The Siege of Jerusalem Symbolized
1 “And you, son of man, take a brick and lay it before you, and engrave on it a city, even Jerusalem. 2 And put siegeworks against it, and build a siege wall against it, and cast up a mound against it. Set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it all around. 3 And you, take an iron griddle, and place it as an iron wall between you and the city; and set your face toward it, and let it be in a state of siege, and press the siege against it. This is a tsign for the house of Israel.
4 “Then lie on your left side, and place the punishment1 of the house of Israel upon it. For the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear their punishment. 5 For I assign to you a number of days, 390 days, equal to the number of the years of their punishment. So long shall you bear the punishment of the house of Israel. 6 And when you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the punishment of the house of Judah. Forty days I assign you, ua day for each year. 7 And you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with your arm bared, and you shall prophesy against the city. 8 And behold, I will place vcords upon you, so that you cannot turn from one side to the other, till you have completed the days of your siege.
9 “And you, take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and emmer,2 and put them into a single vessel and make your bread from them. During the number of days that you lie on your side, 390 days, you shall eat it. 10 And your food that you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels3 a day; from day to day4 you shall eat it. 11 And water you shall drink by measure, the sixth part of a hin;5 from day to day you shall drink. 12 And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it win their sight on human dung.” 13 And the Lord said, “Thus shall the people of Israel eat their bread xunclean, among the nations where I will drive them.” 14 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I have never defiled myself.6 From my youth up till now yI have never eaten zwhat died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has atainted meat come into my mouth.” 15 Then he said to me, “See, I assign to you cow’s dung instead of human dung, on which you may prepare your bread.” 16 Moreover, he said to me, “Son of man, behold, I will bbreak the supply7 of bread in Jerusalem. They shall eat bread by weight and cwith anxiety, and they shall drink water by measure and in dismay. 17 I will do this that they may lack bread and water, and look at one another in dismay, and drot away because of their punishment.
Jerusalem Will Be Destroyed
1 “And you, O son of man, take a sharp sword. Use it as a barber’s razor and pass it over your ehead and your beard. Then take balances for weighing and divide the hair. 2 fA third part you shall burn in the fire in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are completed. And a third part you shall take and strike with the sword all around the city. And a third part you shall gscatter to the wind, and I will hunsheathe the sword after them. 3 And you shall take from these a small number and bind them in the skirts of your robe. 4 And of these again you shall take some and cast them into the midst of the fire and burn them in the fire. From there a fire will come out into all the house of Israel.
5 “Thus says the Lord God: This is Jerusalem. I have set her in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. 6 And she has rebelled against my rules by doing wickedness imore than the nations, and against my statutes more than the countries all around her; for they have rejected my rules and have not walked in my statutes. 7 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you are more turbulent than the nations that are all around you, and jhave not walked in my statutes or obeyed my rules, and have not8 even acted according to the rules of the nations that are all around you, 8 therefore thus says the Lord God: kBehold, I, even I, am against you. And I will execute judgments9 in your midst lin the sight of the nations. 9 And because of all your abominations I will do with you mwhat I have never yet done, and the like of which I will never do again. 10 Therefore nfathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers. And I will oexecute judgments on you, and any of you who survive I will pscatter to all the winds. 11 Therefore, as I live, declares the Lord God, surely, because you have qdefiled my sanctuary with all your rdetestable things and with all your abominations, therefore I will withdraw.10 sMy eye will not spare, and I will have no pity. 12 A third part of you shall die of pestilence and be consumed with famine in your midst; a third part shall fall by the sword all around you; and a third part I will scatter to all the winds and will unsheathe the sword after them.
13 “Thus shall my anger tspend itself, and I will uvent my fury upon them and satisfy myself. And they shall know that I am the Lord—that I have spoken in my jealousy—when I spend my fury upon them. 14 Moreover, I will make you a desolation and an object of vreproach among the nations all around you and in the sight of all who pass by. 15 You shall be11 a reproach and a taunt, a warning and a horror, to the nations all around you, when I wexecute judgments on you in anger and fury, and with xfurious rebukes—I am the Lord; I have spoken— 16 when I send against you12 the deadly yarrows of famine, arrows for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, and when I bring more and more famine upon you and break your supply13 of bread. 17 zI will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will rob you of your children. Pestilence and blood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword upon you. I am the Lord; I have spoken.”
3 As for you, son of man, prepare for yourself an exile’s baggage, and go into exile by day win their sight. You shall go like an exile from your place to another place in their sight. xPerhaps they will understand, though1 they are a rebellious house. 4 You shall bring out your baggage by day in their sight, as baggage for exile, and you shall go out yourself at evening in their sight, as those do who must go into exile. 5 In their sight ydig through the wall, and bring your baggage out through it. 6 In their sight you shall lift the baggage upon your shoulder and carry it out at dusk. You shall cover your face that you may not see the land, for I have made zyou a sign for the house of Israel.”
16 “Son of man, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke; uyet you shall not vmourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down. 17 Sigh, but not aloud; make no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban, and put your shoes on your feet; do not wcover your lips, nor eat the xbread of men.” 18 So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. And on the next morning I did as I was commanded.
16 “Son of man, take a stick1 and write on it, ‘For Judah, and the people of Israel associated with him’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.’ 17 And yjoin them one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand.
