Chapter 4 – Chapter 6

Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

1 Thou also, son of man! take thee a tile, And put it before thy face, And paint upon it the city Jerusalem:

2 Lay siege against it, and build a tower against it: Cast a mound against it, and set a camp against it: Set battering rams against it all round.

3 Then take an iron pan, and set it for a wall between thee and the city; Strengthen thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, And you shall besiege it. This is a sign to the house of Israel.

4 He you also on thy left; side, and place the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it; According to the number of the days during which you shall he upon it You shall bear their iniquity.

5 For I have appointed unto thee the years of their iniquity, According to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: Thus shall you bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

6 And when you have finished those days, Then again you shall he on thy right side, And you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judea forty days; Each day for a year, as I have appointed thee.

7 Then you shall direct thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, And thine arm shall be uncovered, And you shall not prophesy against it.

8 Lo! I have put cords upon thee, And you shall not turn from side to side Until you have fulfilled the days of thy sieges.

9 Take you also wheat; and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, And put them in one vessel, and make it into bread for time, According to the number of the days on which you shall he on thy side: Three hundred and ninety days shall you eat it.

10 And the food which you shall eat by weight, Shall be twenty shekels a day: from time to time shall you eat it.

11 And water shall thou drink by measure, the sixth part of a hin: From time to time shall you drink it.

12 Then you shall eat barley cake, and shall bake it With human dung before their eyes: And Jehovah said,

13 Even thus shall the children of Israel cat their defiled bread Among the Gentiles wither I have driven them.

14 Then I said, Alas, O Lord Jehovah! Lo! my soul has not been polluted, And from my youth up never have I eaten What died of itself, or was torn to pieces; And abominable flesh has never entered my mouth.

15 Then he said, See! I have given thee The dung of oxen for that of men, And you shall cook thy bread with this.

Note 302. See vol. 1, p. 186, note.

16 Moreover, he said to me, Son of man! Lo! I break the staff of bread in Jerusalem; And they shall eat bread by weight and with fear; And shall drink water by measure and with astonishment,

17 So that bread and water shall fail them, And they shall be astonished one with another, And consume away in their iniquity.

Note 303. See vol. 1, p. 187, note.

Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

1 And you, son of man f take thee a sharp sword, Take thee a barber’s razor, and pass it over thy head and thy beard: Then take thee a just balance and divide the hair.

2 A third part you shall burn in the midst of the city, When the days of the siege are fulfilled; A third part shall you smite about with the sword; And another third shall you scatter to the wind; And I will unsheathe the sword after them.

3 Then you shall take a few of them, And bind them in thy skirts.

4 Then take some of them. and cast them into the fire, And burn them; for thence shall fire go forth Upon all the house of Israel.

5 Then says the Lord Jehovah, This is Jerusalem: In the midst of the nations and of the surrounding countries Have I placed her.

6 And she has changed my judgments into wickedness Beyond all the nations, and my statutes beyond all the surrounding people: They have despised my judgments, And have not walked in my statutes.

7 Therefore, thus says the, Lord Jehovah, Because of your multiplication more than the nations round about you, And your not walking in my statutes, and not keeping my judgments, And your not acting like the nations around you,

8 Wherefore, thus says the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I ant against thee, even I: And I will execute my judgments in the midst of thee Before the eyes of the Gentiles.

9 And I will execute against thee what I never yet have done, Nor will ever do in future, On account of all your abominations.

10 Therefore fathers shall devour their sons, And sons their fathers, in the midst of thee: I will execute judgments against thee, And disperse all thy remnants to all winds of heaven.

11 Because I live, says the Lord Jehovah, Since you has polluted my sanctuary With all thy detestable and abominable things, Therefore I will break thee in pieces: My eye shall not spare, neither will I pity thee.

Note 304. The rendering according to note,vol. 1, p. 205.

12 A third part shall die of the pestilence, And be consumed by famine in the midst of thee; A third part shall be consumed by the sword round about thee; A third part will I disperse towards every wind, And will draw out a sword after them.

13 Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, And I will cause my burning anger to rest upon them; And I will enjoy consolation; and they shall know that I am Jehovah, Who have spoken in my zeal, when I shall have accomplished my fury on them.

14 Moreover, I will lay thee waste, And make thee a reproach among the nations around thee In the eyes of every passer by.

15 So you shall be a reproach and a reviling, A chastisement and an astonishment to the nations round about thee, While I shall execute judgments against thee In anger and burning, and furious rebukes. I Jehovah have spoken it.

16 When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine For their destruction, which I shall dart upon them to destroy them; Then will I add famine against them, And will break their staff of bread.

Note 305. See vol. 1, p. 213, note.

17 Then will I send against you famine and wild beasts, And they shall bereave you: and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; And I will cause the sword to come upon thee. I Jehovah have spoken it.

Note 306. See vol. 1, p. 215, note.

Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

1 The word also of Jehovah came to me, saying,

2 Son of man! set thy face towards the mountain of Israel, And prophesy against them, and say,

3 You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Jehovah: Thus says the Lord Jehovah to the mountains and the inns, To the rivers and the valleys: Behold! I will bring the sword against you, and destroy your high places;

4 And your altars shall be desolate, Your idols shall be broken; And I will cast down your slain before your idols.

5 Then I will place the carcass of the sons of Israel Before your idols; I will scatter them before the idols. I will sprinkle your bones round about your altars.

6 In all your habitations cities shall be desolate, And high places shall be reduced to devastation, That your altars may be wasted and desolated, And your idols may be broken up and abolished, And your images cut. down, and your works blotted out.

Note 307. Explained by Calvin, vol. 1, p. 224, note.

7 Then the slain shall fall in the midst of you, And you shall know that I am Jehovah.

8 Still, I will leave a remnant, that you may have some Who shall escape the sword among the nations, When you shall be scattered through the countries.

9 And the remnant shall remember me among the nations, Among which they shall become captives, Because I am. broken down with their adulterous heart, Which has departed from me, and with their eyes, Which are full of lust after their idols; And they shall loathe themselves for all the evils Which they have committed in all their abominations.

10 Then they shall know that I Jehovah said not in vain, I will cause them to suffer this evil.

Note 308. For Calvin’s sense of “evil,” see vol. 1, p. 232, note.

11 Thus says the Lord Jehovah, Strike with thy hand, and stamp with thy feet, And say, Alas! for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, For they shall fall by the sword, and famine, and pestilence.

12 He who shall be afar off shall die by the pestilence; He who shall be near shall fall by the sword; He who shall remain and be besieged shall die through hunger; And I will fulfill my indignation upon them.

Note 309. For another rendering, see vol. 1, p. 235, note.

13 And you shall know that I am Jehovah, When their wounded shall be among their idols round about their altars, Upon every high hill, in, on all the heads of the mountains, Under every green tree and every thick oak, In the place where they offered the incense of sweet fragrance to all their idols.

14 So I will stretch out my hand upon them, And I will make the land desert and desolate — More than the desert of Diblathah, in all their dwellings; And they shall know that I am Jehovah.