The Prophet Ezekiel

⭑ Berean Study Bible :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 4 -

“Now you, son of man, take a brick, place it before you, and draw on it the city of Jerusalem.

Then lay siege against it: Construct a siege wall, build a ramp to it, set up camps against it, and place battering rams around it on all sides.

Then take an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between yourself and the city. Turn your face toward it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.

Then lie down on your left side and place the iniquity of the house of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their iniquity for the number of days you lie on your side.

For I have assigned to you 390 days, according to the number of years of their iniquity. So you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

When you have completed these days, lie down again, but on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. I have assigned to you 40 days, a day for each year.

You must turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared, and prophesy against it.

Now behold, I will tie you up with ropes so you cannot turn from side to side until you have finished the days of your siege.

The Defiled Bread

But take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt; put them in a single container and make them into bread for yourself. This is what you are to eat during the 390 days you lie on your side.

You are to weigh out twenty shekels of food

(a)

to eat each day, and you are to eat it at set times.

You are also to measure out a sixth of a hin of water

(b)

to drink, and you are to drink it at set times.

And you shall eat the food as you would a barley cake, after you bake it over dried human excrement in the sight of the people.”

Then the LORD said, “This is how the Israelites will eat their defiled bread among the nations to which I will banish them.”

“Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I have never defiled myself.(c) From my youth until now I have not eaten anything found dead or mauled by wild beasts. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth.”

“Look,” He replied, “I will let you use cow dung instead of human excrement, and you may bake your bread over that.”

Then He told me, “Son of man, I am going to cut off the supply

(d)

of food in Jerusalem. They will anxiously eat bread rationed by weight, and in despair they will drink water by measure.

So they will lack food and water; they will be appalled at the sight of one another wasting away in their iniquity.

Footnotes

(a)4:10 20 shekels is approximately 8 ounces or 228 grams of food.

(b)4:11 A sixth of a hin is approximately 0.65 quarts or 0.61 liters of water.

(d)4:16 Hebrew staff

“You also, son of man, take a tile, and lay it before yourself, and portray on it a city, even Jerusalem.

Lay siege against it, build forts against it, and cast up a mound against it. Also set camps against it and plant battering rams against it all around.

Take for yourself an iron pan and set it for a wall of iron between you and the city. Then set your face toward it. It will be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.

“Moreover lie on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it. According to the number of the days that you shall lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity.

For I have appointed the years of their iniquity to be to you a number of days, even three hundred ninety days. So you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

“Again, when you have accomplished these, you shall lie on your right side, and shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. I have appointed forty days, each day for a year, to you.

You shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with your arm uncovered; and you shall prophesy against it.

Behold, I put ropes on you, and you shall not turn yourself from one side to the other, until you have accomplished the days of your siege.

The Defiled Bread

“Take for yourself also wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel. Make bread of it. According to the number of the days that you will lie on your side, even three hundred ninety days, you shall eat of it.

Your food which you shall eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels

(a)

a day. From time to time you shall eat it.

You shall drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin.(b) From time to time you shall drink.

You shall eat it as barley cakes, and you shall bake it in their sight with dung that comes out of man.”

The LORD said, “Even thus will the children of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them.”

Then I said, “Ah Lord GOD! Behold, my soul has not been polluted; for from my youth up even until now I have not eaten of that which dies of itself, or is torn of animals. No abominable meat has come into my mouth!”

Then he said to me, “Behold, I have given you cow’s dung for man’s dung, and you shall prepare your bread on it.”

Moreover he said to me, “Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem. They will eat bread by weight, and with fearfulness. They will drink water by measure, and in dismay;

that they may lack bread and water, be dismayed one with another, and pine away in their iniquity.

Footnotes

(a)4:10 A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.35 ounces.

(b)4:11 A hin is about 6.5 liters or 1.7 gallons.