The Siege of Jerusalem Predicted
Ezekiel 4, verse 1. “As for you, son of man, take a brick for yourself and lay it before you. You shall put it before your face and outline the city of Jerusalem on it. Ezekiel 4, verse 2. On this outline you shall draw a wall, build a rampart round about it, put a barricade against it, place armies around it, and arrange it with engines of war all around. Ezekiel 4, verse 3. Then take for yourself a frying-pan made of iron, and set it as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your face against the city, and it shall be in confinement; and you shall shut it up completely. This will be a sign to the children of Israel. Ezekiel 4, verse 4. “You shall sleep on your left side and lay the acts of unrighteousness of the house of Israel upon it. For one hundred and fifty days, for this number of days, you shall sleep on it; for you shall bear their acts of unrighteousness. Ezekiel 4, verse 5. For I have laid on you their two acts of unrighteousness according to the number of the days, one hundred and ninety days. You shall bear the acts of unrighteousness of the house of Israel. Ezekiel 4, verse 6. When you accomplish all this, then you shall sleep on your right side; and you shall bear the acts of unrighteousness of the house of Judah for forty days. I have appointed you a day for each year. Ezekiel 4, verse 7. You shall set your face toward the confinement of Jerusalem; and you shall strengthen your arm and prophesy against it. Ezekiel 4, verse 8. Behold, I have appointed chains for you, and you may turn from one side to the other until the days of your confinement are accomplished. Ezekiel 4, verse 9. “Also take for yourself wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt; put them into one vessel made of earth, and make loaves of bread for yourself. According to the number of days you sleep on your side, one hundred and ninety days, you shall eat them. Ezekiel 4, verse 10. Your food which you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day; from time to time you shall eat them. Ezekiel 4, verse 11. You shall also drink water by measure, one-sixth of a hin, and from time to time you shall drink. Ezekiel 4, verse 12. You shall eat them as a barley cake baked in ashes. You shall bake them in their sight in the filth of human dung. Ezekiel 4, verse 13. Then you shall say, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: So shall the children of Israel eat unclean things among the Gentiles.’” Ezekiel 4, verse 14. So I said, “Not so, O Lord God of Israel. Behold, my soul has not defiled itself with uncleanness, nor from my youth up until now have I eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has day-old meat entered my mouth.” Ezekiel 4, verse 15. Then He said to me, “Behold, I give you cow dung instead of human waste, and you shall prepare your loaves of bread upon it.” Ezekiel 4, verse 16. Then He said to me, “Son of man, behold, I will break the support of bread in Jerusalem, and they shall eat bread by weight and in want and drink water by measure and in a state of ruin, Ezekiel 4, verse 17. so as to become in need of bread and water. A man shall destroy his brother, and they shall waste away in their wrongdoings.