “Thus shall the people of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them.” 14 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I have never defiled myself.* From my youth up till now I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has tainted meat come into my mouth.” 15 Then he said to me, “See, I assign to you cow’s dung instead of human dung, on which you may prepare your bread.” 16 Moreover, he said to me, “Son of man, behold, I will break the supply* of bread in Jerusalem. They shall eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and they shall drink water by measure and in dismay. 17 I will do this that they may lack bread and water, and look at one another in dismay, and rot away because of their punishment.

Hesekiel 4,7 | New International Reader’s Version English Standard Version

An attack on Jerusalem is pictured

The Siege of Jerusalem Symbolized