4:1 “Now, son of man, take a clay tablet, put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it.
4:2 Then lay siege to it: Erect siege works against it, build a ramp up to it, set up camps against it and put battering rams around it.
4:3 Then take an iron pan, place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.
4:4 “Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the house of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side.
4:5 I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the house of Israel.
4:6 “After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the house of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year.
4:7 Turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem and with bared arm prophesy against her.
4:8 I will tie you up with ropes so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have finished the days of your siege.
4:9 “Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself. You are to eat it during the 390 days you lie on your side.
4:10 Weigh out twenty shekels of food to eat each day and eat it at set times.
4:11 Also measure out a sixth of a hin of water and drink it at set times.
4:12 Eat the food as you would a barley cake; bake it in the sight of the people, using human excrement for fuel.”
4:13 The LORD said, “In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them.”
4:14 Then I said, “Not so, Sovereign LORD! I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have never eaten anything found dead or torn by wild animals. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth.”
4:15 “Very well,” he said, “I will let you bake your bread over cow manure instead of human excrement.”
4:16 He then said to me: “Son of man, I will cut off the supply of food in Jerusalem. The people will eat rationed food in anxiety and drink rationed water in despair,
4:17 for food and water will be scarce. They will be appalled at the sight of each other and will waste away because of their sin.
4:1 Now you, son of man, take a tile and set it before you; and inscribe on it a city, Jerusalem;
4:2 And lay a siege against it, and build a siege wall against it, and cast up a mound against it, and set up camps against it, and set battering rams all around it.
4:3 And take an iron plate and set it as an iron wall between you and the city, and set your face against it; and it will be under siege, and you shall lay siege against it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.
4:4 Moreover 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.
4:5 And I have appointed to you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days; and you will bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
4:6 And when you have completed them, lie down again, on your right side; and you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah for forty days; I have appointed to you a day for each year.
4:7 Then toward the siege of Jerusalem you shall set your face with your arm bared, and you shall prophesy against it.
4:8 And I will then put ropes on you so that you cannot turn from one side to the other, until you have completed the days of your siege.
4:9 And take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make them into bread for yourself. For the number of days that you lie on your side, for three-hundred ninety days, you shall eat it.
4:10 And your food which you eat shall be twenty shekels a day by weight; at fixed times you shall eat it.
4:11 And the water that you drink shall be a sixth of a hin by measure; at fixed times you shall drink it.
4:12 And as a barley cake you shall eat it; on human excrement you shall bake it in their sight.
4:13 And Jehovah said, Thus shall the children of Israel eat their bread unclean among the nations to which I will drive them.
4:14 Then I said, Ah, Lord Jehovah. Indeed my soul has never been defiled; for from my youth until now I have not eaten anything that has died of itself or has been torn to pieces, nor has any abominable flesh entered into my mouth.
4:15 And He said to me, See, I give you cow’s dung instead of human excrement, and you will make your bread over it.
4:16 Then He said to me, Son of man, I am now breaking the staff of bread in Jerusalem; and they will eat bread by weight and in anxiety, and they will drink water by measure and in horror;
4:17 Because they will lack bread and water, and they will be horrified at each other and will rot in their iniquity.