The Message Bible MSG
English Standard Version ESV
1 "Now, son of man, take a brick and place it before you. Draw a picture of the city Jerusalem on it.
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"And you, son of man, take a brick and lay it before you, and engrave on it a city, even Jerusalem.
2 Then make a model of a military siege against the brick: Build siege walls, construct a ramp, set up army camps, lay in battering rams around it.
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And put siegeworks against it, and build a siege wall against it, and cast up a mound against it. Set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it all around.
3 Then get an iron skillet and place it upright between you and the city - an iron wall. Face the model: The city shall be under siege and you shall be the besieger. This is a sign to the family of Israel.
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And you, take an iron griddle, and place it as an iron wall between you and the city; and set your face toward it, and let it be in a state of siege, and press the siege against it. This is a sign for the house of Israel.
4 "Next lie on your left side and place the sin of the family of Israel on yourself. You will bear their sin for as many days as you lie on your side.
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"Then lie on your left side, and place the punishment of the house of Israel upon it. For the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear their punishment.
5 The number of days you bear their sin will match the number of years of their sin, namely, 390. For 390 days you will bear the sin of the family of Israel.
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For I assign to you a number of days, days, equal to the number of the years of their punishment. So long shall you bear the punishment of the house of Israel.
6 "Then, after you have done this, turn over and lie down on your right side and bear the sin of the family of Judah. Your assignment this time is to lie there for forty days, a day for each year of their sin.
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And when you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the punishment of the house of Judah. Forty days I assign you, a day for each year.
7 Look straight at the siege of Jerusalem. Roll up your sleeve, shake your bare arm, and preach against her.
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And you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with your arm bared, and you shall prophesy against the city.
8 "I will tie you up with ropes, tie you so you can't move or turn over until you have finished the days of the siege.
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And behold, I will place cords upon you, so that you cannot turn from one side to the other, till you have completed the days of your siege.
9 "Next I want you to take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, dried millet and spelt, and mix them in a bowl to make a flat bread. This is your food ration for the 390 days you lie on your side.
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"And you, take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and emmer, and put them into a single vessel and make your bread from them. During the number of days that you lie on your side, days, you shall eat it.
10 Measure out about half a pound for each day and eat it on schedule.
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And your food that you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day; from day to day you shall eat it.
11 Also measure out your daily ration of about a pint of water and drink it on schedule.
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And water you shall drink by measure, the sixth part of a hin; from day to day you shall drink.
12 Eat the bread as you would a muffin. Bake the muffins out in the open where everyone can see you, using dried human dung for fuel."
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And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it in their sight on human dung."
13 God said, "This is what the people of Israel are going to do: Among the pagan nations where I will drive them, they will eat foods that are strictly taboo to a holy people."
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And the LORD said, "Thus shall the people of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them."
14 I said, "God, my Master! Never! I've never contaminated myself with food like that. Since my youth I've never eaten anything forbidden by law, nothing found dead or violated by wild animals. I've never taken a single bite of forbidden food."
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Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I have never defiled myself.From my youth up till now I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has tainted meat come into my mouth."
15 "All right," he said. "I'll let you bake your bread over cow dung instead of human dung."
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Then he said to me, "See, I assign to you cow's dung instead of human dung, on which you may prepare your bread."
16 Then he said to me, "Son of man, I'm going to cut off all food from Jerusalem. The people will live on starvation rations, worrying where the next meal's coming from, scrounging for the next drink of water.
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Moreover, he said to me, "Son of man, behold, I will break the supply of bread in Jerusalem. They shall eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and they shall drink water by measure and in dismay.
17 Famine conditions. People will look at one another, see nothing but skin and bones, and shake their heads. This is what sin does."
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I will do this that they may lack bread and water, and look at one another in dismay, and rot away because of their punishment.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.