Ezequiel 4:9-17

9 Y tú toma para ti trigo, y cebada, y habas, y lentejas, y mijo, y avena, y ponlo en una vasija, y hazte pan de ello el número de los días que durmieres sobre tu lado: trescientos y noventa días comerás de él.
10 Y la comida que has de comer será por peso de veinte siclos al día: de tiempo á tiempo lo comerás.
11 Y beberás el agua por medida, la sexta parte de un hin: de tiempo á tiempo beberás.
12 Y comerás pan de cebada cocido debajo de la ceniza; y lo cocerás á vista de ellos con los estiércoles que salen del hombre.
13 Y dijo Jehová: Así comerán los hijos de Israel su pan inmundo, entre las gentes á donde los lanzaré yo.
14 Y dije: ¡Ah Señor Jehová! he aquí que mi alma no es inmunda, ni nunca desde mi mocedad hasta este tiempo comí cosa mortecina ni despedazada, ni nunca en mi boca entró carne inmunda.
15 Y respondióme: He aquí te doy estiércoles de bueyes en lugar de los estiércoles de hombre, y dispondrás tu pan con ellos.
16 Díjome luego: Hijo del hombre, he aquí quebrantaré el sostén del pan en Jerusalem, y comerán el pan por peso, y con angustia; y beberán el agua por medida, y con espanto.
17 Porque les faltará el pan y el agua, y se espantarán los unos con los otros, y se consumirán por su maldad.

Ezequiel 4:9-17 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 4

This chapter contains a prophecy of the siege of Jerusalem, and of the famine that attended it. The siege is described by a portrait of the city of Jerusalem on a tile, laid before the prophet, Eze 4:1; by each of the actions, representing a siege of it, as building a fort, casting a mount, and setting a camp and battering rams against it, and an iron pan for a wall, between the prophet, the besieger, and the city, Eze 4:2,3; by his gesture, lying first on his left side for the space of three hundred ninety days, and then on his right side for the space of forty days, pointing at the time when the city should be taken, Eze 4:4-6; and by setting his face to the siege, and uncovering his arm, and prophesying, Eze 4:7; and by bands being laid on him, so that he could not turn from one side to the other, till the siege was ended, Eze 4:8; the famine is signified by bread the prophet was to make of various sorts of grain and seeds, baked with men's dung, and eaten by weight, with water drank by measure, which is applied unto the people; it is suggested that this would be fulfilled by the children of Israel's eating defiled bread among the Gentiles, Eze 4:9-13; but upon the prophet's concern about eating anything forbidden by the law, which he had never done, cow's dung is allowed instead of men's, to prepare the bread with, Eze 4:14,15; and the chapter is concluded with a resolution to bring a severe famine on them, to their great astonishment, and with which they should be consumed for their iniquity, Eze 4:16,17.

The Reina-Valera Antigua (1602) is in the public domain.