Ezekiel 4:14

14 And I said, A! A! A! Lord God, lo! my soul is not defouled, and from my young childhood till to now I ate not a thing dead by itself, and rent of beasts; and all unclean flesh entered not into my mouth. (And I said, O! O! O! Lord God, lo! my soul is not defiled, and from my young childhood until now I have not eaten anything that died naturally, or was torn apart by beasts; and no unclean flesh hath ever entered into 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 And thou shalt eat it as barley bread baken under the ashes; and with the dung that goeth out of a man thou shalt cover it, before the eyes of them. (And thou shalt eat it like barley bread baked under ashes; and thou shalt cover it with the dung that goeth out of a person, before their eyes.)

13 The Lord saith these things, So the sons of Israel shall eat their bread defouled among heathen men, to whom I shall cast them out. (The Lord saith these things, And so shall the Israelites eat their defiled bread among the heathen, to whom I shall cast them out.)

14 And I said, A! A! A! Lord God, lo! my soul is not defouled, and from my young childhood till to now I ate not a thing dead by itself, and rent of beasts; and all unclean flesh entered not into my mouth. (And I said, O! O! O! Lord God, lo! my soul is not defiled, and from my young childhood until now I have not eaten anything that died naturally, or was torn apart by beasts; and no unclean flesh hath ever entered into my mouth.)

15 And (so) he said to me, Lo! I have given to thee the dung of oxes for men's turds; and thou shalt make (ready) thy bread with it (instead).

16 And he said to me, Son of man, lo! I shall all-break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they shall eat their bread in weight and in busyness, and they shall drink water in measure and in anguish; (And he said to me, Son of man, lo! I shall all-break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they shall eat their bread by weight and in busyness, or in distress, or in dis-ease, and they shall drink water by measure and in anguish;)