Yehezkiel 4:1-10

Ominous Object Lessons

4:1 “And you, son of man, take a brick ¹  and set it in front of you. Inscribe ²  a city on it – Jerusalem. 4:2 Lay siege to it! Build siege works against it. Erect a siege ramp ³  against it! Post soldiers outside it ⁴  and station battering rams around it. 4:3 Then for your part take an iron frying pan ⁵  and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your face toward it. It is to be under siege; you are to besiege it. This is a sign ⁶  for the house of Israel.

4:4 “Also for your part lie on your left side and place the iniquity ⁷  of the house of Israel on it. For the number of days you lie on your side you will bear their iniquity. 4:5 I have determined that the number of the years of their iniquity are to be the number of days ⁸  for you – 390 days. ⁹  So bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. ¹⁰ 

4:6 “When you have completed these days, then lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah 40 days ¹¹  – I have assigned one day for each year. 4:7 You must turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared and prophesy against it. 4:8 Look here, I will tie you up with ropes, so you cannot turn from one side to the other until you complete the days of your siege. ¹² 

4:9 “As for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, ¹³  put them in a single container, and make food ¹⁴  from them for yourself. For the same number of days that you lie on your side – 390 days ¹⁵  – you will eat it. 4:10 The food you eat will be eight ounces ¹⁶  a day by weight; you must eat it at fixed ¹⁷  times.

Yehezkiel 5:1-4

5:1 “As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor. ¹⁸  Shave off some of the hair from your head and your beard. ¹⁹  Then take scales and divide up the hair you cut off. 5:2 Burn a third of it in the fire inside the city when the days of your siege are completed. Take a third and slash it with a sword all around the city. Scatter a third to the wind, and I will unleash a sword behind them. 5:3 But take a few strands of hair ²⁰  from those and tie them in the ends of your garment. ²¹  5:4 Again, take more of them and throw them into the fire, ²²  and burn them up. From there a fire will spread to all the house of Israel.

Yehezkiel 12:1-7

Previewing the Exile

12:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 12:2 “Son of man, you are living in the midst of a rebellious house. ²³  They have eyes to see, but do not see, and ears to hear, but do not hear, ²⁴  because they are a rebellious house.

12:3 “Therefore, son of man, pack up your belongings as if for exile. During the day, while they are watching, pretend to go into exile. Go from where you live to another place. Perhaps they will understand, ²⁵  although they are a rebellious house. 12:4 Bring out your belongings packed for exile during the day while they are watching. And go out at evening, while they are watching, as if for exile. 12:5 While they are watching, dig a hole in the wall and carry your belongings out through it. 12:6 While they are watching, raise your baggage onto your shoulder and carry it out in the dark. ²⁶  You must cover your face so that you cannot see the ground ²⁷  because I have made you an object lesson ²⁸  to the house of Israel.”

12:7 So I did just as I was commanded. I carried out my belongings packed for exile during the day, and at evening I dug myself a hole through the wall with my hands. I went out in the darkness, carrying my baggage ²⁹  on my shoulder while they watched.

[4:1]  ¹ sn Ancient Near Eastern bricks were 10 to 24 inches long and 6 to 13 1/2 inches wide.

[4:1]  ² tn Or perhaps “draw.”

[4:2]  ³ tn Or “a barricade.”

[4:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “set camps against it.”

[4:3]  ⁵ tn Or “a griddle,” that is, some sort of plate for cooking.

[4:3]  ⁶ tn That is, a symbolic object lesson.

[4:4]  ⁷ tn Or “punishment” (also in vv. 5, 6).

[4:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “I have assigned for you that the years of their iniquity be the number of days.” Num 14:33-34 is an example of the reverse, where the days were converted into years, the number of days spying out the land becoming the number of years of the wilderness wanderings.

[4:5]  ⁹ tc The LXX reads “190 days.”

[4:5]  sn The significance of the number 390 is not clear. The best explanation is that “days” are used figuratively for years and the number refers to the years of the sinfulness of Israel during the period of the First Temple. Some understand the number to refer to the length of the division of the northern and southern kingdoms down to the fall of Jerusalem (931-586 b.c.), but this adds up to only 345 years.

[4:5]  ¹⁰ tn Or “When you have carried the iniquity of the house of Israel,” and continuing on to the next verse.

[4:6]  ¹¹ sn The number 40 may refer in general to the period of Judah’s exile using the number of years Israel was punished in the wilderness. In this case, however, one would need to translate, “you will bear the punishment of the house of Judah.”

[4:8]  ¹² sn The action surely refers to a series of daily acts rather than to a continuous period.

[4:9]  ¹³ sn Wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt. All these foods were common in Mesopotamia where Ezekiel was exiled.

[4:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “bread.”

[4:9]  ¹⁵ tc The LXX reads “190 days.”

[4:10]  ¹⁶ sn Eight ounces (Heb “twenty shekels”). The standards for weighing money varied considerably in the ancient Near East, but the generally accepted weight for the shekel is 11.5 grams (0.4 ounce). This makes the weight of grain about 230 grams here (8 ounces).

[4:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “from time to time.”

[5:1]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.

[5:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb, “pass (it) over your head and your beard.”

[5:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “from there a few in number.” The word “strands” has been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:3]  ²¹ sn Objects could be carried in the end of a garment (Hag 2:12).

[5:4]  ²² tn Heb “into the midst of” (so KJV, ASV). This phrase has been left untranslated for stylistic reasons.

[12:2]  ²³ sn The book of Ezekiel frequently refers to the Israelites as a rebellious house (Ezek 2:5, 6, 8; 3:9, 26-27; 12:2-3, 9, 25; 17:12; 24:3).

[12:2]  ²⁴ sn This verse is very similar to Isa 6:9-10.

[12:3]  ²⁵ tn Heb “see.” This plays on the uses of “see” in v. 2. They will see his actions with their eyes and perhaps they will “see” with their mind, that is, understand or grasp the point.

[12:6]  ²⁶ tn Apart from this context the Hebrew term occurs only in Gen 15:17 in reference to the darkness after sunset. It may mean twilight.

[12:6]  ²⁷ tn Or “land” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[12:6]  ²⁸ sn See also Ezek 12:11, 24:24, 27.

[12:7]  ²⁹ tn The words “my baggage” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied from the context.