Ezekiel, Chapter 4

1. Thou therefore O son of man Take thee a tablet, and lay it before thee, -- and pourtray thereon a city, even Jerusalem.    2. Then shalt thou lay siege against it And bud up against it a siege-wall And cast up against it, a mound, -- And set against it camps, And place against it battering-rams, round about.    3. Thou, therefore take time a pan of iron, and set it for a wall of iron, between thee and the city, -- then shalt thou direct thy face against it and it shall come into siege and thou shalt lay siege to it, a sign, shall it be to the house of Israel.    4. Thou, therefore lie thou on thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it, -- during the number of the days which thou shalt lie thereon, shalt thou bear their punishment.    5. I therefore have appointed thee the years of their punishment, by the number of days a hundred and ninety days, -- so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.    6. And when thou hast ended these, then shalt thou lie, on thy right side. a second time, and shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah, -- forty days, one day for each year, have I appointed thee.    7. Thus then unto the siege of Jerusalem, shalt thou direct thy face, with thine arm made bare, -- so shalt thou prophesy against it.    8. And lo! I have laid upon thee-bands, -- and thou shalt not turn thee from thy one side to thine other, until thou have ended the days of thy siege.    9. Thou, therefore, take thee wheat and barley and peas and lentils and millet and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make them ready for thee as bread, -- during the number of days which thou art lying on thy side. a hundred and ninety days, shalt thou eat it;    10. and thy food which thou shalt eat shall be by weight twenty shekels a day, -- from time to time, shalt thou eat it;    11. and water by measure, shalt thou drink the sixth part of a hin,-from time to time shalt thou drink;    12. and as a barley cake, shalt thou eat it, -- and the same with dung proceeding from man, shalt thou bake, before their eyes.    13. Then said Yahweh, In like manner, shall the sons of Israel eat their bread defiled, -- among the nations whither I will drive them.    14. Then said, I, Ah! My Lord. Yahweh, lo! my person, hath not been defiled: neither of what hath died of itself nor of what hath been torn in pieces: have I eaten, from my youthful days even unto now, neither hath come into my mouth the flesh of a foul thing.    15. So then he said unto me, See I have granted thee cows dung for mans dung, -- and thou shalt prepare thy bread thereupon.    16. And he said unto me, Son of man Behold me! breaking the staff of bread in Jerusalem, So shall they eat bread by weight and with anxious care, And water by measure, and in astonishment, shall they drink:    17. that they may lack bread and water and be astonished one with another, and pine away in their punishment.