A Sign of Jerusalem’s Siege 1 UDB Yahweh continued and said, "Son of man, take a large clay tablet and scrape lines on it that represent Jerusalem. BSB BSB: “Now you, son of man, take a brick, place it before you, and draw on it the city of Jerusalem.
2 UDB Then draw figures around it to represent enemy soldiers who will build earthworks and forts around the city in order to take it. Set figures around it that represent battering rams. BSB BSB: Then lay siege against it: Construct a siege wall, build a ramp to it, set up camps against it, and place battering rams around it on all sides.
3 UDB Then take an iron pan, and place it to be like an iron wall between you and the carving of the city. Then stare at the image of the city. This means that enemy troops will surround the city to attack it. This will be a warning to the Israelite people. BSB BSB: Then take an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between yourself and the city. Turn your face toward it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.
6 UDB After that, lie down again. This time, lie on your right side for forty days. That will symbolize that the Judean people, the southern kingdom, will be punished for their sins, one year for each day that you lie there. BSB BSB: When you have completed these days, lie down again, but on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. I have assigned to you 40 days, a day for each year.
7 UDB Turn your face toward the drawing of Jerusalem and bare your arm like a soldier does who prepares to go into battle, and prophesy about what will happen to the city. BSB BSB: You must turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared, and prophesy against it.
8 UDB You will not be able to move; it will be as though I have tied you with ropes so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have finished symbolizing how many years the city will be besieged. BSB BSB: Now behold, I will tie you up with ropes so you cannot turn from side to side until you have finished the days of your siege.
The Defiled Bread 9 UDB Before you do that, take some wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt; and put them in a storage jar, and use that to bake bread for yourself. That is what you will eat during the 390 days while you lie on your left side. BSB BSB: But take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt; put them in a single container and make them into bread for yourself. This is what you are to eat during the 390 days you lie on your side.
10 UDB You will eat about two hundred grams of bread each day throughout the day. BSB BSB: You are to weigh out twenty shekels of food to eat each day, and you are to eat it at set times.
11 UDB Also measure out about one-half liter of water to drink each day throughout the day. BSB BSB: You are also to measure out a sixth of a hin of water to drink, and you are to drink it at set times.
12 UDB Eat that bread like you would eat a loaf of barley bread. But use your own dried dung for fuel to bake the bread while people are watching. BSB BSB: And you shall eat the food as you would a barley cake, after you bake it over dried human excrement in the sight of the people.”
13 UDB That will symbolize that the Israelite people will be forced to eat food that is unacceptable to me when they are living in the nations to which I will force them to go." BSB BSB: Then the LORD said, “This is how the Israelites will eat their defiled bread among the nations to which I will banish them.”
14 UDB Then I said, "No, Lord Yahweh! Do not force me to do that! I have never caused myself to become unacceptable to you. From the time when I was young, I have never eaten meat of any animal that was found dead or that had been killed by wild animals. And I have never eaten any meat that is unacceptable to you." BSB BSB: “Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have not eaten anything found dead or mauled by wild beasts. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth.”
15 UDB Yahweh replied, "Because of that, I will allow you to bake your bread using dried cow manure instead of human dung for fuel." BSB BSB: “Look,” He replied, “I will let you use cow dung instead of human excrement, and you may bake your bread over that.”
16 UDB Then he said to me, "Son of man, I will cause the supply of food to Jerusalem to be cut off. Then the people will eat the small amounts of food and drink the small amounts of water that their leaders permit them to have, and they will be very distressed and anxious as they do that, BSB BSB: Then He told me, “Son of man, I am going to cut off the supply of food in Jerusalem. They will anxiously eat bread rationed by weight, and in despair they will drink water by measure.
17 UDB because water and food will be very scarce. They will see each other becoming extremely thin, and they will be appalled; but this will happen because they are being punished for the sins that they have committed." BSB BSB: So they will lack food and water; they will be appalled at the sight of one another wasting away in their iniquity.
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