Ezekiel 4
Christian Standard Bible
Jerusalem’s Siege Dramatized
4 “Now you, son of man, take a brick, set it in front of you, and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. 2 Then lay siege against it:(A) Construct a siege wall, build a ramp, pitch military camps, and place battering rams against it on all sides. 3 Take an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between yourself and the city. Face it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This will be a sign for the house of Israel.(B)
4 “Then lie down on your left side and place the iniquity[a] of the house of Israel on it. You will bear their iniquity for the number of days you lie on your side. 5 For I have assigned you the years of their iniquity according to the number of days you lie down, 390 days; so you will bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.(C) 6 When you have completed these days, lie down again, but on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. I have assigned you forty days, a day for each year. 7 Face the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared, and prophesy against it. 8 Be aware that I will put cords on you so you cannot turn from side to side until you have finished the days of your siege.(D)
9 “Also take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt. Put them in a single container and make them into bread for yourself. You are to eat it during the number of days you lie on your side, 390 days. 10 The food you eat each day will weigh eight ounces;[b] you will eat it at set times.[c] 11 You will also drink a ration of water, a sixth of a gallon,[d] which you will drink at set times. 12 You will eat it as you would a barley cake and bake it over dried human excrement in their sight.” 13 The Lord said, “This is how the Israelites will eat their bread—ceremonially unclean—among the nations where I will banish them.”(E)
14 But I said, “Oh, Lord God, I have never been defiled. From my youth until now I have not eaten anything that died naturally or was mauled by wild beasts.(F) And impure meat has never entered my mouth.”(G)
15 He replied to me, “Look, I will let you use cow dung instead of human excrement, and you can make your bread over that.” 16 He said to me, “Son of man, I am going to cut off the supply of bread in Jerusalem.(H) They will anxiously eat food they have weighed out and in dread drink rationed water(I) 17 for lack of bread and water. Everyone will be devastated and waste away because of their iniquity.(J)
Ezekiel 4
Lexham English Bible
Siege of Jerusalem Illustrated on a Brick
4 “Now,[a] son of man,[b] take for yourself a brick, and you must put it before you,[c] and you must portray on it a city, Jerusalem. 2 And you must build against it siege works, and you must build against it a bulwark, and you must heap against it a siege ramp, and you must set up against it camps and put against it a battering ram all around. 3 And take for yourself a plate of iron, and you must place it as a wall of iron between you and the city, and you must set your face against it, and it must be under siege,[d] and you must lay the siege against it; it is a sign for the house of Israel. 4 And you, lie down on your left side, and you must put[e] the guilt of the house of Israel on it. You will carry their guilt the number of days that you will lie on it. 5 And I will give to you the years of their guilt according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days, and you must bear the guilt[f] of the house of Israel. 6 When you have completed these, then you must lie a second time on your right side; and you must bear the guilt[g] of the house of Judah forty days, a day for each year, a day for each year I give it to you. 7 And toward the siege of Jerusalem you must set your face and your bared arm; then you must prophesy against it. 8 Now[h] look! I will put on you cords, and you may not turn yourself from one side to your other side until you complete the days of your siege.
Ezekiel’s Strange Defiled Meal
9 “And you, take for yourself[i] wheat and barley and beans and lentils and millet[j] and spelt, and you must put them in one vessel, and you must make them for yourself[k] into a food during the number of days that you are lying on your side; three hundred and ninety days you shall eat it. 10 And your food that you will eat[l] will be according to weight; twenty shekels for each day at fixed times[m] you shall eat it. 11 And an amount of water[n] you shall drink, a sixth of a hin; at fixed times[o] you shall drink it. 12 And as a bread-cake of barley you shall eat it, and with human excrement[p] you shall bake it before their eyes.” 13 And Yahweh said, “Thus shall the Israelites[q] eat their unclean food among the nations where I will scatter them.”[r] 14 And I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Look! I have not been defiling myself, and a dead body and mangled carcass I have not eaten from my childhood until now, and unclean meat[s] has not come into my mouth!” 15 And he said to me, “See I will give you cattle manure[t] in the place of the feces of a human, and you may prepare your food on it.” 16 And he said to me, “Son of man,[u] look, I am going to break the supply[v] of bread in Jerusalem, and they will eat bread by weight, anxiously,[w] and rationed water,[x] and they will drink with horror, 17 so that they will lack food and water, and they will be appalled with one another,[y] and they will waste away because of their guilt.[z]
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 4:1 Or “And”
- Ezekiel 4:1 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
- Ezekiel 4:1 Literally “to the face of you”
- Ezekiel 4:3 Literally “in the siege”
- Ezekiel 4:4 Or “you will put”
- Ezekiel 4:5 Or “punishment”
- Ezekiel 4:6 Or “punishment”
- Ezekiel 4:8 Or “and”
- Ezekiel 4:9 Hebrew “you”
- Ezekiel 4:9 Or “sorghum”
- Ezekiel 4:9 Hebrew “you”
- Ezekiel 4:10 Hebrew “will eat it”
- Ezekiel 4:10 Literally “from time to time”
- Ezekiel 4:11 Literally “water by amount”
- Ezekiel 4:11 Literally “from time to time”
- Ezekiel 4:12 Literally “with human dung of the excrement of the human”
- Ezekiel 4:13 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Ezekiel 4:13 Literally “which I will scatter them there”
- Ezekiel 4:14 Literally “flesh of unclean meat”
- Ezekiel 4:15 Literally “the manure of cattle”
- Ezekiel 4:16 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
- Ezekiel 4:16 Literally “staff”
- Ezekiel 4:16 Literally “and with worry”
- Ezekiel 4:16 Literally “and water by amount”
- Ezekiel 4:17 Literally “a man and his brother”
- Ezekiel 4:17 Or “punishment”
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