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Ezekiel 4
New Catholic Bible
Ezekiel 4
New Catholic Bible
Before the Siege of Jerusalem
Chapter 4
Symbols of Siege and Exile. 1 As for you, son of man, take a clay tablet and lay it in front of you. Draw on it a city, Jerusalem.[a] 2 Portray it under siege, erect towers against it, pitch camps, and set up battering rams all around it. 3 Then take an iron griddle and place it as though it were an iron wall between you and the city. Keep your gaze fixed upon the city; it will be in a state of siege, and you will be the besieger. This will be a sign for the house of Israel.[b]
4 [c]Then lie on your left side while I place the guilt of the house of Israel upon you. You will bear their guilt for the number of days that you lie on your side. 5 Allowing one day for every year of their guilt, I ordain that you bear Israel’s punishment for three hundred and ninety days.
6 When you have completed these days, you shall lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the punishment of the house of Judah for forty days: one day for each year I have allotted you. 7 Then fix your gaze on the siege of Jerusalem, and with bared arm you shall prophesy against it. 8 I will tie you with ropes so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have completed the days of your siege.
9 [d]Then take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet, and spelt. Put them all into the same pot and make bread for yourself. You are to eat it for as many days as you lie upon your side—three hundred and ninety days. 10 The food that you shall eat shall weigh twenty shekels a day, and you are to eat it at fixed times. 11 You are also to measure out and drink the same amount of water each day at fixed times—one-sixth of a hin. 12 The food that you eat shall be in the form of a barley cake. Bake it in the sight of the people with human dung as fuel.
13 The Lord then said: Thus will the Israelites be forced to eat defiled food among the nations to which I will banish them. 14 “Lord God,” I protested, “from my youth until this very day I have never defiled myself. I have never eaten an animal that died a natural death or was torn to pieces by wild beasts. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth.” 15 He replied: Very well. I will permit you to use cow dung instead of human dung to prepare your bread.[e]
16 Then he said to me: Son of man, I intend to reduce greatly the supply of food in Jerusalem. The people will ration anxiously the bread they eat and sip carefully the measure of water they are allotted each day. 17 Because of the scarcity of bread and water, they will be overwhelmed with fear and waste away because of their iniquity.
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 4:1 For writing and drawing, the Babylonians used thin tablets of clay that had not yet dried, on which they wrote with a suitable stylus.
- Ezekiel 4:3 Verse 3 should be followed directly by verse 7.
- Ezekiel 4:4 The length of the atonement, which is given in round figures, is taken from the length of the period of exile for Israel and Judah respectively (721–538 B.C. and 587–538 B.C.).
- Ezekiel 4:9 A day will come when Jerusalem, a city being starved out, will have to ration food: about 250 grams of dry bread and a liter of water.
- Ezekiel 4:15 Dried manure is still used as fuel in some parts of the East.
Ezekiel 4
New International Version
Ezekiel 4
New International Version
Siege of Jerusalem Symbolized
4 “Now, son of man, take a block of clay, put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. 2 Then lay siege to it: Erect siege works against it, build a ramp(A) up to it, set up camps against it and put battering rams around it.(B) 3 Then take an iron pan,(C) place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward(D) it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign(E) to the people of Israel.(F)
4 “Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the people of Israel upon yourself.[a] You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side. 5 I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the people of Israel.
6 “After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin(G) of the people of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year.(H) 7 Turn your face(I) toward the siege of Jerusalem and with bared arm prophesy against her. 8 I will tie you up with ropes so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have finished the days of your siege.(J)
9 “Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt;(K) put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself. You are to eat it during the 390 days you lie on your side. 10 Weigh out twenty shekels[b](L) of food to eat each day and eat it at set times. 11 Also measure out a sixth of a hin[c] of water and drink it at set times.(M) 12 Eat the food as you would a loaf of barley bread; bake it in the sight of the people, using human excrement(N) for fuel.” 13 The Lord said, “In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them.”(O)
14 Then I said, “Not so, Sovereign Lord!(P) I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have never eaten anything found dead(Q) or torn by wild animals. No impure meat has ever entered my mouth.(R)”
15 “Very well,” he said, “I will let you bake your bread over cow dung instead of human excrement.”
16 He then said to me: “Son of man, I am about to cut off(S) the food supply in Jerusalem. The people will eat rationed food in anxiety and drink rationed water in despair,(T) 17 for food and water will be scarce.(U) They will be appalled at the sight of each other and will waste away because of[d] their sin.(V)
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 4:4 Or upon your side
- Ezekiel 4:10 That is, about 8 ounces or about 230 grams
- Ezekiel 4:11 That is, about 2/3 quart or about 0.6 liter
- Ezekiel 4:17 Or away in
New International Version (NIV) 
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