New Century Version NCV
Good News Translation GNT
1 "Now, human, get yourself a brick, put it in front of you, and draw a map of Jerusalem on it.
1
God said, "Mortal man, get a brick, put it in front of you, and scratch lines on it to represent the city of Jerusalem.
2 Then surround it with an army. Build battle works against the city and a dirt road to the top of the city walls. Set up camps around it, and put heavy logs in place to break down the walls.
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Then, to represent a siege, put trenches, earthworks, camps, and battering rams all around it.
3 Then get yourself an iron plate and set it up like an iron wall between you and the city. Turn your face toward the city as if to attack it and then attack. This is a sign to Israel.
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Take an iron pan and set it up like a wall between you and the city. Face the city. It is under siege, and you are the one besieging it. This will be a sign to the nation of Israel.
4 "Then lie down on your left side, and take the guilt of Israel on yourself. Their guilt will be on you for the number of days you lie on your left side.
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"Then lie down on your left side, and I will place on you the guilt of the nation of Israel. For 390 days you will stay there and suffer because of their guilt. I have sentenced you to one day for each year their punishment will last.
5 I have given you the same number of days as the years of the people's sin. So you will have the guilt of Israel's sin on you for three hundred ninety days.
6 "After you have finished these three hundred ninety days, lie down a second time, on your right side. You will then have the guilt of Judah on you. I will give it to you for forty days, a day for each year of their sin.
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When you finish that, turn over on your right side and suffer for the guilt of Judah for forty days - one day for each year of their punishment.
7 Then you will look toward Jerusalem, which is being attacked. With your arm bare, you will prophesy against Jerusalem.
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"Fix your eyes on the siege of Jerusalem. Shake your fist at the city and prophesy against it.
8 I will put ropes on you so you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have finished the days of your attack on Jerusalem.
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I will tie you up so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until the siege is over.
9 "Take wheat, barley, beans, small peas, and millet seeds, and put them in one bowl, and make them into bread for yourself. You will eat it the three hundred ninety days you lie on your side.
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"Now take some wheat, barley, beans, peas, millet, and spelt. Mix them all together and make bread. That is what you are to eat during the 390 days you are lying on your left side.
10 You will eat eight ounces of food every day at set times.
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You will be allowed eight ounces of bread a day, and it will have to last until the next day.
11 You will drink about two-thirds of a quart of water every day at set times.
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You will also have a limited amount of water to drink, two cups a day.
12 Eat your food as you would eat a barley cake, baking it over human dung where the people can see."
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You are to build a fire out of dried human excrement, bake bread on the fire, and eat it where everyone can see you."
13 Then the Lord said, "In the same way Israel will eat unclean food among the nations where I force them to go."
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The Lord said, "This represents the way the Israelites will have to eat food which the Law forbids, when I scatter them to foreign countries."
14 But I said, "No, Lord God! I have never been made unclean. From the time I was young until now I've never eaten anything that died by itself or was torn by animals. Unclean meat has never entered my mouth."
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But I replied, "No, Sovereign Lord! I have never defiled myself. From childhood on I have never eaten meat from any animal that died a natural death or was killed by wild animals. I have never eaten any food considered unclean."
15 "Very well," he said. "Then I will give you cow's dung instead of human dung to use for your fire to bake your bread."
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So God said, "Very well. I will let you use cow dung instead, and you can bake your bread on that."
16 He also said to me, "Human, I am going to cut off the supply of bread to Jerusalem. They will eat the bread that is measured out to them, and they will worry as they eat. They will drink water that is measured out to them, and they will be in shock as they drink it.
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And he added, "Mortal man, I am going to cut off the supply of bread for Jerusalem. The people there will be distressed and anxious as they measure out the food they eat and the water they drink.
17 This is because bread and water will be hard to find. The people will be shocked at the sight of each other, and they will become weak because of their sin.
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They will run out of bread and water; they will be in despair, and they will waste away because of their sins."
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.