Ezekiel 4:12

12 And [as a] bread-cake of barley you shall eat it, and {with human excrement} you shall bake it before their eyes."

Ezekiel 4:12 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 4:12

And thou shalt eat it [as] barley cakes
That is, the bread made of wheat, barley, beans, lentiles, millet, and fitches, was to be made in the form of barley cakes, and to be baked as they; not in an oven, but under ashes; and these ashes not of wood, or straw, or turf, but as follows: and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of men, in their
sight:
the prophet was to take human dung, and dry it, and then cover the cakes or loaves of his mixed bread with it, and burn it over them, and with it bake it; which must be a very disagreeable task to him, and make the food very nauseous, both to himself and to the Jews, in whose sight it was done; and this shows scarcity of fuel, and the severity of the famine; that they had not fuel to bake with, or could not stay till it was baked in an oven, and therefore took this method; as well as points at what they were to eat when carried captive, as follows:

Ezekiel 4:12 In-Context

10 And your food that you will eat [will be] according to weight; twenty shekels for each day {at fixed times} you shall eat it.
11 And {an amount of water} you shall drink, a sixth of a hin; {at fixed times} you shall drink [it].
12 And [as a] bread-cake of barley you shall eat it, and {with human excrement} you shall bake it before their eyes."
13 And Yahweh said, "Thus shall the {Israelites} eat their unclean food among the nations {where I will scatter them}."
14 And I said, "Ah, Lord Yahweh! Look! I have not been defiling myself, and a dead body and mangled carcass I have not eaten from my childhood until now, and {unclean meat} has not come into my mouth!"

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Literally "with human dung of the excrement of the human"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.