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1 “Son of man, you are to take a brick, put in front of you, and draw a picture of the city of Jerusalem on it.
2 Show that it's under siege: establish a siege perimeter all around it, build a siege ramp against it, set up the enemy camps beside it, and put battering rams on all sides around it.
3 Put an iron plate between yourself and the city so it's like an iron wall. Face the city and demonstrate that it's under siege, and that you are the one attacking it. This is a symbolic warning to the people of Israel.
4 Then lie on your left side and take the Israelites' sins on yourself. You will carry their sins for the number of days you lie on your side.
5 I will make you stay there for 390 days, representing the number of years of their sins. You will bear the sins of the Israelites.
6 Once you have finished doing this for these days, then you are to lie down again, but this time on your right side, and carry the sins of the people of Judah. I will make you stay there for 40 days, one day for every year.
7 Keep your face towards the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared, and prophesy against it.
8 Be ready, because now I'm going to tie you up with ropes so you can't move from side to side until the days of your siege are over.
9 Get some wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, and mix them together in a storage jar. Use them to make bread for yourself. This is what you are to eat for the 390 days that you lie on your side.
10 You are allowed to eat twenty shekels weight of food each day, and you are to eat it at regular times.
11 Measure out a sixth of a hin of water to drink, and you are to drink it at regular times.
12 You are to eat the bread as you would a barley loaf. You are to bake it over a fire burning dried human excrement as everyone watches.”
13 Then the Lord said, “This is the way the Israelites will eat their unclean bread among the nations where I'll exile them.”
14 “Please no, Lord God!” I answered. “I have never made myself unclean. I haven't eaten anything found dead or killed by wild animals from the time I was young until now. I've never put unclean meat in my mouth.”
15 “All right,” he said. “I'll let you use cow manure instead of human excrement You can bake your bread over a fire using that.”
16 Then he went on, “Son of man, watch! I am going to put a stop to Jerusalem's food supply. Worried sick, they will eat bread rationed by weight. Despairing at what's happening, they will drink water measured in small amounts.
17 Running out of food and water, they will be horrified as they look at one another wasting away because of their sins.”