1 “You also, son of man, take a clay tablet and lay it before you, and portray on it a city, Jerusalem.
2aLay siege against it, build a bsiege wall against it, and heap up a mound against it; set camps against it also, and place battering rams against it all around.
3 Moreover take for yourself an iron plate, and set it as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your face against it, and it shall be abesieged, and you shall lay siege against it. bThis willbe a sign to the house of Israel.
4 “Lie also on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it. According to the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity.
5 For I have laid on you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days; aso you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
6 And when you have completed them, lie again on your right side; then you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days. I have laid on you a day for each year.
7 “Therefore you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem; your arm shallbe uncovered, and you shall prophesy against it.
8aAnd surely I will restrain you so that you cannot turn from one side to another till you have ended the days of your siege.
9 “Also take for yourself wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt; put them into one vessel, and make bread of them for yourself. During the number of days that you lie on your side, three hundred and ninety days, you shall eat it.
10 And your food which you eat shallbe by weight, twenty shekels a day; from time to time you shall eat it.
11 You shall also drink water by measure, one-sixth of a hin; from time to time you shall drink.
12 And you shall eat it as barley cakes; and bake it using fuel of human waste in their sight.”
13 Then the Lord said, “So ashall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, where I will drive them.”
14 So I said, a“Ah, Lord God! Indeed I have never defiled myself from my youth till now; I have never eaten bwhat died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has cabominable flesh ever come into my mouth.”
Take thou unto thee an iron pan - machabath , a flat plate or slice, as the margin properly renders it: such as are used in some countries to bake bread on, called a griddle or girdle, being suspended above the fire, and kept in a proper degree of heat for the purpose. A plate like this, stuck perpendicularly in the earth, would show the nature of a wall much better than any pan could do. The Chaldeans threw such a wall round Jerusalem, to prevent the besieged from receiving any succours, and from escaping from the city.
This shall be a sign to the house of Israel - This shall be an emblematical representation of what shall actually take place.
DISCLAIMER: Church of the Great God (CGG) provides these resources to aid the individual in studying the Bible. However, it is up to the individual to "prove all things, and hold fast to that which is good" (I Thessalonians 5:21). The content of these resources does not necessarily reflect the views of CGG. They are provided for information purposes only.
