The Siege of Jerusalem Portrayed

41 "Now you son of man , get yourself a brick , place it before you and inscribe a city on it, Jerusalem . 2 "Then lay siege against it, build a siege wall , raise up a ramp , pitch camps and place battering rams against it all around . 3 "Then get yourself an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city , and set your face toward it so that it is under siege , and besiege e it. This is a sign to the house of Israel . 4 "As for you, lie down on your left side and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it; you shall bear their iniquity for the number of days that you lie on it. 5 "For I have assigned you a number of days corresponding to the years of their iniquity , three hundred and ninety days ; thus you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel . 6 "When you have completed these , you shall lie down a second time , but on your right side and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah ; I have assigned it to you for forty days , a day for each year . 7 "Then you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared and prophesy against it. 8 "Now behold , I will put ropes on you so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have completed the days of your siege .

9 "But as for you, take wheat , barley , beans , lentils , millet and spelt , put them in one vessel and make them into bread for yourself; you shall eat it according to the number of the days that you lie on your side , three hundred and ninety days . 10 "Your food which you eat shall be twenty shekels a day by weight ; you shall eat it from time to time . 11 "The water you drink shall be the sixth part of a hin by measure ; you shall drink it from time to time . 12 "You shall eat it as a barley cake , having baked it in their sight over human dung e ." 13 Then the Lord said , "Thus will the sons of Israel eat their bread unclean among the nations where e I will banish them." 14 But I said , " Ah , Lord GOD ! Behold , I have never been defiled ; for from my youth until now I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts , nor has any unclean meat ever entered my mouth ." 15 Then He said to me, "See , I will give you cow's dung in place of human dung over which you will prepare your bread ." 16 Moreover, He said to me, "Son of man , behold , I am going to break the staff of bread in Jerusalem , and they will eat bread by weight and with anxiety , and drink water by measure and in horror , 17 because bread and water will be scarce ; and they will be appalled with one another and waste away in their iniquity .