As for you, son of man, they will put ropes on you and tie you up with them, so you cannot go out among them.

I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to reprove them, for they are a rebellious house.

But when I speak with you, I will loosen your tongue and you must say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign class="small-caps" >Lord says.’ Those who listen will listen, but the indifferent will refuse, for they are a rebellious house.

Ominous Object Lessons

“And you, son of man, take a brick and set it in front of you. Inscribe a city on it—Jerusalem.

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.

Then for your part take an iron frying pan and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your face toward it. It is to be under siege; you are to besiege it. This is a sign for the house of Israel.

“Also for your part lie on your left side and place the iniquity of the house of Israel on it. For the number of days you lie on your side you will bear their iniquity.

I have determined that the number of the years of their iniquity are to be the number of days for you—390 days. So bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

“When you have completed these days, then lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah 40 days—I have assigned one day for each year.

You must turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared and prophesy against it.

Look here: 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.

“As for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, put them in a single 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.

The food you eat will be eight ounces a day by weight; you must eat it at fixed times.

And you must drink water by measure, a pint and a half; you must drink it at fixed times.

And you must eat the food as you would a barley cake. You must bake it in front of them over a fire made with dried human excrement.”

And the class="small-caps" >Lord said, “This is how the people of Israel will eat their unclean food among the nations where I will banish them.”

And I said, “Ah, Sovereign class="small-caps" >Lord, I have never been ceremonially defiled before. I have never eaten a carcass or an animal torn by wild beasts; from my youth up, unclean meat has never entered my mouth.”

So he said to me, “All right then, I will substitute cow’s manure instead of human excrement. You will cook your food over it.”

Then he said to me, “Son of man, I am about to remove the bread supply in Jerusalem. They will eat their bread ration anxiously, and they will drink their water ration in terror

because they will lack bread and water. Each one will be terrified, and they will rot for their iniquity.

“As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor. Shave off some of the hair from your head and your beard. Then take scales and divide up the hair you cut off.

Burn a third of it in the fire inside the city when the days of your siege are completed. Take a third and slash it with a sword all around the city. Scatter a third to the wind, and I will unleash a sword behind them.

But take a few strands of hair from those and tie them in the ends of your garment.

Again, take more of them and throw them into the fire, and burn them up. From there a fire will spread to all the house of Israel.

“This is what the Sovereign class="small-caps" >Lord says: This is Jerusalem; I placed her in the center of the nations with countries all around her.