A Watchman for Israel

^16 (A)And at the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me: ^17 (B)“Son of man, ^(C)I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall ^(D)give them warning from me. ^18 (E)If I say to the wicked, ^(F)‘You shall surely die,’ ^(G)and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person ^(H)shall die for^[a] his iniquity, ^(I)but his blood I will require at your hand. ^19 (J)But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, ^(K)but you ^(L)will have delivered your soul. ^20 (M)Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, ^(N)and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. ^(O)Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, ^(P)and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, ^(Q)but his blood I will require at your hand. ²¹ But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered your soul.”

^22 (R)And the hand of the Lord was upon me there. And he said to me, “Arise, go out into ^(S)the valley,^[b] and ^(T)there I will speak with you.” ²³ So I arose and went out into the valley, and behold, ^(U)the glory of the Lord stood there, like the glory that I had seen ^(V)by the Chebar canal, ^(W)and I fell on my face. ^24 (X)But the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and he spoke with me and said to me, “Go, shut yourself within your house. ²⁵ And you, O son of man, behold, ^(Y)cords will be placed upon you, and you shall be bound with them, so that you cannot go out among the people. ²⁶ And I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that ^(Z)you shall be mute and unable to reprove them, ^(AA)for they are a rebellious house. ^27 (AB)But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, ^(AC)‘Thus says the Lord God.’ ^(AD)He who will hear, let him hear; and he who will refuse to hear, let him refuse, for they are a rebellious house.

The Siege of Jerusalem Symbolized

4 “And you, ^(AE)son of man, ^(AF)take a brick and lay it before you, and engrave on it a city, even Jerusalem. ^2 (AG)And put siegeworks against it, ^(AH)and build a siege wall against it, ^(AI)and cast up a mound against it. Set camps also against it, ^(AJ)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; ^(AK)and set your face toward it, ^(AL)and let it be in a state of siege, and press the siege against it. This is ^(AM)a sign for the house of Israel.

⁴ “Then lie on your left side, and place the punishment^[c] of the house of Israel upon it. For the number of the days that you lie on it, ^(AN)you shall bear their punishment. ⁵ For I assign to you a number of days, ^(AO)390 days, ^(AP)equal to the number of the years of their punishment. ^(AQ)So long shall you bear ^(AR)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 ^(AS)bear ^(AT)the punishment of the house of Judah. ^(AU)Forty days I assign you, a day for each year. ^7 (AV)And you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, ^(AW)with your arm bared, and you shall prophesy against the city. ⁸ And behold, ^(AX)I will place cords upon you, so that you cannot turn from one side to the other, till you have completed ^(AY)the days of your siege.

⁹ “And you, take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and emmer,^[d] and put them into a single vessel and make your ^(AZ)bread from them. ^(BA)During the number of days that you lie on your side, ^(BB)390 days, you shall eat it. ¹⁰ And your food that you eat shall be ^(BC)by weight, ^(BD)twenty shekels^[e] a day; from day to day^[f] you shall eat it. ¹¹ And water you shall drink ^(BE)by measure, the sixth part of a hin;^[g] from day to day you shall drink. ¹² And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it ^(BF)in their sight on human dung.” ¹³ And the Lord said, “Thus shall the people of Israel eat ^(BG)their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them.” ¹⁴ Then I said, ^(BH)“Ah, Lord God! Behold, I have never defiled myself.^{[h] (BI)}From my youth up till now I have never eaten ^(BJ)what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has ^(BK)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, ^(BL)“Son of man, behold, ^(BM)I will break the supply^[i] of bread in Jerusalem. They shall eat bread ^(BN)by weight and with anxiety, and they shall drink water ^(BO)by measure and in dismay. ¹⁷ I will do this that they may lack bread and water, and ^(BP)look at one another in dismay, and ^(BQ)rot away because of their punishment.