Ezekiel 4

1And you, son of man, take for yourself a brick and set it before you and engrave on it a city, Jerusalem— 2Set siege against it, build a siege wall against it, cast up a ramp against it, set camps against it, position battering rams all around it. 3And you, take an iron plate and place it as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your face against it; it shall be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This is a sign to the house of Israel.

4Lie on your left side and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it. According to the number of days that you lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity. 5For I assign to you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of days, three hundred and ninety days, and you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. 6And when you have completed these, lie again on your right side. You shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah for forty days; a day for each year I assign to you. 7Direct your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and your arm shall be bared, and you shall prophesy against it. 8Behold, I will put cords on you so that you cannot turn from one side to another until you have completed the days of your siege.

9Take for yourself wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and emmer, and put them in a single vessel, and make bread of them for yourself. You shall eat it according to the number of the days that you lie on your side, three hundred and ninety days. 10Your food that you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day; from time to time you shall eat it. 11And water you shall drink by measure, a sixth of a hin; from time to time you shall drink. 12Eat it as a barley cake, baking it in their sight on human dung.

13Then the LORD said, "Thus shall the people of Israel eat their bread unclean among the nations where I will drive them."

14Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now, I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has abominable flesh entered my mouth." 15Then he said to me, "Behold, I have given you cow dung instead of human dung, on which you may prepare your bread."

16He also said to me, "Son of man, behold, I will break the supply of bread in Jerusalem. They shall eat bread by weight and in anxiety, and drink water by measure and in dismay. 17Because they lack bread and water, they will look at each other in dismay and waste away because of their iniquity."