Ezekiel 4:11-17

11 And thou shalt drink water in measure, the sixth part of hin (And thou shalt drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin); from time till to time thou shalt drink it.

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;)

17 that when bread and water fail, each man fall down to his brother, and they fail in their wickednesses. (so that when the bread and water fail, each person shall fall down before their neighbour, and they shall die in their wickednesses.)

Ezekiel 4:11-17 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.