Ezekiel 4

The Siege of Jerusalem Symbolized

1 "You also, son of man, take a clay tablet and lay it before you, and portray on it a city, Jerusalem. 2 a "Lay siege against it, build a b siege wall against it, and heap up a mound against it; set camps against it also, and place battering rams against it all around. 3 "Moreover take for yourself an iron plate, and set it as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your face against it, and it shall be c besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. d This will be a sign to the house of Israel.

4 "Lie also on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it. According to the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity. 5 "For I have laid on you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days; e so you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. 6 "And when you have completed them, lie again on your right side; then you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days. I have laid on you a day for each year. 7 "Therefore you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem; your arm shall be uncovered, and you shall prophesy against it. 8 f "And surely I will 1 restrain you so that you cannot turn from one side to another till you have ended the days of your siege.

9 "Also take for yourself wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt; put them into one vessel, and make bread of them for yourself. During the number of days that you lie on your side, three hundred and ninety days, you shall eat it. 10 "And your food which you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day; from time to time you shall eat it. 11 "You shall also drink water by measure, one-sixth of a hin; from time to time you shall drink. 12 "And you shall eat it as barley cakes; and bake it using fuel of human waste in their sight." 13 Then the LORD said, "So g shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, where I will drive them." 14 So I said, h "Ah, Lord GOD! Indeed I have never defiled myself from my youth till now; I have never eaten i what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has j abominable 2 flesh ever come into my mouth." 15 Then He said to me, "See, I am giving you cow dung instead of human waste, and you shall prepare your bread over it." 16 Moreover He said to me, "Son of man, surely I will cut off the k supply of bread in Jerusalem; they shall l eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and shall m drink water by measure and with dread, 17 "that they may lack bread and water, and be dismayed with one another, and n waste away because of their iniquity.

  1. Cross References
    Jeremiah 6:6
    For thus has the LORD of hosts said: "Cut down trees, And build a mound against Jerusalem. This is the city to be punished. She is full of oppression in her midst.
    Ezekiel 21:22
    In his right hand is the divination for Jerusalem: to set up battering rams, to call for a slaughter, to lift the voice with shouting, to set battering rams against the gates, to heap up a siege mound, and to build a wall.
  2. Cross References
    2 Kings 25:1
    Now it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around.
  3. Cross References
    Jeremiah 39:1
    In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem, and besieged it.
    Jeremiah 39:2
    In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the city was penetrated.
    Ezekiel 5:2
    You shall burn with fire one-third in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are finished; then you shall take one-third and strike around it with the sword, and one-third you shall scatter in the wind: I will draw out a sword after them.
  4. Cross References
    Ezekiel 12:6
    "In their sight you shall bear them on your shoulders and carry them out at twilight; you shall cover your face, so that you cannot see the ground, for I have made you a sign to the house of Israel."
    Ezekiel 12:11
    "Say, 'I am a sign to you. As I have done, so shall it be done to them; they shall be carried away into captivity.'
    Ezekiel 24:24
    'Thus Ezekiel is a sign to you; according to all that he has done you shall do; and when this comes, you shall know that I am the Lord GOD.'"
    Ezekiel 24:27
    'on that day your mouth will be opened to him who has escaped; you shall speak and no longer be mute. Thus you will be a sign to them, and they shall know that I am the LORD.'"
  5. Cross References
    Numbers 14:34
    According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years, and you shall know My rejection.
  6. Cross References
    Ezekiel 3:25
    And you, O son of man, surely they will put ropes on you and bind you with them, so that you cannot go out among them.
  7. Cross References
    Daniel 1:8
    But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.
    Hosea 9:3
    They shall not dwell in the LORD's land, But Ephraim shall return to Egypt, And shall eat unclean things in Assyria.
  8. Cross References
    Acts 10:14
    But Peter said, "Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.
  9. Cross References
    Exodus 22:31
    And you shall be holy men to Me: you shall not eat meat torn by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.
    Leviticus 17:15
    And every person who eats what died naturally or what was torn by beasts, whether he is a native of your own country or a stranger, he shall both wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. Then he shall be clean.
    Leviticus 22:8
    Whatever dies naturally or is torn by beasts he shall not eat, to defile himself with it: I am the LORD.
    Ezekiel 44:31
    The priests shall not eat anything, bird or beast, that died naturally or was torn by wild beasts.
  10. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 14:3
    You shall not eat any detestable thing.
    Isaiah 65:4
    Who sit among the graves, And spend the night in the tombs; Who eat swine's flesh, And the broth of abominable things is in their vessels.
    Isaiah 66:17
    Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves, To go to the gardens After an idol in the midst, Eating swine's flesh and the abomination and the mouse, Shall be consumed together," says the LORD.
  11. Cross References
    Leviticus 26:26
    When I have cut off your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall bring back your bread by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied.
    Psalms 105:16
    Moreover He called for a famine in the land; He destroyed all the provision of bread.
    Isaiah 3:1
    For behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, Takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah The stock and the store, The whole supply of bread and the whole supply of water.
    Ezekiel 5:16
    When I send against them the terrible arrows of famine which shall be for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, I will increase the famine upon you and cut off your supply of bread.
    Ezekiel 14:13
    Son of man, when a land sins against Me by persistent unfaithfulness, I will stretch out My hand against it; I will cut off its supply of bread, send famine on it, and cut off man and beast from it.
  12. Cross References
    Ezekiel 4:10
    And your food which you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day; from time to time you shall eat it.
    Ezekiel 4:11
    You shall also drink water by measure, one-sixth of a hin; from time to time you shall drink.
    Ezekiel 12:19
    And say to the people of the land, 'Thus says the Lord GOD to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the land of Israel: "They shall eat their bread with anxiety, and drink their water with dread, so that her land may be emptied of all who are in it, because of the violence of all those who dwell in it.
  13. Cross References
    Ezekiel 4:11
    You shall also drink water by measure, one-sixth of a hin; from time to time you shall drink.
  14. Cross References
    Leviticus 26:39
    And those of you who are left shall waste away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; also in their fathers' iniquities, which are with them, they shall waste away.
    Ezekiel 24:23
    Your turbans shall be on your heads and your sandals on your feet; you shall neither mourn nor weep, but you shall pine away in your iniquities and mourn with one another.
New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
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