Ezekiel 4:6

And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.

Each day for a year - literally, a day for a year, a day for a year. Twice repeated, to mark more distinctly the reference to . The picturing of the future under the image of the past, wherein the meaning was far from lying on the surface, was intended to arouse to a less superficial mode of thinking, just as the partial vailing of truth in Jesus' parables was designed to, stimulate inquiry; also, to remind men that God's dealings in the past are a key to the future, because He moves on the same everlasting principles, the forms alone being transitory.