Ezekiel 4:9-17

Ezekiel 4:9-17

[9] Take  thou also unto thee wheat,  and barley,  and beans,  and lentiles,  and millet,  and fitches,  and put  them in one  vessel,  and make  thee bread  thereof, according to the number  of the days  that thou shalt lie  upon thy side,  three  hundred  and ninety  days  shalt thou eat  thereof. [10] And thy meat  which thou shalt eat  shall be by weight,  twenty  shekels  a day:  from time  shalt thou eat  [11] Thou shalt drink  also water  by measure,  the sixth part  of an hin:  from time  shalt thou drink.  [12] And thou shalt eat  it as barley  cakes,  and thou shalt bake  it with dung  that cometh out  of man,  in their sight.  [13] And the LORD  said,  Even thus shall the children  of Israel  eat  their defiled  bread  among the Gentiles,  whither I will drive  [14] Then said  I, Ah  Lord  GOD!  behold, my soul  hath not been polluted:  for from my youth  up even till now have I not eaten  of that which dieth of itself,  or is torn in pieces;  neither came  there abominable  flesh  into my mouth.  [15] Then he said  unto me, Lo,  I have given  thee cow's  dung  for man's  dung,  and thou shalt prepare  thy bread  therewith. [16] Moreover he said  unto me, Son  of man,  behold, I will break  the staff  of bread  in Jerusalem:  and they shall eat  bread  by weight,  and with care;  and they shall drink  water  by measure,  and with astonishment:  [17] That they may want  bread  and water,  and be astonied  one  with another,  and consume away  for their iniquity. 

What does Ezekiel 4:9-17 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

This second dramatization took place while Ezekiel was acting out the first390 days of the siege of Jerusalem with the brick and the plate ( Ezekiel 4:1-8). Whereas the main drama pictured the siege as a judgment from God, this aspect of it stressed the severe conditions that would exist in the city during the siege.