Ezekiel 4

Listen to Ezekiel 4

The Siege of Jerusalem Symbolized

1 "And you, 1son of man, 2take a brick and lay it before you, and engrave on it a city, even Jerusalem.
2 3And put siegeworks against it, 4and build a siege wall against it, 5and cast up a mound against it. Set camps also against it, 6and plant battering rams against it all around.
3 And you, take an iron griddle, and place it as an iron wall between you and the city; 7and set your face toward it, 8and let it be in a state of siege, and press the siege against it. This is 9a sign for the house of Israel.
4 "Then lie on your left side, and place the punishment[a] of the house of Israel upon it. For the number of the days that you lie on it, 10you shall bear their punishment.
5 For I assign to you a number of days, days, 11equal to the number of the years of their punishment. 12So long shall you bear 13the punishment of the house of Israel.
6 And when you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and 14bear 15the punishment of the house of Judah. 16Forty days I assign you, a day for each year.
7 17And you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, 18with your arm bared, and you shall prophesy against the city.
8 And behold, 19I will place cords upon you, so that you cannot turn from one side to the other, till you have completed 20the days of your siege.
9 "And you, take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and emmer,[b] and put them into a single vessel and make your 21bread from them. 22During the number of days that you lie on your side, days, you shall eat it.
10 And your food that you eat shall be 23by weight, 24twenty shekels[c] a day; from day to day[d] you shall eat it.
11 And water you shall drink 25by measure, the sixth part of a hin;[e] from day to day you shall drink.
12 And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it 26in their sight on human dung."
13 And the LORD said, "Thus shall the people of Israel eat 27their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them."
14 Then I said, 28"Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I have never defiled myself.[f]29From my youth up till now I have never eaten 30what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has 31tainted meat come into my mouth."
15 Then he said to me, "See, I assign to you cow's dung instead of human dung, on which you may prepare your bread."
16 Moreover, he said to me, 32"Son of man, behold, 33I will break the supply[g] of bread in Jerusalem. They shall eat bread 34by weight and with anxiety, and they shall drink water 35by measure and in dismay.
17 I will do this that they may lack bread and water, and 36look at one another in dismay, and 37rot away because of their punishment.

Cross References 39

  • 1. See Ezekiel 2:1
  • 2. [ver. 3; Jeremiah 13:1, 2]
  • 3. [2 Kings 25:1]
  • 4. Ezekiel 17:17; Ezekiel 21:22; Ezekiel 26:8
  • 5. Luke 19:43
  • 6. Ezekiel 21:22; Ezekiel 26:9
  • 7. See Ezekiel 21:2
  • 8. [Isaiah 29:3]
  • 9. Ezekiel 12:6, 11; Ezekiel 24:24, 27; [Isaiah 8:18; Isaiah 20:3]
  • 10. Ezekiel 44:10, 12; [Leviticus 16:22; Isaiah 53:11, 12]
  • 11. ver. 9
  • 12. [Numbers 14:34]
  • 13. [See ver. 4 above]
  • 14. [Ezekiel 23:4, 9, 10]
  • 15. Ezekiel 44:10, 12; [Leviticus 16:22; Isaiah 53:11, 12]
  • 16. [Ezekiel 23:11, 12]
  • 17. [Numbers 14:34]
  • 18. See Ezekiel 21:2
  • 19. Isaiah 52:10
  • 20. Ezekiel 3:25
  • 21. [ver. 9; Ezekiel 5:2]; See 2 Kings 25:1-3; Jeremiah 39:1, 2; Jeremiah 52:4-6
  • 22. [1 Kings 22:27]
  • 23. See ver. 8
  • 24. ver. 5
  • 25. Ezekiel 12:19; [Jeremiah 37:21]
  • 26. Ezekiel 45:12
  • 27. [See ver. 10 above]
  • 28. See Ezekiel 12:3
  • 29. Hosea 9:3; [Daniel 1:8]
  • 30. Ezekiel 9:8; Ezekiel 11:13; Ezekiel 20:49
  • 31. [Acts 10:14]
  • 32. Ezekiel 44:31; [Leviticus 7:24]
  • 33. Isaiah 65:4; [Leviticus 7:18]
  • 34. See Ezekiel 2:1
  • 35. Ezekiel 5:16; Ezekiel 14:13; Leviticus 26:26
  • 36. [See ver. 10 above]
  • 37. [See ver. 10 above]
  • 38. See Ezekiel 3:15
  • 39. Ezekiel 24:23; Ezekiel 33:10; Leviticus 26:39

Footnotes 7

  • [a]. Or iniquity; also verses 5, 6, 17
  • [b]. A type of wheat
  • [c]. A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams
  • [d]. Or at a set time daily; also verse 11
  • [e]. A hin was about 4 quarts or 3.5 liters
  • [f]. Hebrew my soul (or throat) has never been made unclean
  • [g]. Hebrew staff

Ezekiel 4 Commentaries

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.