The Babylonian Exile

And thou shalt turn thy face to the siege of Jerusalem and thy arm shall be stretched out: and thou shalt prophesy against it.

Behold I have encompassed thee with bands: and thou shalt not turn thyself from one side to the other, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.

And take to 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.

And thy meat that thou shalt eat, shall be in weight twenty staters a day: from time to time thou shalt eat it.

And thou shalt drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin: from time to time thou shalt drink it,

And thou shalt eat it as barley bread baked under the ashes: and thou shalt cover it, in their sight, with the dung that cometh out of a man.

And the Lord said: So shall the children of Israel eat their bread all filthy among the nations whither I will cast them out.

And I said: Ah, ah, ah, O Lord God, behold my soul hath not been defiled, and from my infancy even till now, I have not eaten any thing that died of itself, or was torn by beasts, and no unclean flesh hath entered into my mouth.

And he said to me: Behold I have given thee neat's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt make thy bread therewith.

And he said to me: Son of man: Behold, I will break in pieces the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care: and they shall drink water by measure, and in distress.

So that when bread and water fail, every man may fall against his brother, and they may pine away in their iniquities.

And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife that shaveth the hair: and cause it to pass over thy head, and over thy beard: and take thee a balance to weigh in, and divide the hair.

A third part thou shalt burn with fire in the midst of the city, according to the fulfilling of the days of the siege: and thou shalt take a third part, and cut it in pieces with the knife all round about: and the other third part thou shalt scatter in the wind, and I will draw out the sword after them.

And thou shalt take thereof a small number: and shalt bind them in the skirt of thy cloak.

And thou shalt take of them again, and shalt cast them in the midst of the fire, and shalt burn them with fire: and out of it shall come forth a fire into all the house of Israel.

Thus saith the Lord God: This is Jerusalem, I have set her in the midst of the nations, and the countries round about her.

And she hath despised my judgments, so as to be more wicked than the Gentiles; and my commandments, more than the countries that are round about her: for they have cast off my judgments, and have not walked in my commandments.

Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because you have surpassed the Gentiles that are round about you, and have not walked in my commandments, and have not kept my judgments, and have not done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you:

Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold I come against thee, and I myself will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the Gentiles.

And I will do in thee that which I have not done: and the like to which I will do no more, because of all thy abominations.

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 I will scatter thy whole remnant into every wind.

Therefore as I live, saith the Lord God: Because thou hast violated my sanctuary with all thy offences, and with all thy abominations: I will also break thee in pieces, and my eye shall not spare, and I will not have any pity.

A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and shall be consumed with famine in the midst of thee: and a third part of thee shall fall by the sword round about thee: and a third part of thee will I scatter into every wind, and I will draw out a sword after them.

And I will accomplish my fury, and will cause my indignation 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 shall have accomplished my indignation in them.

And I will make thee desolate, and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of every one that passeth by.