1 AND YOU, son of man, take a tile and lay it before you, and make upon it a drawing of a city, even Jerusalem. 2 And put siege works against it, build a siege wall against it, and cast up a mound against it; set camps also against it and set battering rams against it round about. 3 Moreover, take a plate of iron and place it for an iron wall between you and the city; and set your face toward it and it shall be besieged, and you shall press the siege against it. This is a sign to the house of Israel.
4 Then [bound as you are] lie upon your left [and north] side to bear symbolically the iniquity of the house of the ten tribes of Israel upon that side. According to the number of days that you shall lie upon it you shall bear their iniquity. 5 For I have laid upon you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, 390 days [representing 390 years]; so you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. 6 And when you have fulfilled the days for Israel, lie again, but on your right [and south] side, and you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days. I have appointed you one day for each year. 7 Therefore you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem and your arm shall be uncovered [ready for battle], and you shall prophesy against [the city]. 8 And, behold, I will lay bands upon you and you shall not turn yourself from one side to another till you have ended the days of your siege.
9 Also take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, and put them into one vessel and make bread of them. According to the number of the days that you shall lie upon your side, 390 days you shall eat of it. 10 And the food you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels or a full half pound a day, to be eaten at a fixed time each day. 11 You shall drink water by measure also, about one quart or the sixth part of a hin; you shall drink at a fixed time each day. 12 And you shall eat your food as barley cakes and you shall bake it with human dung as fuel in the sight of the people. 13 And the Lord said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the nations to whom I will drive them. 14 Then said I, Ah, Lord God! Behold, I have never defiled myself. From my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dies of itself or is torn in pieces; neither did there ever come abominable flesh into my mouth. 15 Then He said to me, Behold, I will let you use cow's dung instead of human dung, and you shall prepare your food with it. 16 Moreover, He said to me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread [by which life is supported] in Jerusalem; and they shall eat bread rationed by weight and with fearfulness, and they shall drink water rationed by measure and with dismay (silent, speechless grief caused by the impending starvation), 17 In order that they may lack bread and water and look at one another in dismay and waste away [in their punishment] for their iniquity.