Ezekiel 4:15

15 “Look,” He replied, “I will let you use cow dung instead of human excrement, and you may bake your bread over that.”

Ezekiel 4:15 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 4:15

Then he said to me
The Lord hearkened to the prophet's prayer and argument, and makes some abatement and alteration in the charge he gave him: lo, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung:
that is, allowed him to make use of the one instead of the other, in baking his mingled bread: thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith;
having gathered cow's dung, and dried it, he was to burn it, and bake his bread with it, which is meant by preparing it. In some parts of our nation, where fuel is scarce, cow's dung is made use of; it is gathered and plastered on the walls of houses, and, being dried in clots, is taken and burnt.

Ezekiel 4:15 In-Context

13 Then the LORD said, “This is how the Israelites will eat their defiled bread among the nations to which I will banish them.”

14 “Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have not eaten anything found dead or mauled by wild beasts. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth.”

15 “Look,” He replied, “I will let you use cow dung instead of human excrement, and you may bake your bread over that.”

16 Then He told me, “Son of man, I am going to cut off the supply of food in Jerusalem. They will anxiously eat bread rationed by weight, and in despair they will drink water by measure.

17 So they will lack food and water; they will be appalled at the sight of one another wasting away in their iniquity.