Ezekiel 4:10-17

Good News Translation

¹⁰ You will be allowed eight ounces of bread a day, and it will have to last until the next day. ¹¹ You will also have a limited amount of water to drink, two cups a day. ¹² You are to build a fire out of dried human excrement, bake bread on the fire, and eat it where everyone can see you.”

¹³ The Lord said, “This represents the way the Israelites will have to eat food which the Law forbids,^[a] when I scatter them to foreign countries.”

¹⁴ But I replied, “No, Sovereign Lord! I have never defiled myself. From childhood on I have never eaten meat from any animal that died a natural death or was killed by wild animals. I have never eaten any food considered unclean.”

¹⁵ So God said, “Very well. I will let you use cow dung instead, and you can bake your bread on that.”

¹⁶ And he added, “Mortal man, I am going to cut off the supply of bread for Jerusalem. The people there will be distressed and anxious as they measure out the food they eat and the water they drink. ¹⁷ They will run out of bread and water; they will be in despair, and they will waste away because of their sins.”