Ezekiel Bears Israel’s Iniquity

1“Now as for you, son of man, get yourself a brick, set it before you, and inscribe a city on it, Jerusalem. 2Then set a siege against it, build a siege wall against it, [†]raise up a ramp against it, set up camps against it, and place battering rams against it all around. 3Now as for you, get yourself an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city, and establish your face toward it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This is a sign to the house of Israel.

4“Now as for you, lie down on your left side and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it; you shall bear their iniquity for the number of days that you lie on it. 5Now I have set a number of days for you corresponding to the years of their iniquity, 390 days; thus you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. 6And you shall complete these, and you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah; I have set it for you for forty days, a day for each year. 7Then you shall establish your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared and prophesy against it. 8Now behold, I will set ropes upon you so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have completed the days of your siege.

Making Unclean Bread

9“Now as for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt; set 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. 10And your food which you eat shall be [†]twenty shekels a day by weight; you shall eat it from time to time. 11The water you drink shall be the sixth part of a [†]hin by measure; you shall drink it from time to time. 12You shall eat it as a barley cake, having baked it in their sight over human dung.” 13Then Yahweh said, “Thus will the sons of Israel eat their bread unclean among the nations where I will banish them.” 14But I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Behold, I have never been defiled; for from my youth until now I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has any offensive meat ever entered my mouth.” 15Then He said to me, “See, I will set for you cow’s dung in place of human dung over which you will prepare your bread.” 16Moreover, He said to me, “Son of man, behold, I am going to break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they will eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and they will drink water by measure and in desolation 17because bread and water will be lacking; and they will be in desolation with one another and rot away in their iniquity.