Read the Modern Pastor’s Version

You, son of man, take a tile and portray on it the city of Jerusalem. Place yourself before it, as if laying siege to the city. Build a fortified wall around it and construct a ramp to breach its defenses. Deploy your camp and battering rams all around it.

Set up an iron pan between you and the city, with your face turned against it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel that the city is under siege. Lie on your left side and bear the guilt of the house of Israel, for as many days as you lie there will correspond to the number of years they will suffer for their iniquity.

I have laid upon you the weight of their iniquity – three hundred ninety days. When you complete this time, turn to your right side and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. You will lie on your right side for forty days, each day corresponding to a year I have appointed. During this time, set your face toward Jerusalem's siege with your arm uncovered, prophesying against it.

You must not move from this position until you complete the days of your siege. Take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel. Use these ingredients to bake bread according to the number of days you will lie on your side – three hundred ninety days. Your food will be measured out to you by weight, twenty shekels per day.

Drink water from a measure of six parts of a hin at a time, regularly sipping it throughout the day. Eat this bread as barley cakes, but bake them with human dung in sight. The Lord has said, "In this way the Israelites will eat their unclean bread among the nations to which I will drive them."

I protested, saying, "Lord God, behold, my soul has not been defiled from my youth up to now. I have never eaten carrion or flesh torn by beasts." The Lord replied, "You will prepare your bread with cow's dung instead of human dung."

The Lord spoke again: "Behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem. They will eat their bread by weight, carefully measuring it out, and drink water from a measure, astonished at one another as they consume away due to their iniquity."