The Message Bible MSG
New Living Translation NLT
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 now, son of man, take a large clay brick and set it down in front of you. Then draw a map of the city of Jerusalem on it.
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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Show the city under siege. Build a wall around it so no one can escape. Set up the enemy camp, and surround the city with siege ramps and battering rams.
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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Then take an iron griddle and place it between you and the city. Turn toward the city and demonstrate how harsh the siege will be against Jerusalem. This will be a warning to the people 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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“Now lie on your left side and place the sins of Israel on yourself. You are to bear their sins for the number of days you lie there on your side.
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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I am requiring you to bear Israel’s sins for 390 days—one day for each year of their sin.
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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After that, turn over and lie on your right side for 40 days—one day for each year of Judah’s sin.
7 Look straight at the siege of Jerusalem. Roll up your sleeve, shake your bare arm, and preach against her.
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“Meanwhile, keep staring at the siege of Jerusalem. Lie there with your arm bared and prophesy her destruction.
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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I will tie you up with ropes so you won’t be able to turn from side to side until the days of your siege have been completed.
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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“Now go and get some wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and emmer wheat, and mix them together in a storage jar. Use them to make bread for yourself during the 390 days you will be lying on your side.
10 Measure out about half a pound for each day and eat it on schedule.
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Ration this out to yourself, eight ounces of food for each day, and eat it at set times.
11 Also measure out your daily ration of about a pint of water and drink it on schedule.
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Then measure out a jar of water for each day, and drink it at set times.
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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Prepare and eat this food as you would barley cakes. While all the people are watching, bake it over a fire using dried human dung as fuel and then eat the bread.”
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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Then the LORD said, “This is how Israel will eat defiled bread in the Gentile lands to which I will banish 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, “O Sovereign LORD, must I be defiled by using human dung? For I have never been defiled before. From the time I was a child until now I have never eaten any animal that died of sickness or was killed by other animals. I have never eaten any meat forbidden by the law.”
15 "All right," he said. "I'll let you bake your bread over cow dung instead of human dung."
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“All right,” the LORD said. “You may bake your bread with cow dung instead of human dung.”
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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Then he told me, “Son of man, I will make food very scarce in Jerusalem. It will be weighed out with great care and eaten fearfully. The water will be rationed out drop by drop, and the people will drink it with 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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Lacking food and water, people will look at one another in terror, and they will waste away under 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.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.