Siege of Jerusalem Predicted

4 “Now you, son of man, ^(A)get yourself a brick, place it before you, and inscribe a city on it—Jerusalem. ² Then ^(B)lay siege against it, build a siege wall, pile up an assault ramp, set up camps, and place battering rams against it all around. ³ Then get yourself an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between yourself and the city, and direct your face toward it so that ^(C)it is under siege, and besiege it. This will be a ^(D)sign to the house of Israel.

⁴ “Then you are to lie down on your left side and put the wrongdoing of the house of Israel on it; you shall ^(E)bear their wrongdoing for the number of days that you lie on it. ⁵ For I have assigned you a number of days corresponding to the years of their wrongdoing, 390 days; so ^(F)you shall bear the wrongdoing of the house of Israel. ⁶ When you have completed these days, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the wrongdoing of the house of Judah; I have assigned it to you for forty days, a day for ^(G)each year. ⁷ Then you shall direct your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared, and ^(H)prophesy against it. ⁸ Now behold, I will ^(I)put ropes ^[a]around you so that you cannot turn from your one side to your other until you have completed the days of your siege.

Defiled Bread

⁹ “But as for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and ^(J)spelt, and put them in one vessel and make them into bread for yourself; you shall eat it according to the number of the days that you lie on your side, 390 days. ¹⁰ Your food which you eat shall be ^(K)twenty shekels a day by weight; you shall eat it from time to time. ¹¹ The water you drink shall be a ^[b]sixth of a hin by measure; you shall drink it from time to time. ¹² You shall eat it as a barley cake, having baked it in their sight over human ^(L)dung.” ¹³ Then the Lord said, “In this way the sons of Israel will eat their bread ^(M)unclean among the nations where I will scatter them.” ¹⁴ But I said, “^(N)Oh, Lord ^[c]God! Behold, ^[d]I have ^(O)never been defiled; for from my youth until now I have never eaten what ^(P)died of itself or was torn by animals, nor has any ^(Q)unclean meat ever entered my mouth!” ¹⁵ Then He said to me, “See, I will give you cow’s dung in place of human dung, so that you may prepare your bread over it.” ¹⁶ Moreover, He said to me, “Son of man, behold, I am going to ^(R)break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they will eat bread by ^(S)weight and with anxiety, and drink water by ^(T)measure and in horror, ¹⁷ because bread and water will be scarce; and they will tremble with one another and ^(U)waste away in their guilt.

Jerusalem’s Desolation Foretold

5 “As for you, son of man, take a ^(V)sharp sword; take and ^[e]use it as a barber’s razor on your head and beard. Then take ^(W)scales for weighing and divide ^[f]the hair. ² A third you shall burn in the fire at the center of the city, when the ^(X)days of the siege are completed. Then you shall take a third and strike it with the sword all around ^[g]the city, and a third you shall scatter to the wind; for I will ^(Y)unsheathe a sword behind them. ³ Take also a few hairs in number from ^[h]them and bind them in the hems of your robes. ⁴ Take again some of them and throw them into the fire and burn them in the fire; from it a fire will ^[i]spread to all the house of Israel.

Clean and Unclean Animals

14 “You are ^(A)sons of the Lord your God; ^(B)you shall not cut yourselves nor ^[a]shave a bald spot ^[b]above your forehead for the dead.

^5 (A)They shall not shave any area on their heads bald, ^(B)nor shave off the edges of their beards, ^(C)nor make any cuts in their flesh.

²⁴ and He Himself ^[a](A)brought our sins in His body up on the ^[b](B)cross, so that we ^(C)might die to ^[c]sin and live for righteousness; ^(D)by His ^[d]wounds you were ^(E)healed.