04:001

Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and trace upon it a city, even Jerusalem

04:002

and lay siege against it, and build forts against it, and cast up a mound against it; set camps also against it, and set battering rams against it round about

04:003

And take thou unto thee an iron griddle, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city; and set thy face toward it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel

04:004

Moreover lie thou upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it; according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it, thou shalt bear their iniquity

04:005

For I have appointed the years of their iniquity to be unto thee a number of days, even three hundred and ninety days; so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel

04:006

And again, when thou hast accomplished these, thou shalt lie on thy right side, and shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah; forty days, each day for a year, have I appointed it unto thee

04:007

And thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with thine arm uncovered; and thou shalt prophesy against it

04:008

And, behold, I lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast accomplished the days of thy siege

04:009

Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof; according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, even three hundred and ninety days, shalt thou eat thereof

04:010

And thy food which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day; from time to time shalt thou eat it

04:011

Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of a hin; from time to time shalt thou drink

04:012

And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it in their sight with dung that cometh out of man.

04:013

And HaShem said: 'Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations whither I will drive them.

04:014

Then said I: 'Ah L-rd GOD! behold, my soul hath not been polluted; for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn of beasts; neither came there abhorred flesh into my mouth.

04:015

Then He said unto me: 'See, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread thereon.

04:016

Moreover He said unto me: 'Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they shall eat bread by weight, and with anxiety; and they shall drink water by measure, and in appalment

04:017

that they may want bread and water, and be appalled one with another, and pine away in their iniquity