“As for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, ¹  put them in a single container, and make food ²  from them for yourself. For the same number of days that you lie on your side – 390 days ³  – you will eat it.

“You, son of man, mark out two routes for the king of Babylon’s sword to take; both of them will originate in a single land. Make a signpost and put it at the beginning of the road leading to the city.

Her prophets coat their messages with whitewash. ¹  They see false visions and announce lying omens for them, saying, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says,’ when the Lord has not spoken.

That army will pelt them with stones and slash them with their swords; they will kill their sons and daughters and burn their houses. ¹ 

“Son of man, realize that I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you with a jolt, ¹  but you must not mourn or weep or shed tears.

I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within them; ¹  I will remove the hearts of stone from their bodies ²  and I will give them tender hearts, ³ 

tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to take the branch of Joseph which is in the hand of Ephraim and the tribes of Israel associated with him, and I will place them on the stick of Judah, ¹  and make them into one stick – they will be one in my hand.’ ²