The Babylonian Exile

`And unto the siege of Jerusalem thou dost prepare thy face, and thine arm is uncovered, and thou hast prophesied concerning it.

And lo, I have put on thee thick bands, and thou dost not turn from side to side till thy completing the days of thy siege.

`And thou, take to thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and spelt, and thou hast put them in one vessel, and made them to thee for bread; the number of the days that thou art lying on thy side--three hundred and ninety days--thou dost eat it.

And thy food that thou dost eat is by weight, twenty shekels daily; from time to time thou dost eat it.

`And water by measure thou dost drink, a sixth part of the hin; from time to time thou dost drink it .

A barley-cake thou dost eat it, and it with dung--the filth of man--thou dost bake before their eyes.

And Jehovah saith, `Thus do the sons of Israel eat their defiled bread among the nations whither I drive them.'

And I say, `Ah, Lord Jehovah, lo, my soul is not defiled, and carcase, and torn thing, I have not eaten from my youth, even till now; nor come into my mouth hath abominable flesh.'

And He saith unto me, `See, I have given to thee bullock's dung instead of man's dung, and thou hast made thy bread by it.'

And He saith unto me, `Son of man, lo, I am breaking the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they have eaten bread by weight and with fear; and water by measure and with astonishment, they do drink;

so that they lack bread and water, and have been astonished one with another, and been consumed in their iniquity.

`And thou, son of man, take to thee a sharp weapon, the barber's razor thou dost take to thee, and thou hast caused it to pass over thy head, and over thy beard, and thou hast taken to thee weighing scales, and apportioned them.

A third part with fire thou dost burn in the midst of the city, at the fulness of the days of the siege; and thou hast taken the third part, thou dost smite with a weapon round about it; and the third part thou dost scatter to the wind, and a weapon I draw out after them.

And thou hast taken thence a few in number--and hast bound them in thy skirts;

and of them thou dost take again, and hast cast them unto the midst of the fire, and hast burned them in the fire--out of it cometh forth a fire unto all the house of Israel.

Thus said the Lord Jehovah: this is Jerusalem, In the midst of the nations I have set her, And round about her are the lands.

And she changeth My judgments into wickedness more than the nations, And My statutes more than the lands that are round about her, For against My judgments they have kicked, And My statutes--they have not walked in them.

Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because of your multiplying above the nations that are around you, In My statutes ye have not walked, And My judgments ye have not done, According to the judgments of the nations That are round about you ye have not done.

Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I am against thee, even I, And I have done in thy midst judgments, Before the eyes of the nations.

And I have done in thee that which I have not done, And that which I do not its like again, Because of all thine abominations.

Therefore fathers do eat sons in thy midst, And sons eat their fathers, And I have done in thee judgments, And have scattered all thy remnant to every wind.

Therefore, I live--an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah: Because My sanctuary thou hast defiled, With all thy detestable things, And with all thine abominations, Mine eye pitieth not, and I also spare not. Do not even I also diminish?

Thy third part--by pestilence they die, And by famine are consumed in thy midst, And the third part, by sword they fall round about thee, And the third part, to every wind I scatter, And a sword I draw out after them.

And completed hath been Mine anger, And I have caused My fury to rest on them, And I have been comforted, And they have known that I, Jehovah, have spoken in My zeal, In My completing My fury on them.

And I give thee for a waste, And for a reproach among nations that are round about thee, Before the eyes of every passer by.