Following the symbolic bearing of the Ten Tribes' sins, the prophetic display transitions into its second phase, shifting the heavy focus onto the specific wrongdoings of the Kingdom of Judah. Having completed the designated time lying on his left side [מצודת ציון, ביאור שטיינזלץ], the prophet is instructed to perform a consecutive action and lie on his right side [מצודת דוד].
Commentators offer two primary explanations for why the right side specifically represents the Kingdom of Judah. The geographic approach notes that Judah's territory was located in the southern part of the land of Israel. In biblical orientation, the south is referred to as the right, contrasting with Samaria in the north, which represents the left [רש״י, מצודת דוד]. A conceptual approach suggests that the right side symbolizes God's active providence. During this era, God revealed His "right hand" by continuously sending prophets day after day to warn the people [מלבי״ם].
By lying in this manner, the prophet bears the iniquity of the people. The physical pain of his posture serves as a form of atonement, intended to save the nation from complete destruction [מצודת דוד]. In His mercy, God lightened this burden by establishing a formula where one day represents an entire year. Thus, each day the prophet endures this suffering achieves atonement for a full year of the nation's sins [מלבי״ם, מצודת דוד].
The forty days of the prophet's suffering correspond to forty years of sin, though commentators differ on exactly when these years occurred. One perspective calculates these years cumulatively across the reigns of several wicked kings, spanning from the exile of the Ten Tribes until the destruction of Jerusalem. This total includes twenty-two years of King Manasseh's sin, two years of Amon, eleven years of Jehoiakim, and the first five years of Zedekiah, during which this very prophecy was delivered [רש״י, מצודת דוד]. This specific period of wrongdoing joins a broader tally of years for which the nation suffered a seventy-year exile, a punishment for failing to observe the Sabbatical and Jubilee years [רש״י].
Other scholars reject this cumulative calculation, arguing instead that the entire forty-year period belongs exclusively to King Manasseh. According to this view, Manasseh sinned for forty consecutive years, and the sheer gravity of his actions sealed the final decree for the land's destruction, regardless of the kings who ruled after him [רד״ק]. A third approach identifies these forty years as the era of Jeremiah's prophecy, beginning in the thirteenth year of King Josiah and ending with the destruction of Jerusalem. Under this interpretation, the unique sin of the people of Judah during this time—which set them apart from the earlier sins of all Israel—was their stubborn deafness to the daily warnings of the prophet, necessitating a separate and distinct atonement [מלבי״ם].