Ezekiel 4

A City Besieged on a Clay Brick

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The Brick and the Siege of Jerusalem

4:1“And you, son of man, take a brick, set it before your face, and draw upon it a city—Jerusalem;

4:2lay an encirclement against it, build forward defenses against it, throw up a palisade against it, set camps against it, and arrange missile positions all around.

4:3Take an iron pan and place it as an iron wall between you and the city. Prepare your face against it; it shall be enclosed, and you shall enclose it. This is a sign for the sons of Israel.

Lying on the Left Side and the Right

4:4Lie on your left side and place the injustices of the house of Israel upon it, according to the number of days—one hundred fifty—that you lie upon it; bear their injustices.

4:5I have assigned you their two injustices as a number of days, one hundred ninety days; bear the injustices of the house of Israel

4:6and complete all these things. Lie on your right side and bear the injustices of the house of Judah forty days. I have appointed you a day for a year.

4:7Prepare your face against Jerusalem’s enclosure, strengthen your arm, and prophesy against it.

4:8Behold, I have placed bonds upon you; do not turn from side to side until the days of your enclosure are completed.

The Bread of Siege

4:9Take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet and spelt; put them in one earthen vessel and make loaves from them for yourself. According to the number of days you sleep on your side, you shall eat them one hundred ninety days.

4:10The food you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day; eat it from time to time.

4:11Drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin; drink it from time to time.

4:12Eat it as a barley cake baked in embers; bake it in pellets of human dung before their eyes,

4:13and say, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: So the sons of Israel will eat unclean things among the nations.’”

4:14I said, “By no means, Lord, God of Israel! Behold, my life has not been defiled with uncleanness. From my birth until now I have eaten neither what died of itself nor what a wild animal killed, nor has any stale meat entered my mouth.”

4:15He said to me, “Behold, I have given you cattle dung instead of human dung; prepare your loaves over it.”

I Am Breaking the Support of Bread

4:16He said to me, “Son of man, behold, I am breaking the support of bread in Jerusalem. They will eat bread by weight and in need, and drink water by measure and in devastation,

4:17so that they become needy for bread and water. A man and his brother will disappear, and they will waste away in their injustices.

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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.