Ezekiel 4:14

14 Then I said, "No, LORD and King! I won't do it! I've never eaten anything that was 'unclean.' From the time I was young until now, I've never eaten anything that was found dead. And I've never eaten anything that was torn apart by wild animals. 'Unclean' meat has never entered my mouth."

Ezekiel 4:14 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 4:14

Then said I, ah, Lord God!
&c.] The interjection "ah" is expressive of sighing and groaning, as Jarchi; or of deprecation, as the Targum, which paraphrases it,

``"and I said", receive my prayer, O Lord God:''
behold, my soul hath not been polluted;
not meaning that his soul had not been polluted with sin, or with an evil thought, as Kimchi interprets it; but by his soul he means the inward part of his body, his stomach and belly; which had not been defiled by taking in meats which were unclean by the law, as follows: for from my youth up, even till now, have I not eaten of that which
dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces;
these were forbidden to be eaten by the law; and such that did were defiled, and obliged to bathing in water, ( Leviticus 17:15 Leviticus 17:16 ) ; and from those the priests more especially were careful to abstain, as Kimchi observes; and such an one was the prophet; see ( Acts 10:14 ) ; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth;
corrupt or, putrefied, or whatsoever was unclean by law, as swine's flesh, or any other. The argument is, that since he had never eaten of anything forbidden by the law of God, he could by no means think of eating that which was abhorrent to nature; as bread baked with men's dung was.

Ezekiel 4:14 In-Context

12 "Eat your food as you would eat a barley cake. Bake it over human waste in front of the people."
13 The LORD said, "That is how the people of Israel will eat 'unclean' food. They will eat it in the nations where I will drive them."
14 Then I said, "No, LORD and King! I won't do it! I've never eaten anything that was 'unclean.' From the time I was young until now, I've never eaten anything that was found dead. And I've never eaten anything that was torn apart by wild animals. 'Unclean' meat has never entered my mouth."
15 "All right," he said. "I will let you bake your bread over waste from cows. You can use that instead of human waste."
16 He continued, "Son of man, I will cut off the food supply in Jerusalem. The people will be worried as they eat their tiny share of food. They will not have any hope as they drink their tiny share of water.
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