A Sign of Jerusalem’s Siege

¹“Now you, son of man, take a brick, place it before you, and draw on it the city of Jerusalem.

²Then lay siege against it: Construct a siege wall, build a ramp to it, set up camps against it, and place battering rams around it on all sides.

³Then take an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between yourself and the city. Turn your face toward it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.

⁴Then lie down on your left side and place the iniquity of the house of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their iniquity for the number of days you lie on your side.

⁵For I have assigned to you 390 days, according to the number of years of their iniquity. So you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

⁶When you have completed these days, lie down again, but on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. I have assigned to you 40 days, a day for each year.

⁷You must turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared, and prophesy against it.

⁸Now behold, I will tie you up with ropes so you cannot turn from side to side until you have finished the days of your siege.

The Defiled Bread

⁹But take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt; put them in a single container and make them into bread for yourself. This is what you are to eat during the 390 days you lie on your side.

¹⁰You are to weigh out twenty shekels of foodto eat each day, and you are to eat it at set times.

¹¹You are also to measure out a sixth of a hin of waterto drink, and you are to drink it at set times.

¹²And you shall eat the food as you would a barley cake, after you bake it over dried human excrement in the sight of the people.”

¹³Then the LORD said, “This is how the Israelites will eat their defiled bread among the nations to which I will banish them.”

¹⁴“Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I have never defiled myself.From my youth until now I have not eaten anything found dead or mauled by wild beasts. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth.”

¹⁵“Look,” He replied, “I will let you use cow dung instead of human excrement, and you may bake your bread over that.”

¹⁶Then He told me, “Son of man, I am going to cut off the supplyof food in Jerusalem. They will anxiously eat bread rationed by weight, and in despair they will drink water by measure.

¹⁷So they will lack food and water; they will be appalled at the sight of one another wasting away in their iniquity.

Israel’s Sin

¹This is what the LORD says:“Where is your mother’s certificate of divorcewith which I sent her away?Or to which of My creditorsdid I sell you?Look, you were sold for your iniquities,and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

²Why was no one there when I arrived?Why did no one answer when I called?Is My hand too short to redeem you?Or do I lack the strength to deliver you?Behold, My rebuke dries up the sea;I turn the rivers into a desert;the fish rot for lack of waterand die of thirst.

³I clothe the heavens in blackand make sackcloth their covering.”

The Servant’s Obedience

⁴The Lord GOD has given Methe tongue of discipleship,to sustain the weary with a word.He awakens Me morning by morning;He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.

⁵The Lord GOD has opened My ears,and I have not been rebellious,nor have I turned back.

⁶I offered My back to those who struck Me,and My cheeks to those who tore out My beard.I did not hide My face from scorn and spittle.

⁷Because the Lord GOD helps Me,I have not been disgraced;therefore I have set My face like flint,and I know that I will not be put to shame.

⁸The One who vindicates Me is near.Who will dare to contend with Me?Let us confront each other!Who has a case against Me?Let him approach Me!

⁹Surely the Lord GOD helps Me.Who is there to condemn Me?See, they will all wear out like a garment;the moths will devour them.

¹⁰Who among you fears the LORDand obeys the voice of His Servant?Who among you walks in darknessand has no light?Let him trust in the name of the LORD;let him lean on his God.

¹¹Behold, all you who kindle a fire,who array yourselves with firebrands,walk in the light of your fireand of the firebrands you have lit!This is what you will receive from My hand:You will lie down in a place of torment.

The Prosperity of the Wicked

¹Righteous are You, O LORD,when I plead before You.Yet about Your judgmentsI wish to contend with You:Why does the way of the wicked prosper?Why do all the faithless live at ease?

²You planted them, and they have taken root.They have grown and produced fruit.You are ever on their lips,but far from their hearts.

³But You know me, O LORD;You see me and test my heart toward You.Drag away the wicked like sheep to the slaughterand set them apart for the day of carnage.

⁴How long will the land mournand the grass of every field be withered?Because of the evil of its residents,the animals and birds have been swept away,for the people have said,“He cannot see what our end will be.”

God’s Answer to Jeremiah

⁵“If you have raced with men on footand they have worn you out,how can you compete with horses?If you stumble in a peaceful land,how will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?

⁶Even your brothers—your own father’s household—even they have betrayed you;even they have cried aloud against you.Do not trust them,though they speak well of you.

⁷I have forsaken My house;I have abandoned My inheritance.I have given the beloved of My soulinto the hands of her enemies.

⁸My inheritance has become to Melike a lion in the forest.She has roared against Me;therefore I hate her.

⁹Is not My inheritance to Melike a speckled bird of preywith other birds of preycircling against her?Go, gather all the beasts of the field;bring them to devour her.

¹⁰Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard;they have trampled My plot of ground.They have turned My pleasant fieldinto a desolate wasteland.

¹¹They have made it a desolation;desolate before Me, it mourns.All the land is laid waste,but no man takes it to heart.

¹²Over all the barren heights in the wildernessthe destroyers have come,for the sword of the LORD devoursfrom one end of the earth to the other.No flesh has peace.

¹³They have sown wheat but harvested thorns.They have exhausted themselves to no avail.Bear the shame of your harvestbecause of the fierce anger of the LORD.”

A Message for Israel’s Neighbors

¹⁴This is what the LORD says: “As for all My evil neighbors who attack the inheritance that I bequeathed to My people Israel, I am about to uproot them from their land, and I will uproot the house of Judah from among them.

¹⁵But after I have uprooted them, I will once again have compassion on them and return each one to his inheritance and to his land.

¹⁶And if they will diligently learn the ways of My people and swear by My name, saying, ‘As surely as the LORD lives’—just as they once taught My people to swear by Baal—then they will be established among My people.

¹⁷But if they will not obey, then I will uproot that nation; I will uproot it and destroy it, declares the LORD.”

Vindicate Me, O LORD

¹Vindicate me, O LORD!For I have walked with integrity;I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.

²Test me, O LORD, and try me;examine my heartand mind.

³For Your loving devotion is before my eyes,and I have walked in Your truth.

⁴I do not sit with deceitful men,nor keep company with hypocrites.

⁵I hate the mob of evildoers,and refuse to sit with the wicked.

⁶I wash my hands in innocencethat I may go about Your altar, O LORD,

⁷to raise my voice in thanksgivingand declare all Your wonderful works.

⁸O LORD, I love the house where You dwell,the place where Your glory resides.

⁹Do not take my soul away with sinners,or my life with men of bloodshed,

¹⁰in whose hands are wicked schemes,whose right hands are full of bribes.

¹¹But I will walk with integrity;redeem me and be merciful to me.

¹²My feet stand on level ground;in the congregations I will bless the LORD.