וְאַתָּה בֶן־אָדָם קַח־לְךָ לְבֵנָה וְנָתַתָּה אוֹתָהּ לְפָנֶיךָ וְחַקּוֹתָ עָלֶיהָ עִיר אֶת־יְרוּשָׁלִָם

You, Son of man, take for yourself a brick and place it before you, and depict upon it a city, Jerusalem.

וְנָתַתָּה עָלֶיהָ מָצוֹר וּבָנִיתָ עָלֶיהָ דָּיֵק וְשָׁפַכְתָּ עָלֶיהָ סֹלְלָה וְנָתַתָּה עָלֶיהָ מַחֲנוֹת וְשִׂים־עָלֶיהָ כָּרִים סָבִיב

Lay siege against it, build a model of a siege tower against it, and erect a ramp against it, up to the city wall, to enable enemy forces to penetrate the city; set camps against it and place battering rams against it all around.

וְאַתָּה קַח־לְךָ מַחֲבַת בַּרְזֶל וְנָתַתָּה אוֹתָהּ קִיר בַּרְזֶל בֵּינְךָ וּבֵין הָעִיר וַהֲכִינֹתָה אֶת־פָּנֶיךָ אֵלֶיהָ וְהָיְתָה בַמָּצוֹר וְצַרְתָּ עָלֶיהָ אוֹת הִיא לְבֵית יִשְׂרָאֵל

You, after you have fashioned this model of a besieged Jerusalem, take for yourself a flat iron pan and place it as a wall of iron between you and the city; set your face toward it, and it, the city, will be besieged and you shall besiege it. It is a sign for the house of Israel. These acts symbolize what will happen to Jerusalem: It will be severed from its surroundings by its enemies, and God will conceal His face from the city.

וְאַתָּה שְׁכַב עַל־צִדְּךָ הַשְּׂמָאלִי וְשַׂמְתָּ אֶת־עֲוֹן בֵּית־יִשְׂרָאֵל עָלָיו מִסְפַּר הַיָּמִים אֲשֶׁר תִּשְׁכַּב עָלָיו תִּשָּׂא אֶת־עֲוֹנָם

You, lie on your left side, and you shall lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it. The pain of the weight bearing down on your left side will be for you like the burden of the sins of Israel. For the number of days that you will lie on it you will bear their iniquity and thereby provide some measure of atonement.

וַאֲנִי נָתַתִּי לְךָ אֶת־שְׁנֵי עֲוֹנָם לְמִסְפַּר יָמִים שְׁלשׁ־מֵאוֹת וְתִשְׁעִים יוֹם וְנָשָׂאתָ עֲוֹן בֵּית־יִשְׂרָאֵל

I have given you the years of their iniquity as a number of days, one day for each year, three hundred and ninety days, and you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

וְכִלִּיתָ אֶת אֵלֶּה וְשָׁכַבְתָּ עַל־צִדְּךָ הַיְמָנִי שֵׁנִית ונָשָׂאתָ אֶת־עֲוֹן בֵּית־יְהוּדָה אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם יוֹם לַשָּׁנָה יוֹם לַשָּׁנָה נְתַתִּיו לָךְ

You will complete these days, and then you shall lie on your right side a second time, and you shall thereby bear the iniquity of the house of Judah: Forty days, each day for a year, I have given it to you. The commentaries offer varying explanations for the accounting of the years of iniquities for both Israel and Judah.

ואֶל מְצוֹר יְרוּשָׁלִַם תָּכִין פָּנֶיךָ וּזְרֹעֲךָ חֲשׂוּפָה וְנִבֵּאתָ עָלֶיהָ

Throughout this period, which will last more than a year, while you are lying on your side, you shall set your face toward the model of the siege of Jerusalem, your arm shall be bared, as though ready for heroic action, and then you shall prophesy in its regard, the model of Jerusalem.

וְהִנֵּה נָתַתִּי עָלֶיךָ עֲבוֹתִים וְלֹא־תֵהָפֵךְ מִצִּדְּךָ אֶל־צִדֶּךָ עַד־כַּלּוֹתְךָ יְמֵי מְצוּרֶיךָ

Behold, I have placed ropes upon you, as it were, and you shall not turn from your one side to your other side until your completion of the days of your siege. You will be forcibly bound by My hand, unable to move. Ezekiel will be placed in an onerous situation, as though invisible chains restrain him in one position, while he addresses the model city that he constructed for himself.

וְאַתָּה קַח־לְךָ חִטִּין וּשְׂעֹרִים וּפוֹל וַעֲדָשִׁים וְדֹחַן וְכֻסְּמִים וְנָתַתָּה אוֹתָם בִּכְלִי אֶחָד וְעָשִׂיתָ אוֹתָם לְךָ לְלָחֶם מִסְפַּר הַיָּמִים אֲשֶׁר־אַתָּה שׁוֹכֵב עַל־צִדְּךָ שְׁלשׁ־מֵאוֹת וְתִשְׁעִים יוֹם תֹּאכְלֶנּוּ

You, take for yourself kernels of wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, each of which can be eaten separately, and put them all into one vessel, and make them, the flour of this mixture, for you into bread, which will certainly have an unpleasant taste. This will be your food, and you shall eat it for the number of days that you are lying on your side, three hundred and ninety days.

וּמַאֲכָלְךָ אֲשֶׁר תּאכְלֶנּוּ בְּמִשְׁקוֹל עֶשְׂרִים שֶׁקֶל לַיּוֹם מֵעֵת עַד־עֵת תֹּאכְלֶנּוּ

Your food that you will eat will be twenty shekels a day by weight, approximately 200 g; you shall eat it from set time until set time, from a certain hour one day until the same hour the following day.

וּמַיִם בִּמְשׂוּרָה תִשְׁתֶּה שִׁשִּׁית הַהִין מֵעֵת עַד־עֵת תִּשְׁתֶּה

You shall drink water by measure, one-sixth of a hin, approximately 0.7 L according to the most accepted measure. You shall drink from set time until set time.

וְעֻגַת שְׂעֹרִים תֹּאכְלֶנָּה וְהִיא בְּגֶלְלֵי צֵאַת הָאָדָם תְּעֻגֶנָה לְעֵינֵיהֶם

You shall eat it, the bread I am commanding you to bake, as a barley cake, a crudely made wafer from coarse grain, and with turds of human excrement you shall bake it. The dried human excrement shall serve as fuel for the fire when you bake this bread before their eyes, before those people who come to visit you.

וַיּׂאמֶר ה' כָּכָה יֹאכְלוּ בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת־לַחְמָם טָמֵא בַּגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר אַדִּיחֵם שָׁם

The Lord said: So shall the children of Israel eat their bread, which will be repulsive and impure, among the nations where I will banish them. Your actions represent the people of Israel in exile.

וָאֹמַר אֲהָהּ ה' אֱלוֹהִים הִנֵּה נַפְשִׁי לֹא מְטֻמָּאָה וּנְבֵלָה וּטְרֵפָה לֹא־אָכַלְתִּי מִנְּעוּרַי וְעַד־עַתָּה וְלֹא־בָא בְּפִי בְּשַׂר פִּגּוּל

I said: Alas, Lord God, behold, my soul has not been defiled, an unslaughtered carcass or a mauled animal I have not eaten from my youth until now, and foul flesh has not come into my mouth. Ezekiel said: All my life I have eaten only pure and clean food. How can I consume this bread that You are commanding me to prepare?

וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי רְאֵה נָתַתִּי לְךָ אֶת־צְפִיעֵי הַבָּקָר תַּחַת גֶּלְלֵי הָאָדָם וְעָשִׂיתָ אֶת־לַחְמְךָ עֲלֵיהֶם

He said to me: I will ease matters for you. See, I have given you cattle dung instead of the far more malodorous human turds, and you shall prepare your bread upon it. You shall ignite the fire with cow dung, which is sometimes used as a fuel. Even today, cow dung is used for heating in some societies.

וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי בֶּן־אָדָם הִנְנִי שֹׁבֵר מַטֵּה לֶחֶם בִּירוּשָׁלִַם וְאָכְלוּ־לֶחֶם בְּמִשְׁקָל וּבִדְאָגָה וּמַיִם בִּמְשׂוּרָה וּבְשִׁמָּמוֹן יִשְׁתּוּ

God now conveys to Ezekiel a prophecy: He said to me: Son of man, behold, I am breaking the staff of bread in Jerusalem; they will eat bread by weight and with anxiety, due to a great shortage, and they will drink water by measure and in desolation.

לְמַעַן יַחְסְרוּ לֶחֶם וָמָיִם וְנָשַׁמּוּ אִישׁ וְאָחִיו וְנָמַקּוּ בַּעֲוֹנָם

All this will occur as they will lack bread and water, and they will be confounded one with another, and they will molder, they will be eliminated, in their iniquity. Everything that you shall do in the near future will symbolize both the weight of their accumulated iniquities and the retribution to be visited upon Jerusalem. The famine and shortage that the city will suffer will last so long that any remaining food will be prepared and eaten in the crudest possible manner.