The Siege of Jerusalem Symbolized
1
"And you, 1son of man, 2take a brick and lay it before you, and engrave on it a city, even Jerusalem.
2
3And put siegeworks against it, 4and build a siege wall against it, 5and cast up a mound against it. Set camps also against it, 6and 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; 7and set your face toward it, 8and let it be in a state of siege, and press the siege against it. This is 9a sign for the house of Israel.
4
"Then lie on your left side, and place the punishmenta of the house of Israel upon it. For the number of the days that you lie on it, 10you shall bear their punishment.
5
For I assign to you a number of days, days, 11equal to the number of the years of their punishment. 12So long shall you bear 13the 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 14bear 15the punishment of the house of Judah. 16Forty days I assign you, a day for each year.
7
17And you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, 18with your arm bared, and you shall prophesy against the city.
8
And behold, 19I will place cords upon you, so that you cannot turn from one side to the other, till you have completed 20the days of your siege.
9
"And you, take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and emmer,b and put them into a single vessel and make your 21bread from them. 22During the number of days that you lie on your side, days, you shall eat it.
10
And your food that you eat shall be 23by weight, 24twenty shekelsc a day; from day to dayd you shall eat it.
11
And water you shall drink 25by measure, the sixth part of a hin;e from day to day you shall drink.
12
And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it 26in their sight on human dung."
13
And the LORD said, "Thus shall the people of Israel eat 27their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them."
14
Then I said, 28"Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I have never defiled myself.f29From my youth up till now I have never eaten 30what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has 31tainted 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."
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
(English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online)