Ezekiel4
New American Standard
1“Now you, son of man, get yourself a brick, place it before you, and inscribe a city on it—Jerusalem.
2Then lay siege against it, build a siege wall, pile up an assault ramp, set up camps, and place battering rams against it all around.
3Then get yourself an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between yourself and the city, and direct your face toward it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.
4“Then you are to lie down on your left side and put the wrongdoing of the house of Israel on it; you shall bear their wrongdoing for the number of days that you lie on it.
5For I have assigned you a number of days corresponding to the years of their wrongdoing, 390 days; so you shall bear the wrongdoing of the house of Israel.
6When you have completed these days, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the wrongdoing of the house of Judah; I have assigned it to you for forty days, a day for each year.
7Then you shall direct your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared, and prophesy against it.
8Now behold, I will put ropes around you so that you cannot turn from your one side to your other until you have completed the days of your siege.
9“But as for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel and make them into bread for yourself; you shall eat it according to the number of the days that you lie on your side, 390 days.
10Your food which you eat shall be twenty shekels a day by weight; you shall eat it from time to time.
11The water you drink shall be a sixth of a hin by measure; you shall drink it from time to time.
12You shall eat it as a barley cake, having baked it in their sight over human dung.”
13Then the Lord said, “In this way the sons of Israel will eat their bread unclean among the nations where I will scatter them.”
14But I said, “Oh, Lord God! Behold, I have never been defiled; for from my youth until now I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by animals, nor has any unclean meat ever entered my mouth!”
15Then He said to me, “See, I will give you cow’s dung in place of human dung, so that you may prepare your bread over it.”
16Moreover, He said to me, “Son of man, behold, I am going to break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they will eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and drink water by measure and in horror,
17because bread and water will be scarce; and they will tremble with one another and waste away in their guilt.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Ezekiel 4.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The siege of Jerusalem. (1-8). The famine the inhabitants would suffer. (9-17).
vv1-8
The prophet was to represent the siege of Jerusalem by signs. He was to lie on his left side for a number of days, supposed to be equal to the years from the establishment of idolatry. All that the prophet sets before the children of his people, about the destruction of Jerusalem, is to show that sin is the provoking cause of the ruin of that once flourishing city.
vv9-17
The bread which was Ezekiel's support, was to be made of coarse grain and pulse mixed together, seldom used except in times of urgent scarcity, and of this he was only to take a small quantity. Thus was figured the extremity to which the Jews were to be reduced during the siege and captivity. Ezekiel does not plead, Lord, from my youth I have been brought up delicately, and never used to any thing like this; but that he had been brought up conscientiously, and never had eaten any thing forbidden by the law. It will be comfortable when we are brought to suffer hardships, if our hearts can witness that we have always been careful to keep even from the appearance of evil. See what woful work sin makes, and acknowledge the righteousness of God herein. Their plenty having been abused to luxury and excess, they were justly punished by famine. When men serve not God with cheerfulness in the abundance of all things, God will make them serve their enemies in the want of all things.
Key Words
אַתָּה: thou and thee, or (plural) ye and you
בֵּן: a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)
אָדָם: ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species, mankind, etc.)
לָקַח: to take (in the widest variety of applications)
לְבֵנָה: a brick (from the whiteness of the clay)
נָתַן: to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etc.)
פָּנִים: the face (as the part that turns); used in a great variety of applications (literally and figuratively); also (with prepositional prefix) as a preposition (before, etc.)
חָקַק: properly, to hack, i.e. engrave (Judges 5:14, to be a scribe simply); by implication, to enact (laws being cut in stone or metal tablets in primitive times) or (gen.) prescribe
עַל: above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applications
עִיר: a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)
Cross References
Ezekiel 4Explicit biblical precedent for the 'each day for a year' prophetic principle.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Ezekiel's symbolic 'bearing of iniquity' prefigures the ultimate sin-bearer, Jesus Christ.
Supported by JFB
Peter's protest against unclean food mirrors Ezekiel's conscientious plea using almost identical language.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Fulfills the Levitical covenant curse of breaking the 'staff of bread' and eating by weight.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
The 'uncovered arm' signifies God baring His holy arm, ready for active judgment.
Supported by JFB
Connects to the earlier divine restriction where 'bands' were figuratively laid on the prophet.
Supported by JFB
Hosea's matching prediction that Israel would eat unclean, defiled food in exile among Gentiles.
Supported by JFB
Calvin highlights that man lives by God's word, not by bread alone, when the staff is broken.
Supported by John Calvin
The actual historical fulfillment of Nebuchadnezzar's building watch-towers and forts against Jerusalem.
Supported by JFB
Law forbidding eating meat torn by beasts, which Ezekiel appeals to as kept from youth.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The legal prohibition against eating anything that dieth of itself, guarding priestly purity.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Levitical law designating stale sacrificial meat as an abomination, which Ezekiel avoided.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The covenant curse of 'consuming away in their iniquity' due to their persistent unfaithfulness.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Demonstrates God's pattern of using prophets to act out symbolic visions and physical parables.
Priestly duty to 'bear the iniquity' of the congregation, aligning with Ezekiel's priestly background.
Poole links Israel's 390 years of apostasy to Jeroboam's establishment of the calf cult.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Repeats the judgment that Jerusalem will eat bread and drink water with astonishment and care.
Parallels the use of 'battering rams' or captains directed against Jerusalem's gates.
Supported by JFB