Family Forum / Pregnancy / Breastfeeding / July 2009

Chapter 4

1 Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and
portray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:
2 And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a
mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams
against it round about.
3 Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of
iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it
shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be
a sign to the house of Israel.
4 Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house
of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt
lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.
5 For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to
the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou
bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
6 And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side,
and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I
have appointed thee each day for a year.
7 Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and
thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.
8 And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn
thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy
siege.
9 Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils,
and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee
bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie
upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.
10 And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty
shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.
11 Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin:
from time to time shalt thou drink.
12 And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with
dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.
13 And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their
defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them.
14 Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul hath not been polluted:
for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which
dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable
flesh into my mouth.
15 Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow's dung for man's
dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.
16 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the
staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and
with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with
astonishment:
17 That they may want bread and water, and be astonished one with
another, and consume away for their iniquity.

Chapter 5

1 And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber's
razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then
take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair.
2 Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city,
when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third
part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt
scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.
3 Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy
skirts.
4 Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire,
and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into
all the house of Israel.
5 Thus saith the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the
midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.
6 And she hath changed my judgments into wickedness more than the
nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are round about
her: for they have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not
walked in them.
7 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye multiplied more than
the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in my
statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have done according
to the judgments of the nations that are round about you;
8 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, am against
thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of
the nations.
9 And I will do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I
will not do any more the like, because of all thine abominations.
10 Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and
the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in
thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds.
11 Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD; Surely, because thou hast
defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all
thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; neither shall
mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity.
12 A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine
shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall
fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part
into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.
13 Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to
rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I
the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury
in them.
14 Moreover I will make thee waste, and a reproach among the nations
that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by.
15 So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an
astonishment unto the nations that are round about thee, when I shall
execute judgments in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes.
I the LORD have spoken it.
16 When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall
be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I
will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:
17 So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall
bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I
will bring the sword upon thee. I the LORD have spoken it.