CHAPTER 4

1 Thou also, son of man! take thee a tile, And put it before thy face, And paint upon it the city Jerusalem:

2 Lay siege against it, and build a tower against it: Cast a mound against it, and set a camp against it: Set battering rams against it all round.

3 Then take an iron pan, and set it for a wall between thee and the city; Strengthen thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, And you shall besiege it. This is a sign to the house of Israel.

4 He you also on thy left; side, and place the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it; According to the number of the days during which you shall he upon it You shall bear their iniquity.

5 For I have appointed unto thee the years of their iniquity, According to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: Thus shall you bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

6 And when you have finished those days, Then again you shall he on thy right side, And you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judea forty days; Each day for a year, as I have appointed thee.

7 Then you shall direct thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, And thine arm shall be uncovered, And you shall not prophesy against it.

8 Lo! I have put cords upon thee, And you shall not turn from side to side Until you have fulfilled the days of thy sieges.

9 Take you also wheat; and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, And put them in one vessel, and make it into bread for time, According to the number of the days on which you shall he on thy side: Three hundred and ninety days shall you eat it.

10 And the food which you shall eat by weight, Shall be twenty shekels a day: from time to time shall you eat it.

11 And water shall thou drink by measure, the sixth part of a hin: From time to time shall you drink it.

12 Then you shall eat barley cake, and shall bake it With human dung before their eyes: And Jehovah said,

13 Even thus shall the children of Israel cat their defiled bread Among the Gentiles wither I have driven them.

14 Then I said, Alas, O Lord Jehovah! Lo! my soul has not been polluted, And from my youth up never have I eaten What died of itself, or was torn to pieces; And abominable flesh has never entered my mouth.

15 Then he said, See! I have given thee The dung of oxen for that of men, And you shall cook thy bread with this. ³⁰²³⁰²     See vol. 1, p. 186, note.

16 Moreover, he said to me, Son of man! Lo! I break the staff of bread in Jerusalem; And they shall eat bread by weight and with fear; And shall drink water by measure and with astonishment,

17 So that bread and water shall fail them, And they shall be astonished one with another, And consume away in their iniquity. ³⁰³³⁰³     See vol. 1, p. 187, note.