¹ E tu, figliuol d’uomo, prenditi un mattone, mettitelo davanti e disegnavi sopra una città, Gerusalemme;

² cingila d’assedio, costruisci contro di lei una torre, fa’ contro di lei dei bastioni, circondala di vari accampamenti, e disponi contro di lei, d’ogn’intorno, degli arieti.

³ Prenditi poi una piastra di ferro, e collocala come un muro di ferro fra te e la città; vòlta la tua faccia contro di lei; sia ella assediata, e tu cingila d’assedio. Questo sarà un segno per la casa d’Israele.

⁴ Poi sdraiati sul tuo lato sinistro, e metti sul questo lato l’iniquità della casa d’Israele; e per il numero di giorni che starai sdraiato su quel lato, tu porterai la loro iniquità.

⁵ E io ti conterò gli anni della loro iniquità in un numero pari a quello di que’ giorni: trecentonovanta giorni. Tu porterai così l’iniquità della casa d’Israele.

⁶ E quando avrai compiuti que’ giorni, ti sdraierai di nuovo sul tuo lato destro, e porterai l’iniquità della casa di Giuda per quaranta giorni: t’impongo un giorno per ogni anno.

⁷ Tu volgerai la tua faccia e il tuo braccio nudo verso l’assedio di Gerusalemme, e profeterai contro di lei.

⁸ Ed ecco, io ti metterò addosso delle corde, e tu non potrai voltarti da un lato sull’altro, finché tu non abbia compiuti i giorni del tuo assedio.

⁹ Prenditi anche del frumento, dell’orzo, delle fave, delle lenticchie, del miglio, del farro, mettili in un vaso, fattene del pane durante tutto il tempo che starai sdraiato sul tuo lato; ne mangerai per trecentonovanta giorni.

¹⁰ Il cibo che mangerai sarà del peso di venti sicli per giorno; lo mangerai di tempo in tempo.

¹¹ Berrai pure dell’acqua a misura: la sesta parte d’un hin; la berrai di tempo in tempo.

¹² Mangerai delle focacce d’orzo, che cuocerai in loro presenza con escrementi d’uomo".

¹³ E l’Eterno disse: "Così i figliuoli d’Israele mangeranno il loro pane contaminato, fra le nazioni dove io li caccerò".

¹⁴ Allora io dissi: "Ahimè, Signore, Eterno, ecco, l’anima mia non è stata contaminata; dalla mia fanciullezza a ora, non ho mai mangiato carne di bestia morta da sé o sbranata, e non m’è mai entrata in bocca alcuna carne infetta".

¹⁵ Ed egli mi disse: "Guarda io ti do dello sterco bovino, invece d’escrementi d’uomo; sopra quello cuocerai il tuo pane!"

¹⁶ Poi mi disse: "Figliuol d’uomo, io farò mancar del tutto il sostegno del pane a Gerusalemme; essi mangeranno il pane a peso e con angoscia e berranno l’acqua a misura e con costernazione,

¹⁷ perché mancheranno di pane e d’acqua; e saranno costernati tutti quanti, e si struggeranno a motivo della loro iniquità.

¹ He said to me, Son of man, eat that which you find. eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.

² So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat the scroll.

³ He said to me, Son of man, cause your belly to eat, and fill your bowels with this scroll that I give you. Then I ate it; and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.

⁴ He said to me, Son of man, go to the house of Israel, and speak my words to them.

⁵ For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel;

⁶ not to many peoples of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words you can not understand. Surely, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you.

⁷ But the house of Israel will not listen to you; for they will not listen to me: for all the house of Israel are obstinate and hard-hearted.

⁸ Behold, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads.

⁹ As an adamant harder than flint have I made your forehead: don't be afraid of them, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.

¹⁰ Moreover he said to me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears.

¹¹ Go to them of the captivity, to the children of your people, and speak to them, and tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.

¹² Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great rushing, [saying], Blessed be the glory of Yahweh from his place.

¹³ [I heard] the noise of the wings of the living creatures as they touched one another, and the noise of the wheels beside them, even the noise of a great rushing.

¹⁴ So the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away; and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; and the hand of Yahweh was strong on me.

¹⁵ Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel Aviv, that lived by the river Chebar, and to where they lived; and I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days.

¹⁶ It happened at the end of seven days, that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

¹⁷ Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel: therefore hear the word from my mouth, and give them warning from me.

¹⁸ When I tell the wicked, You shall surely die; and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at your hand.

¹⁹ Yet if you warn the wicked, and he doesn't turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.

²⁰ Again, when a righteous man does turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die: because you have not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at your hand.

²¹ Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man, that the righteous not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning; and you have delivered your soul.

²² The hand of Yahweh was there on me; and he said to me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with you.

²³ Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and behold, the glory of Yahweh stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face.

²⁴ Then the Spirit entered into me, and set me on my feet; and he spoke with me, and said to me, Go, shut yourself inside your house.

²⁵ But you, son of man, behold, they shall lay bands on you, and shall bind you with them, and you shall not go out among them:

²⁶ and I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, that you shall be mute, and shall not be to them a reprover; for they are a rebellious house.

²⁷ But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: He who hears, let him hear; and he who forbears, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.