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. ² Then lay siege to it: Erect siege works against it, build a ramp^(A) up to it, set up camps against it and put battering rams around it.^{(B) 3} Then take an iron pan,^(C) place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward^(D) it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign^(E) to the people of Israel.^(F)

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. ⁵ I 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^(G) of the people of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year.^{(H) 7} Turn your face^(I) toward the siege of Jerusalem and with bared arm prophesy against her. ⁸ I 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.^(J)

⁹ “Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt;^(K) 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. ¹⁰ Weigh out twenty shekels^[b](L) of food to eat each day and eat it at set times. ¹¹ Also measure out a sixth of a hin^[c] of water and drink it at set times.^{(M) 12} Eat the food as you would a loaf of barley bread; bake it in the sight of the people, using human excrement^(N) for fuel.” ¹³ The Lord said, “In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them.”^(O)

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

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

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

19 This is what the Lord says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter.^(A) Take along some of the elders^(B) of the people and of the priests ² and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom,^(C) near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. There proclaim the words I tell you, ³ and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings^(D) of Judah and people of Jerusalem. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Listen! I am going to bring a disaster^(E) on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle.^{(F) 4} For they have forsaken^(G) me and made this a place of foreign gods^(H); they have burned incense^(I) in it to gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.^{(J) 5} They have built the high places of Baal to burn their children^(K) in the fire as offerings to Baal—something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind.^{(L) 6} So beware, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call this place Topheth^(M) or the Valley of Ben Hinnom,^(N) but the Valley of Slaughter.^(O)

⁷ “‘In this place I will ruin^[a] the plans^(P) of Judah and Jerusalem. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies,^(Q) at the hands of those who want to kill them, and I will give their carcasses^(R) as food^(S) to the birds and the wild animals. ⁸ I will devastate this city and make it an object of horror and scorn;^(T) all who pass by will be appalled^(U) and will scoff because of all its wounds.^{(V) 9} I will make them eat^(W) the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh because their enemies^(X) will press the siege so hard against them to destroy them.’

¹⁰ “Then break the jar^(Y) while those who go with you are watching, ¹¹ and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I will smash^(Z) this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will bury^(AA) the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. ¹² This is what I will do to this place and to those who live here, declares the Lord. I will make this city like Topheth. ¹³ The houses^(AB) in Jerusalem and those of the kings of Judah will be defiled^(AC) like this place, Topheth—all the houses where they burned incense on the roofs^(AD) to all the starry hosts^(AE) and poured out drink offerings^(AF) to other gods.’”

¹⁴ Jeremiah then returned from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and stood in the court^(AG) of the Lord’s temple and said to all the people, ¹⁵ “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Listen! I am going to bring on this city and all the villages around it every disaster^(AH) I pronounced against them, because they were stiff-necked^(AI) and would not listen^(AJ) to my words.’”

Hosea’s Wife and Children

² When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous^(A) woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness^(B) to the Lord.” ³ So he married Gomer^(C) daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

⁴ Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call him Jezreel,^(D) because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. ⁵ In that day I will break Israel’s bow in the Valley of Jezreel.^(E)”

⁶ Gomer^(F) conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call her Lo-Ruhamah (which means “not loved”),^(G) for I will no longer show love to Israel,^(H) that I should at all forgive them. ⁷ Yet I will show love to Judah; and I will save them—not by bow,^(I) sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but I, the Lord their God,^(J) will save them.”

⁸ After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah,^(K) Gomer had another son. ⁹ Then the Lord said, “Call him Lo-Ammi (which means “not my people”), for you are not my people, and I am not your God.^[a](L)

¹⁰ “Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted.^(M) In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘children of the living God.’^{(N) 11} The people of Judah and the people of Israel will come together;^(O) they will appoint one leader^(P) and will come up out of the land,^(Q) for great will be the day of Jezreel.^[b](R)

A Prophecy Against Egypt and Cush

20 In the year that the supreme commander,^(A) sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod^(B) and attacked and captured it— ² at that time the Lord spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz.^(C) He said to him, “Take off the sackcloth^(D) from your body and the sandals^(E) from your feet.” And he did so, going around stripped^(F) and barefoot.^(G)

³ Then the Lord said, “Just as my servant^(H) Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years,^(I) as a sign^(J) and portent^(K) against Egypt^(L) and Cush,^{[a](M) 4} so the king^(N) of Assyria will lead away stripped^(O) and barefoot the Egyptian captives^(P) and Cushite^(Q) exiles, young and old, with buttocks bared^(R)—to Egypt’s shame.^(S)