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Ezekiel 4
New International Version

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)

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 4:4 Or upon your side
  2. Ezekiel 4:10 That is, about 8 ounces or about 230 grams
  3. Ezekiel 4:11 That is, about 2/3 quart or about 0.6 liter
  4. Ezekiel 4:17 Or away in
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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

  1. Ezekiel 4:1 Or “And”
  2. Ezekiel 4:1 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
  3. Ezekiel 4:1 Literally “to the face of you”
  4. Ezekiel 4:3 Literally “in the siege”
  5. Ezekiel 4:4 Or “you will put”
  6. Ezekiel 4:5 Or “punishment”
  7. Ezekiel 4:6 Or “punishment”
  8. Ezekiel 4:8 Or “and”
  9. Ezekiel 4:9 Hebrew “you”
  10. Ezekiel 4:9 Or “sorghum”
  11. Ezekiel 4:9 Hebrew “you”
  12. Ezekiel 4:10 Hebrew “will eat it”
  13. Ezekiel 4:10 Literally “from time to time”
  14. Ezekiel 4:11 Literally “water by amount”
  15. Ezekiel 4:11 Literally “from time to time”
  16. Ezekiel 4:12 Literally “with human dung of the excrement of the human”
  17. Ezekiel 4:13 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  18. Ezekiel 4:13 Literally “which I will scatter them there”
  19. Ezekiel 4:14 Literally “flesh of unclean meat”
  20. Ezekiel 4:15 Literally “the manure of cattle”
  21. Ezekiel 4:16 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
  22. Ezekiel 4:16 Literally “staff”
  23. Ezekiel 4:16 Literally “and with worry”
  24. Ezekiel 4:16 Literally “and water by amount”
  25. Ezekiel 4:17 Literally “a man and his brother”
  26. Ezekiel 4:17 Or “punishment”
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Ezekiel 3
Ezekiel 5
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