Ezekiel 4:10

10 You are to weigh out twenty shekels of food ^[a] to eat each day, and you are to eat it at set times.

Ezekiel 4:10 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 4:10

And thy meat which thou shall eat [shall be] by weight, twenty
shekels a day
To eat bread by weight was a sign of a grievous famine; see ( Leviticus 26:26 ) ; a shekel, according to Josephus ^F9, weighed four Attic drachms, or half an ounce, wherefore twenty shekels weighed ten ounces; so that the bread the prophet had to eat was but ten ounces a day: from time to time shall thou eat it;
at the certain time of eating, or but once a day; from a set time in one day to the same in another; as from morning to morning, or from noon to noon, or from evening to evening; see ( Jeremiah 37:21 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 Antiqu. l. 3. c. 8. sect. 2.

Ezekiel 4:10 In-Context

8 Now behold, I will tie you up with ropes so you cannot turn from side to side until you have finished the days of your siege.

9 But take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt; put them in a single container and make them into bread for yourself. This is what you are to eat during the 390 days you lie on your side.

10 You are to weigh out twenty shekels of food to eat each day, and you are to eat it at set times.

11 You are also to measure out a sixth of a hin of water to drink, and you are to drink it at set times.

12 And you shall eat the food as you would a barley cake, after you bake it over dried human excrement in the sight of the people.”

Footnotes

• [a] 20 shekels is approximately 8 ounces or 228 grams of food.