Ezekiel 4
Living Bible
4 1-2 “And now, son of dust, take a large brick and lay it before you and draw a map of the city of Jerusalem on it. Draw a picture of siege mounds being built against the city, put enemy camps around it and battering rams surrounding the walls. 3 And put an iron plate between you and the city, like a wall of iron. Demonstrate how an enemy army will capture Jerusalem!
“There is special meaning in each detail of what I have told you to do. For it is a warning to the people of Israel.
4-5 “Now lie on your left side for 390 days,[a] to show that Israel will be punished for 390 years by captivity and doom. Each day you lie there represents a year of punishment ahead for Israel. 6 Afterwards, turn over and lie on your right side for forty days, to signify the years of Judah’s punishment. Each day will represent one year.
7 “Meanwhile continue your demonstration of the siege of Jerusalem; lie there with your arm bared to signify great strength and power in the attack against her.[b] This will prophesy her doom. 8 And I will paralyze you[c] so that you can’t turn over from one side to the other until you have completed all the days of your siege.
9 “During the first 390 days eat bread made of flour mixed from wheat, barley, beans, lentils, and spelt. Mix the various kinds of flour together in a jar. 10 You are to ration this out to yourself at the rate of eight ounces at a time, one meal a day. 11 And use one quart of water a day; don’t use more than that. 12 Each day take flour from the barrel and prepare it as you would barley cakes. While all the people are watching, bake it over a fire, using dried human dung as fuel, and eat it. 13 For the Lord declares, Israel shall eat defiled bread in the Gentile lands to which I exile them!”
14 Then I said, “O Lord God, must I be defiled by using dung? For I have never been defiled before in all my life. From the time I was a child until now I have never eaten any animal that died of sickness or that I found injured or dead; and I have never eaten any of the kinds of animals our law forbids.”[d]
15 Then the Lord said, “All right, you may use cow dung instead of human dung.”
16 Then he told me, “Son of dust, bread will be tightly rationed in Jerusalem. It will be weighed out with great care and eaten fearfully. And the water will be portioned out in driblets, and the people will drink it with dismay. 17 I will cause the people to lack both bread and water; they will look at one another in frantic terror and waste away beneath their punishment.
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 4:4 390 days. Some versions read, “190 days.”
- Ezekiel 4:7 to signify great strength and power in the attack against her, implied.
- Ezekiel 4:8 paralyze you, literally, “lay bands upon you.”
- Ezekiel 4:14 the kinds of animals our law forbids, see Leviticus 11 for the dietary laws Ezekiel refers to here.
Ezekiel 4
English Standard Version
The Siege of Jerusalem Symbolized
4 “And you, (A)son of man, (B)take a brick and lay it before you, and engrave on it a city, even Jerusalem. 2 (C)And put siegeworks against it, (D)and build a siege wall against it, (E)and cast up a mound against it. Set camps also against it, (F)and plant battering rams against it all around. 3 And you, take an iron griddle, and place it as an iron wall between you and the city; (G)and set your face toward it, (H)and let it be in a state of siege, and press the siege against it. This is (I)a sign for the house of Israel.
4 “Then lie on your left side, and place the punishment[a] of the house of Israel upon it. For the number of the days that you lie on it, (J)you shall bear their punishment. 5 For I assign to you a number of days, (K)390 days, (L)equal to the number of the years of their punishment. (M)So long shall you bear (N)the punishment of the house of Israel. 6 And when you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and (O)bear (P)the punishment of the house of Judah. (Q)Forty days I assign you, a day for each year. 7 (R)And you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, (S)with your arm bared, and you shall prophesy against the city. 8 And behold, (T)I will place cords upon you, so that you cannot turn from one side to the other, till you have completed (U)the days of your siege.
9 “And you, take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and emmer,[b] and put them into a single vessel and make your (V)bread from them. (W)During the number of days that you lie on your side, (X)390 days, you shall eat it. 10 And your food that you eat shall be (Y)by weight, (Z)twenty shekels[c] a day; from day to day[d] you shall eat it. 11 And water you shall drink (AA)by measure, the sixth part of a hin;[e] from day to day you shall drink. 12 And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it (AB)in their sight on human dung.” 13 And the Lord said, “Thus shall the people of Israel eat (AC)their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them.” 14 Then I said, (AD)“Ah, Lord God! Behold, I have never defiled myself.[f] (AE)From my youth up till now I have never eaten (AF)what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has (AG)tainted meat come into my mouth.” 15 Then he said to me, “See, I assign to you cow's dung instead of human dung, on which you may prepare your bread.” 16 Moreover, he said to me, (AH)“Son of man, behold, (AI)I will break the supply[g] of bread in Jerusalem. They shall eat bread (AJ)by weight and with anxiety, and they shall drink water (AK)by measure and in dismay. 17 I will do this that they may lack bread and water, and (AL)look at one another in dismay, and (AM)rot away because of their punishment.
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 4:4 Or iniquity; also verses 5, 6, 17
- Ezekiel 4:9 A type of wheat
- Ezekiel 4:10 A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams
- Ezekiel 4:10 Or at a set time daily; also verse 11
- Ezekiel 4:11 A hin was about 4 quarts or 3.5 liters
- Ezekiel 4:14 Hebrew my soul (or throat) has never been made unclean
- Ezekiel 4:16 Hebrew staff
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
