Ezekiel

“And you, O mortal, take a brick and put it in front of you, and incise on it a city, Jerusalem.

Set up a siege against it, and build towers against it, and cast a mound against it; pitch camps against it, and bring up battering rams round about it.

Then take an iron plate and place it as an iron wall between yourself and the city, and set your face against it.aset your face against it I.e., adopt a hostile stance. Thus it shall be under siege, you shall besiege it. This shall be an omen for the House of Israel.

“Then lie on your left side, and let it bear the punishment of the House of Israel;bleft…Israel Since left and right also denote north and south (e.g., 16.46), respectively, the left side represents Israel, the northern kingdom, and the right side Judah, the southern kingdom. for as many days as you lie on it you shall bear their punishment.

For I impose upon you three hundred and ninety days, corresponding to the number of the years of their punishment; and so you shall bear the punishment for the House of Israel.

When you have completed these, you shall lie another forty days on your right side, and bear the punishment of the House of Judah.cright…Judah See note at v. 4. I impose on you one day for each year.

“Then, with bared arm, set your face toward besieged Jerusalem and prophesy against it.

Now I put cords upon you, so that you cannot turn from side to side until you complete your days of siege.

“Further, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and emmer. Put them into one vessel and bake them into bread. Eat it as many days as you lie on your side: three hundred and ninety.

The food that you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day; this you shall eat in the space of a day.

And you shall drink water by measure; drink a sixth of a hin in the space of a day.

“Eat it as a barleydbarley Meaning of Heb. uncertain. cake; you shall bake it on human excrement before their eyes.

So,” said GOD, “shall the people of Israel eat their bread, impure, among the nations to which I will banish them.”

Then I said, “Ah, my Sovereign GOD, my personeperson Or “throat.” was never defiled; nor have I eaten anything that died of itself or was torn by beasts from my youth until now, nor has foul flesh entered my mouth.”

The answer came: “See, I allow you cow’s dung instead of human excrement; prepare your bread on that.”

fResuming the thought of v. 11. And I was told, “O mortal, I am going to break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they shall eat bread by weight, in anxiety, and drink water by measure, in horror,

so that, lacking bread and water, they shall stare at each other, heartsick over their iniquity.