Ezekiel 4:12

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

Ezekiel 4:12 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 4:12

And thou shalt eat it [as] barley cakes
That is, the bread made of wheat, barley, beans, lentiles, millet, and fitches, was to be made in the form of barley cakes, and to be baked as they; not in an oven, but under ashes; and these ashes not of wood, or straw, or turf, but as follows: and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of men, in their
sight:
the prophet was to take human dung, and dry it, and then cover the cakes or loaves of his mixed bread with it, and burn it over them, and with it bake it; which must be a very disagreeable task to him, and make the food very nauseous, both to himself and to the Jews, in whose sight it was done; and this shows scarcity of fuel, and the severity of the famine; that they had not fuel to bake with, or could not stay till it was baked in an oven, and therefore took this method; as well as points at what they were to eat when carried captive, as follows:

Ezekiel 4:12 In-Context

10 Your food which you shall eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shall you eat it.
11 You shall drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin: from time to time shall you drink.
12 You shall eat it as barley cakes, and you shall bake it in their sight with dung that comes out of man.
13 The LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Yisra'el eat their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them.
14 Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul has not been polluted; for from my youth up even until now have I not eaten of that which dies of itself, or is torn of animals; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.
The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.