Ezekiel 4-6

English Standard Version

The Siege of Jerusalem Symbolized

4 “And you, ^(A)son of man, ^(B)take a brick and lay it before you, and engrave on it a city, even Jerusalem. ^2 (C)And put siegeworks against it, ^(D)and build a siege wall against it, ^(E)and cast up a mound against it. Set camps also against it, ^(F)and plant battering rams against it all around. ³ And you, take an iron griddle, and place it as an iron wall between you and the city; ^(G)and set your face toward it, ^(H)and let it be in a state of siege, and press the siege against it. This is ^(I)a sign for the house of Israel.

⁴ “Then lie on your left side, and place the punishment^[a] of the house of Israel upon it. For the number of the days that you lie on it, ^(J)you shall bear their punishment. ⁵ For I assign to you a number of days, ^(K)390 days, ^(L)equal to the number of the years of their punishment. ^(M)So long shall you bear ^(N)the punishment of the house of Israel. ⁶ And when you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and ^(O)bear ^(P)the punishment of the house of Judah. ^(Q)Forty days I assign you, a day for each year. ^7 (R)And you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, ^(S)with your arm bared, and you shall prophesy against the city. ⁸ And behold, ^(T)I will place cords upon you, so that you cannot turn from one side to the other, till you have completed ^(U)the days of your siege.

⁹ “And you, take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and emmer,^[b] and put them into a single vessel and make your ^(V)bread from them. ^(W)During the number of days that you lie on your side, ^(X)390 days, you shall eat it. ¹⁰ And your food that you eat shall be ^(Y)by weight, ^(Z)twenty shekels^[c] a day; from day to day^[d] you shall eat it. ¹¹ And water you shall drink ^(AA)by measure, the sixth part of a hin;^[e] from day to day you shall drink. ¹² And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it ^(AB)in their sight on human dung.” ¹³ And the Lord said, “Thus shall the people of Israel eat ^(AC)their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them.” ¹⁴ Then I said, ^(AD)“Ah, Lord God! Behold, I have never defiled myself.^{[f] (AE)}From my youth up till now I have never eaten ^(AF)what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has ^(AG)tainted meat come into my mouth.” ¹⁵ Then he said to me, “See, I assign to you cow's dung instead of human dung, on which you may prepare your bread.” ¹⁶ Moreover, he said to me, ^(AH)“Son of man, behold, ^(AI)I will break the supply^[g] of bread in Jerusalem. They shall eat bread ^(AJ)by weight and with anxiety, and they shall drink water ^(AK)by measure and in dismay. ¹⁷ I will do this that they may lack bread and water, and ^(AL)look at one another in dismay, and ^(AM)rot away because of their punishment.

Jerusalem Will Be Destroyed

5 “And you, ^(AN)O son of man, take a ^(AO)sharp sword. Use it as ^(AP)a barber's razor and ^(AQ)pass it over your head and your beard. Then take balances for weighing and divide the hair. ^2 (AR)A third part you shall burn in the fire ^(AS)in the midst of the city, ^(AT)when the days of the siege are completed. And a third part you shall take and strike with the sword all around the city. ^(AU)And a third part you shall scatter to the wind, and ^(AV)I will unsheathe the sword after them. ^3 (AW)And you shall take from these a small number and bind them in the skirts of your robe. ^4 (AX)And of these again you shall take some and cast them into the midst of the fire and burn them in the fire. From there a fire will come out into all the house of Israel.

⁵ “Thus says the Lord God: ^(AY)This is Jerusalem. I have set her ^(AZ)in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. ⁶ And she has rebelled against my rules by doing wickedness ^(BA)more than the nations, and against my statutes more than ^(BB)the countries all around her; for they have rejected my rules and have not walked in my statutes. ⁷ Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you are ^(BC)more turbulent than the nations that are all around you, ^(BD)and have not walked in my statutes or obeyed my rules, ^(BE)and have not^[h] even acted according to the rules of the nations that are all around you, ⁸ therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, even I, ^(BF)am against you. ^(BG)And I will execute judgments^[i] in your midst ^(BH)in the sight of the nations. ⁹ And because of all your abominations I will do with you ^(BI)what I have never yet done, and the like of which I will never do again. ¹⁰ Therefore ^(BJ)fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers. ^(BK)And I will execute judgments on you, ^(BL)and any of you who survive I will scatter to all the winds. ¹¹ Therefore, ^(BM)as I live, declares the Lord God, surely, ^(BN)because you have defiled my sanctuary ^(BO)with all your detestable things and with all your ^(BP)abominations, ^(BQ)therefore I will withdraw.^{[j] (BR)}My eye will not spare, and I will have no pity. ^12 (BS)A third part of you shall die of pestilence and be consumed with famine in your midst; ^(BT)a third part shall fall by the sword all around you; ^(BU)and a third part I will scatter to all the winds and will unsheathe the sword after them.

^13 (BV)“Thus shall my anger spend itself, and I will vent my fury upon them and satisfy myself. And they shall know that ^(BW)I am the Lord—that I have spoken in my jealousy—^(BX)when I spend my fury upon them. ¹⁴ Moreover, I will make you ^(BY)a desolation and ^(BZ)an object of reproach among ^(CA)the nations all around you and in the sight of all who pass by. ¹⁵ You shall be^[k] a reproach and a taunt, a warning ^(CB)and a horror, to ^(CC)the nations all around you, ^(CD)when I execute judgments on you in anger and fury, and ^(CE)with furious rebukes—I am the Lord; I have spoken— ¹⁶ when I send against you^{[l] (CF)}the deadly arrows of famine, arrows for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, and when I bring more and more famine upon ^(CG)you and break your supply^[m] of bread. ¹⁷ I will send famine and ^(CH)wild beasts against you, ^(CI)and they will rob you of your children. Pestilence and ^(CJ)blood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword upon you. I am the Lord; I have spoken.”

Judgment Against Idolatry

6 The word of the Lord came to me: ^2 (CK)“Son of man, ^(CL)set your face toward ^(CM)the mountains of Israel, and ^(CN)prophesy against them, ³ and say, ^(CO)You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to ^(CP)the mountains and ^(CQ)the hills, to ^(CR)the ravines and the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, ^(CS)and I will destroy your high places. ^4 (CT)Your altars shall become desolate, and your ^(CU)incense altars shall be broken, and I will cast down your slain before your idols. ^5 (CV)And I will lay the dead bodies of the people of Israel before their idols, ^(CW)and I will scatter your bones around your altars. ⁶ Wherever you dwell, ^(CX)the cities shall be waste and ^(CY)the high places ruined, so that your altars will be waste and ruined,^[n] your idols broken and destroyed, your ^(CZ)incense altars cut down, and your works wiped out. ⁷ And the slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the Lord.

^8 (DA)“Yet I will leave some of you alive. When you have among the nations ^(DB)some who escape the sword, and when you are scattered through the countries, ⁹ then those of you who escape ^(DC)will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how ^(DD)I have been broken over their whoring heart that has departed from me and over their eyes ^(DE)that go whoring after their idols. ^(DF)And they will be loathsome in their own sight for the evils that they have committed, for all their abominations. ¹⁰ And they shall know that I am the Lord. ^(DG)I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them.”

¹¹ Thus says the Lord God: ^(DH)“Clap your hands ^(DI)and stamp your foot and say, Alas, because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, ^(DJ)for they shall fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. ^12 (DK)He who is far off shall die of pestilence, and he who is near shall fall by the sword, and he who is left and is preserved shall die of famine. ^(DL)Thus I will spend my fury upon them. ¹³ And you shall know that I am the Lord, ^(DM)when their slain lie among their idols around their altars, ^(DN)on every high hill, ^(DO)on all the mountaintops, ^(DP)under every green tree, and under ^(DQ)every leafy oak, wherever ^(DR)they offered pleasing aroma to all their idols. ¹⁴ And ^(DS)I will stretch out my hand against them and ^(DT)make the land desolate and waste, ^(DU)in all their dwelling places, from the wilderness to ^(DV)Riblah.^[o] Then ^(DW)they will know that I am the Lord.”