God orders a siege against Israel
4:1 “And you, son of man, take a block of clay and set it in front of you. Inscribe a city on it – Jerusalem. 4:2 Then lay siege to it! Build siege works against it. Erect a siege ramp against it! Post soldiers outside it and station battering rams around it. 4:3 Then take an iron frying pan and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city. Turn your face toward it. It is to be under siege – you are to besiege it. This is a sign for the house of Israel.
4:4 “Then lie on your left side and bear the iniquity of the house of Israel on yourself. For the number of days you lie on your side you will bear their iniquity. 4:5 I have determined that the number of the years of their sin are to be the number of days for you – 390 days. So bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
4:6 “After you have completed the days, lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the sin of the house of Judah 40 days – I have assigned one day for each year. 4:7 You must turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared and prophesy against it. 4:8 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.
4:9 “As for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, put them in a container, and make food from them for yourself. For the same number of days that you lie on your side – 390 days – you will eat it. 4:10 The food you eat will be eight ounces a day by weight; you must eat it at fixed times. 4:11 And you must drink water by measure, a pint and a half; you must drink it at fixed times. 4:12 And you must eat the food like you would a barley bread. You must bake it in front of them over a fire fueled with dried human excrement.” 4:13 And the LORD said, “In this way the people of Israel will eat their unclean food among the nations where I will banish them.”
4:14 And I said, “Oh, sovereign LORD, I have never been ceremonially defiled before. Since I was young, I have never eaten a carcass or an animal torn by wild beasts, unclean meat has never entered my mouth.”
4:15 God said, “All right then, I will substitute cow’s manure instead of human excrement. You will cook your food over it.”
4:16 Then he said to me, “Son of man, I am about to cut off the bread supply in Jerusalem. They will eat their bread ration anxiously, and they will drink their water ration in despair 4:17 because they will lack bread and water. Each one will be terrified, and they will waste away for their iniquity.