Ezekiel 4

The Siege of Jerusalem Acted Out

1 “Now you, son of man, take a brick, set it in front of you, and draw the city of Jerusalem on it.

2 Lay siege against it, build siege walls, raise a ramp, set up camps, and place battering rams all around it.

3 Then take an iron plate and set it up like a wall of iron between you and the city. Lock your face toward it so it is under siege, and you will be the sign to the house of Israel.

Lying on His Side for Israel and Judah

4 Then lie down on your left side and put the sin of the house of Israel on it. You will carry their sin for the number of days you lie there.

5 I am assigning you the years of their sin by the number of days, three hundred ninety days. That is how long you will carry the sin of the house of Israel.

6 When you finish that, lie down again, this time on your right side, and carry the sin of the house of Judah. I have assigned you forty days, one day for each year.

7 Keep your face aimed toward the siege of Jerusalem, your arm uncovered, and prophesy against it.

8 I will tie you up with ropes so you cannot turn from one side to the other until you finish the days of your siege.

Eating Rationed and Defiled Food

9 “Take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt. Put them all in one container and make bread for yourself. You will eat it during the number of days you lie on your side, three hundred ninety days.

10 The food you eat each day will be weighed out, twenty shekels a day, and you will eat it at set times.

11 You will drink water by measure too, one-sixth of a hin, drinking it at set times.

12 Eat it like barley cakes, baking it in their sight using human dung for fuel.”

13 Then the LORD said, “This is how the people of Israel will eat their unclean food among the nations where I scatter them.”

14 But I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have never eaten anything that died on its own or was torn by beasts. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth.”

15 Then He said to me, “Alright, I will let you use cow dung instead of human dung to bake your bread.”

16 He said to me, “Son of man, I am about to cut off the food supply in Jerusalem. They will eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and drink water by measure and in despair,

17 so that they will lack bread and water, look at each other in shock, and waste away because of their sin.”