Two things are here represented to the prophet in vision,

1. The fortifications that shall be shortly raised against the city, signified by his laying siege to the portrait of Jerusalem, ver. 1-3. And lying first on one side, and then on the other side before it, ver. 4-8.

2. The famine that would rage therein, signified by his eating coarse fare, and little of it, so long as this typical representation lasted, ver. 9-17.