The Siege of Jerusalem Predicted
1 “You also, son of man, take a brick and lay it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. 2 Lay siege against it and build a siege wall and siege ramps against it. Also set camps against it and plant battering rams against it on every side. 3 Take for yourself an iron plate and set it up as a wall of iron between you and the city. Then set your face toward it. It will be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.
4 Moreover lie on your left side and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it. You shall bear their iniquity according to the number of the days that you lie on it. 5 For I have appointed to you the years of their iniquity according to the number of days: 390 days. So you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
6 Again, when you have completed this, you shall lie on your right side, and shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. I have appointed 40 days, each day represents a year to you. 7 You shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with your arm uncovered, and you shall prophesy against it. 8 I will put ropes on you, and you shall not turn yourself from one side to the other, until you have completed the days of your siege.”
The Defiled Bread
9 “Take for yourself also wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, and put them in one container. Make bread from it. According to the number of the days that you will lie on your side, you shall eat it: 390 days. 10 You shall eat your food by weight, eight ounces a day. At set times you shall eat it. 11 You shall drink water by measure, a pint and a half. At set times you shall drink. 12 You shall eat it as barley cakes, and you shall bake it in their sight with human excrement.”
13 The LORD said, “Thus will the Israelites eat their bread, unclean, among the nations where I will drive them.”
14 Then I said, “Oh Lord GOD! I have never been defiled, for from my youth up until now I have not eaten of that which dies of itself, or is torn by animals. No unclean meat has come into my mouth.
15 Then he said to me, “I have given you cow’s excrement instead of man’s excrement, and you shall prepare your bread on it.”
16 Moreover he said to me, “Son of man, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem. They will eat bread by weight, and with fear. They will drink water by measure, and in despair. 17 So they will lack bread and water, and they will look at one another in despair, and they will waste away for their iniquity.