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you, son of man, take a clay tablet and put it in front of you, and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. 2 Then lay siege against it: build a siege wall against it, build a ramp against it, set up camps against it, and place battering rams against it on all sides. 3 Then take an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between yourself and the city, and set your face against it. It will be under siege, and you shall lay siege against it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.
4 “Then lie on your left side and place the iniquity of house of Israel on yourself. You will bear their iniquity according to the number of days you lie on your side. 5 I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their iniquity. So for three hundred and ninety days you will bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
6 “When you have completed these, you are to lie again, this time on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. I have assigned you forty days, a day for each year. 7 You must turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared, and you shall prophesy against her. 8 And know that I will tie you up with ropes so you cannot turn from one side to the other, until you complete the days of your siege.
9 “Also take for yourself wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt. Put them in a single container and use them to make bread for yourself. You are to eat it during the number of days you lie on your side, three hundred and ninety days. 10 The food you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day. This you will eat at set times. 11 You are to also drink water by measure, a sixth of a hin. This you will drink at set times. 12 You shall eat the food as you would a barley cake; you are to bake it in their sight using human excrement for fuel.” 13 The Lord said, “This is how the Israelites will eat their defiled food among the nations where I banish them.”
14 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have never eaten anything that died of itself or was torn by wild beasts, nor has unclean flesh ever come into my mouth.”
15 Then He said to me, “Very well, I will let you use cow dung instead of human excrement, and you can prepare your bread over that.”
16 Then He said to me, “Son of man, I am going to cut off the supply of bread in Jerusalem. The people will eat bread rationed by weight and with anxiety, and they will drink water by measure and with dread. 17 So they will lack bread and water and look at one another with dismay. They will waste away because of their iniquity.”