Bible Verses About Prophets: Frequently in their actions, &c were made signs to the people

It was at that time that ADONAI, speaking through Yesha'yahu the son of Amotz, said, "Go and unwind the sackcloth from around your waist, and take your sandals off your feet." So he did it, going about unclothed and barefoot.

In time, ADONAI said, "Just as my servant Yesha'yahu has gone about unclothed and barefoot for three years as a sign and portent against Egypt and Ethiopia,

so will the king of Ashur lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, unclothed and barefoot, with their buttocks exposed, to the shame of Egypt.

ADONAI then said, "Go; buy a clay jar from the potter; take some of the people's leaders and some of the leading cohanim;

"Then you are to smash the jar in front of the people who went with you,

and say to them, 'ADONAI-Tzva'ot says that this is how I will break this people and this city, just as one smashes a potter's vessel beyond the possibility of repair. The dead will be buried in Tofet, because there will be no space left for burial [anywhere else].

"ADONAI says this to me: 'Make yourself a yoke of straps and crossbars, and put it on your neck.

Send [similar yokes] to the kings of Edom, of Mo'av, of the people of 'Amon, of Tzor, and of Tzidon by means of the envoys they send to Yerushalayim, and to Tzidkiyahu king of Y'hudah.

"With the men of Y'hudah watching, take some big stones, and set them with mortar in the pavement at the entry to Pharaoh's palace in Tachpanches.

When you finish reading this scroll, tie a rock to it, throw it into the middle of the Euphrates,

"As for you, human being, take a clay slab, lay it down in front of you, and draw on it the city of Yerushalayim.

Show it under siege - build towers against it, raise earthworks against it, set up camps against it, and surround it with battering rams.

Then take an iron griddle and put it in place as a wall of iron between yourself and the city, and fix your gaze on it - the city is under siege, and you are the one besieging it. This will be a sign for the house of Isra'el.

"Next, you are to lie on your left side, and have it bear the guilt of the house of Isra'el - for as many days as you lie on your side, you will bear their guilt.

For I am assigning you one day for each year of their guilt; thus you are to bear the guilt of the house of Isra'el for 390 days.

Then, when you have finished that, you are to lie on your right side and bear the guilt of the house of Y'hudah for forty days, each day corresponding to a year; this is what I am assigning you.

You are to fix your gaze on the siege of Yerushalayim, and, with your arm bared, prophesy against it.

I am tying you down with ropes, and you are not to turn from one side to the other until you have completed the days of your siege.

"Take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet and buckwheat; put them together in one bowl; and make bread from it. For as long as you lie on your side, 390 days, this is what you are to eat.

Each day the food you eat must weigh only three-quarters of a pound; you may eat it from time to time [during the day].

You are also to drink a limited amount of water, two-thirds of a quart; you may drink it from time to time [during the day].

[The bread] you eat is to be baked like barley cakes; you are to bake it before their eyes, using human dung as fuel."

ADONAI said, "This is how the people of Isra'el will eat their food - unclean - in the nations where I am driving them."

"Now you, human being, take a sharp sword; and use it like a barber's razor to shave your head and beard. Then weigh the hair on a balance-scale, and divide it up.

A third of it you are to burn in the city when the days of the siege are over. Take another third, and hit it with your sword all around the city. Scatter the last third to the wind, and I will pursue them with drawn sword.