Ezequiel 4

¹ Thou also sonne of man, take thee a bricke, and lay it before thee, and pourtray vpon it the citie, euen Ierusalem,

² And lay siege against it, and builde a fort against it, and cast a mount against it: set the campe also against it, and lay engins of warre against it rounde about.

³ Moreover take thou to thee anWhich signified the stubbornness and hardness of their hearts.iron pan, and set it [for] a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This [shall be] a sign to the house of Israel.

⁴ Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of theBy this he represented the idolatry and sin of the ten tribes (for Samaria was on his left hand from Babylon) and how they had remained in it three hundred and ninety years.house of Israel upon it: [according] to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.

⁵ For I haue layed vpon thee the yeeres of their iniquitie, according to the nomber of the dayes, euen three hundreth and ninetie dayes: so shalt thou beare the iniquitie of the house of Israel.

⁶ And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thyWhich declared Judah, who had now from the time of Josiah slept in their sins forty years.right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.

⁷ Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thyIn token of a speedy vengeance.arm [shall be] uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.

⁸ And, behold, I will layThe people would so straightly be besieged that they would not be able to turn them.cords upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.

⁹ Take thou also to thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet,Meaning that the famine would be so great that they would be glad to eat whatever they could get.and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread of them, [according] to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side,Which were fourteen months that the city was besieged and this was as many days as Israel sinned years.three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat of it.

¹⁰ And thy food which thou shalt eat [shall be] by weight,Which make a pound.twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.

¹¹ Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of{{See Exo_29:40}}an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.

¹² And thou shalt eat it [as] barley cakes, and thou shalt bake itSignifying by this the great scarcity of fuel and matter to burn.with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.

¹³ And the Lord said, So shall the children of Israel eate their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will cast them.

¹⁴ Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither hathMuch less such vile corruption.abominable flesh come into my mouth.

¹⁵ Then he said to me, Lo, I have given thee cow'sTo be as fire to bake your bread with.dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread with them.

¹⁶ Moreover he said to me, Son of man, behold, I will breakThat is, the force and strength with which it would nourish, (Isa_3:1; Eze_14:13).the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and in horror:

¹⁷ Because that bread and water shall faile, they shalbe astonied one with another, and shall consume away for their iniquitie.