King James Version
Ezekiel 4
17 verses with commentary
The Siege of Jerusalem Symbolized
Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:</strong> God commands Ezekiel to perform the first of several prophetic sign-acts dramatizing Jerusalem's coming siege. The Hebrew <em>levenah</em> (לְבֵנָה, "tile" or "brick") refers to a clay tablet commonly used in Mesopotamia for writing, maps, and construction plans. Ezekiel...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
IV.
(1) **Take thee a tile.**—The use of tiles for such purposes as that here indicated was common both in Babylonia and in Nineveh. When intended for preservation the writing or drawing was made upon the soft and plastic clay, which was afterwards baked. It is from the remains of great libraries prepared in this way that most of our modern knowledge of Nineveh and Babylon has been derived. It is,...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
37. (Compare Jr 33:22).
**for all that they have done--**namely, all the sins. God will regard His own covenant promise, rather than their merits.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
The deplorable state of the nation is contrasted with its ancient prosperity.
**Verses 1-12** What a change is here! Sin tarnishes the beauty of the most exalted powers and the most excellent gifts; but that gold, tried in the fire, which Christ bestows, never will be taken from us; its outward appearance may be dimmed, but its real value can never be changed. The horrors of the si...
Read full commentary →And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about. battering: chief leaders
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.</strong> Ezekiel's siege dramatization intensifies with military specifics mirroring ancient warfare tactics. "Lay siege" (<em>natan aleiha matzor</em>, נָתַן עָלֶיהָ מָצוֹר) means to establish a blockade preventing food, water, an...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **Lay siege against it.**—It must have seemed at this time unlikely that Jerusalem would soon become the subject of another siege. The only power by whom such a siege could be undertaken was Babylon, Egypt having been so thoroughly defeated as to be for a long time out of the question; and Nebuchadnezzar had now, within a few years, thrice completely conquered Judaea, had carried two of its ki...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**38. tower of Hananeel--**The city shall extend beyond its former bounds (Ne 3:1; 12:39; Zec 14:10).
**gate of ... corner--**(2Ki 14:13; 2Ch 26:9).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
The deplorable state of the nation is contrasted with its ancient prosperity.
**Verses 1-12** What a change is here! Sin tarnishes the beauty of the most exalted powers and the most excellent gifts; but that gold, tried in the fire, which Christ bestows, never will be taken from us; its outward appearance may be dimmed, but its real value can never be changed. The horrors of the si...
Read full commentary →Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel. an: or, a flat plate, or, slice
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.</strong> The iron pan (<em>machavat barzel</em>, מַחֲבַת בַּרְזֶל)—likely a flat griddle used for baking—becomes a prophetic symbol of the impenetrable barr...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **An iron pan.**—The margin gives the sense more accurately, *a flat plate. *It was used for baking cakes (see Leviticus 2:5, marg.). This was to be set for a wall of iron between the prophet (representing the besiegers) and the city, doubtless as symbolical of the strength of the besiegers’ lines, and of the impossibility there would be of an escape from the city by a sally. Their foes should...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**39. measuring-line--**(Eze 40:8; Zec 2:1).
**Gareb--**from a Hebrew root, "to scrape"; Syriac, "leprosy"; the locality outside of the city, to which lepers were removed.
**Goath--**from a root, "to toil," referring to the toilsome ascent there: outside of the city of David, towards the southwest, as Gareb was northwest [Junius].
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
The deplorable state of the nation is contrasted with its ancient prosperity.
**Verses 1-12** What a change is here! Sin tarnishes the beauty of the most exalted powers and the most excellent gifts; but that gold, tried in the fire, which Christ bestows, never will be taken from us; its outward appearance may be dimmed, but its real value can never be changed. The horrors of the si...
Read full commentary →Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.</strong> Ezekiel receives one of Scripture's most demanding prophetic commissions—to physically bear Israel's iniquity through prolonged bodily suffering. The command "lay the iniquity" (<em>samta et-avon</em>...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **Lie thou also upon thy left side.**—Here a fresh feature of this symbolical prophecy begins, while the former siege is still continued (Ezekiel 4:7).
**Lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it.**—The expression, *to bear the iniquity of any one, *is common in Scripture to denote the suffering of the punishment due to sin. (See, among many other passages, Ezekiel 18:19-20; Ezekiel 23:3...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**40. valley of ... dead--**Tophet, where the bodies of malefactors were cast (Is 30:33), south of the city.
**fields ... Kidron--**so 2Ki 23:4. Fields in the suburbs reaching as far as Kidron, east of the city.
**horse gate--**Through it the king's horses were led forth for watering to the brook Kidron (2Ki 11:16; Ne 3:28).
**for ever--**The city shall not only be spacious, but both "holy t...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
The deplorable state of the nation is contrasted with its ancient prosperity.
**Verses 1-12** What a change is here! Sin tarnishes the beauty of the most exalted powers and the most excellent gifts; but that gold, tried in the fire, which Christ bestows, never will be taken from us; its outward appearance may be dimmed, but its real value can never be changed. The horrors of the si...
Read full commentary →For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.</strong> God specifies the duration and meaning of Ezekiel's suffering—390 days representing years of Israel's accumulated guilt. The formula "each day for a year" (<em>yom la-shanah</em>, יוֹם לַשָּׁנָה) appears ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **The years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days.**—Comp. Numbers 14:34. In regard to the number of the years, see Excursus II. at the end of this book.
(6) **The iniquity of the house of Judah forty days.—**This forty days is clearly subsequent and additional to the 390 days, making in all a period of 430 days. (On these numbers see Excursus II. at the end of this book.) The...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
The deplorable state of the nation is contrasted with its ancient prosperity.
**Verses 1-12** What a change is here! Sin tarnishes the beauty of the most exalted powers and the most excellent gifts; but that gold, tried in the fire, which Christ bestows, never will be taken from us; its outward appearance may be dimmed, but its real value can never be changed. The horrors of the si...
Read full commentary →And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year . each: Heb. a day for a year, a day for a year
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.</strong> After bearing Israel's 390 years of iniquity, Ezekiel must lie on his right side for 40 days representing Judah's guilt. The right side may symbolize Judah's southern location or greater privilege as keeper...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 32 Jr 32:1-14. Jeremiah, Imprisoned for His Prophecy against Jerusalem, Buys a Patrimonial Property (His Relative Hanameel's), IN Order to Certify to the Jews Their Future Return from Babylon.
**1. tenth year--**The siege of Jerusalem had already begun, in the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah (Jr 39:1; 2Ki 25:1).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
The deplorable state of the nation is contrasted with its ancient prosperity.
**Verses 1-12** What a change is here! Sin tarnishes the beauty of the most exalted powers and the most excellent gifts; but that gold, tried in the fire, which Christ bestows, never will be taken from us; its outward appearance may be dimmed, but its real value can never be changed. The horrors of the si...
Read full commentary →Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.</strong> This verse intensifies Ezekiel's prophetic drama by adding active prophesying to his passive lying. "Set thy face toward" (<em>el-mitzur Yerushalayim takin panekha</em>) repeats the hostile posture from verse 3, emphasizing God's determined opposit...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **Set thy face **is a common Scriptural expression for any steadfast purpose. (See Leviticus 17:10; Leviticus 20:3; Leviticus 20:5-6; Leviticus 26:17; 2Chronicles 20:3, marg., &c.) It is a particularly favourite phrase with Ezekiel (Ezekiel 15:7; Ezekiel 20:46, &c.). Here this steadfastness of purpose was to be exercised “toward the siege of Jerusalem;” there would be no relenting in this matt...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2. in ... court of ... prison--**that is, in the open space occupied by the guard, from which he was not allowed to depart, but where any of his friends might visit him (Jr 32:12; Jr 38:13, 28). Marvellous obstinacy, that at the time when they were experiencing the truth of Jeremiah's words in the pressure of the siege, they should still keep the prophet in confinement [Calvin]. The circumstance...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
The deplorable state of the nation is contrasted with its ancient prosperity.
**Verses 1-12** What a change is here! Sin tarnishes the beauty of the most exalted powers and the most excellent gifts; but that gold, tried in the fire, which Christ bestows, never will be taken from us; its outward appearance may be dimmed, but its real value can never be changed. The horrors of the si...
Read full commentary →And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege. from one: Heb. from thy side to thy side
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.</strong> God's sovereign control extends even to Ezekiel's bodily movements—divine "bands" or "cords" (<em>avotim</em>, עֲבֹתִים) prevent the prophet from changing position prematurely. Whether literal ropes or supernatural restraint, the binding symbo...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **I will lay bands upon thee.**—See on Ezekiel 3:25. This is a fresh feature of the unrelenting character of the judgment foretold: God’s power should interpose to keep the prophet to his work. Not only pity, but even human weakness and weariness, should be excluded from interfering. The prophet is spoken of as besieging the city, because he is doing so in figure.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
The deplorable state of the nation is contrasted with its ancient prosperity.
**Verses 1-12** What a change is here! Sin tarnishes the beauty of the most exalted powers and the most excellent gifts; but that gold, tried in the fire, which Christ bestows, never will be taken from us; its outward appearance may be dimmed, but its real value can never be changed. The horrors of the si...
Read full commentary →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. fitches: or, spelt
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>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.</strong> The bread recipe symbolizes siege desperation—mixing grains and legumes that should never be combined revea...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(9) **Take thou also unto thee wheat.—**The grains enumerated are of all kinds from the best to the worst, indicating that every sort of food would be sought after in the straitness of the siege. If the mixing of these in one vessel and making bread of them all together was not against the exact letter of the law, it was, at least, a plain violation of its spirit (Leviticus 19:19; Deuteronomy 22:9...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. his eyes shall behold his eyes--**that is, only before reaching Babylon, which he was not to see. Jr 39:6, 7 harmonizes this prophecy (Jr 32:4) with the seemingly opposite prophecy, Eze 12:13, "He shall not see."
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-17** The bread which was Ezekiel's support, was to be made of coarse grain and pulse mixed together, seldom used except in times of urgent scarcity, and of this he was only to take a small quantity. Thus was figured the extremity to which the Jews were to be reduced during the siege and captivity. Ezekiel does not plead, Lord, from my youth I have been brought up delicately, and never u...
Read full commentary →And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.</strong> The rationing becomes precise—twenty shekels weight (approximately 8 ounces or 230 grams) of the mixed grain bread daily, eaten at specific intervals (<em>me'et le-et</em>, מֵעֵת לְעֵת, "from time to time"). This meager portion, about one-third of normal daily intake, e...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) **By weight, twenty shekels a day.**—The weight of the shekel is somewhat differently estimated by different authorities. The best computations fix it at about 220 grains, and this would make the allowance of twenty shekels equal to something less than eleven ounces, scarcely enough to sustain life. “Meat” is here used, as often in Scripture, of any kind of food. The extreme scarcity of food ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**5. visit him--**in a good sense (Jr 27:22); referring to the honor paid Zedekiah at his death and burial (Jr 34:4, 5). Perhaps, too, before his death he was treated by Nebuchadnezzar with some favor.
**though ye fight ... shall not prosper--**(Jr 21:4).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-17** The bread which was Ezekiel's support, was to be made of coarse grain and pulse mixed together, seldom used except in times of urgent scarcity, and of this he was only to take a small quantity. Thus was figured the extremity to which the Jews were to be reduced during the siege and captivity. Ezekiel does not plead, Lord, from my youth I have been brought up delicately, and never u...
Read full commentary →Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.</strong> Water rationing compounds food scarcity—Ezekiel receives one-sixth of a hin (approximately 2/3 quart or 600ml) daily, roughly one-third of normal water intake. The "sixth part of a hin" (<em>shishit ha-hin</em>, שִׁשִּׁית הַהִין) represents severe but not fatal dehydration, causin...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(11) **The sixth part of an hin.**—There is also a difference among the authorities as to the measures of capacity for liquids. These would make the sixth part of an hin from six-tenths to nine-tenths of a pint. This also was to be drunk once a day.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**6. Jeremiah said--**resuming the thread of Jr 32:1, which was interrupted by the parenthesis (Jr 32:2-5).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-17** The bread which was Ezekiel's support, was to be made of coarse grain and pulse mixed together, seldom used except in times of urgent scarcity, and of this he was only to take a small quantity. Thus was figured the extremity to which the Jews were to be reduced during the siege and captivity. Ezekiel does not plead, Lord, from my youth I have been brought up delicately, and never u...
Read full commentary →And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.</strong> This command reaches the sign-act's most shocking and repulsive element—Ezekiel must bake his rationed bread using human excrement as fuel, performing this defilement publicly ("in their sight," <em>le'einehem</em>, לְעֵינֵיהֶם). Normally, dried animal dung served as com...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(12) **As barley cakes.**—These were commonly cooked in the hot ashes, hence the especial defilement caused by the fuel required to be used. Against this the prophet pleads, not merely as revolting in itself, but as ceremonially polluting (Ezekiel 4:14; see Leviticus 5:3; Leviticus 7:21), and a mitigation of the requirement is granted to him (Ezekiel 4:15).
**In their sight**—This is still a part ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**7. son of Shallum thine uncle--**therefore, Jeremiah's first cousin.
**field ... in Anathoth--**a sacerdotal city: and so having one thousand cubits of suburban fields outside the wall attached to it (Nu 35:4, 5). The prohibition to sell these suburban fields (Le 25:34) applied merely to their alienating them from Levites to another tribe; so that this chapter does not contravene that prohibit...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-17** The bread which was Ezekiel's support, was to be made of coarse grain and pulse mixed together, seldom used except in times of urgent scarcity, and of this he was only to take a small quantity. Thus was figured the extremity to which the Jews were to be reduced during the siege and captivity. Ezekiel does not plead, Lord, from my youth I have been brought up delicately, and never u...
Read full commentary →And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them.</strong> God explains the sign-act's meaning—Israel's exile will force them to eat ceremonially defiled food among pagan nations. "Defiled bread" (<em>lachmam tame</em>, לַחְמָם טָמֵא) represents food prepared without observing Levitical purity laws or contaminat...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **Eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles.**—The Mosaic law purposely so hedged the people about with detailed precepts in regard to their food and its preparation, that it was impossible for them to share the food of the Gentiles without contracting ceremonial defilement; and the declared object of this symbolism is to teach that the Israelites should thus be forced to contract defilement...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**8. Then I knew--**Not that Jeremiah previously doubted the reality of the divine communication, but, the effect following it, and the prophet's experimentally knowing it, confirmed his faith and was the seal to the vision. The Roman historian, Florus (2.6), records a similar instance: During the days that Rome was being besieged by Hannibal, the very ground on which he was encamped was put up fo...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-17** The bread which was Ezekiel's support, was to be made of coarse grain and pulse mixed together, seldom used except in times of urgent scarcity, and of this he was only to take a small quantity. Thus was figured the extremity to which the Jews were to be reduced during the siege and captivity. Ezekiel does not plead, Lord, from my youth I have been brought up delicately, and never u...
Read full commentary →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.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>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.</strong> Ezekiel's anguished response reveals deep reverence for the Mosaic law's purity regulations. God had commanded him to cook his bread over human excrement as a sy...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**9. seventeen shekels of silver--**As the shekel was only 2s. 4d.., the whole would be under £2, a rather small sum, even taking into account the fact of the Chaldean occupation of the land, and the uncertainty of the time when it might come to Jeremiah or his heirs. Perhaps the "seven shekels," which in the Hebrew (see Margin) are distinguished from the "ten pieces of silver," were shekels of go...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-17** The bread which was Ezekiel's support, was to be made of coarse grain and pulse mixed together, seldom used except in times of urgent scarcity, and of this he was only to take a small quantity. Thus was figured the extremity to which the Jews were to be reduced during the siege and captivity. Ezekiel does not plead, Lord, from my youth I have been brought up delicately, and never u...
Read full commentary →Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.</strong> In response to Ezekiel's protest (verse 14), God graciously modifies the command, substituting cow dung for human excrement. This divine concession demonstrates God's mercy even within judgment—He accommodates the prophet's scruples while maintaining the sign-act's es...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(15) **Cow’s dung.**—In the scarcity of fuel in the East, cow’s dung and especially camel’s dung, is dried, and becomes the common fuel.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**10. subscribed--**I wrote in the deed, "book of purchase" (Jr 32:12).
**weighed--**coined money was not in early use; hence money was "weighed" (Ge 23:16).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-17** The bread which was Ezekiel's support, was to be made of coarse grain and pulse mixed together, seldom used except in times of urgent scarcity, and of this he was only to take a small quantity. Thus was figured the extremity to which the Jews were to be reduced during the siege and captivity. Ezekiel does not plead, Lord, from my youth I have been brought up delicately, and never u...
Read full commentary →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:
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>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:</strong> God now explicitly interprets the sign-act's meaning for Jerusalem. "Break the staff of bread" (<em>shover matteh-lechem</em>, שֹׁבֵר מַטֵּה־לֶחֶם) is a powerful metaphor—bread a...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(16) **I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem.**—In Ezekiel 4:16-17, the meaning of the foregoing symbolism is declared in plain language. Bread, as the chief article of food is put for all food, the specific for the general. There shall be extreme suffering and distress, as a part of the punishment for their long-continued sins.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
Text Courtesy of ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**11. evidence ... sealed ... open--**Two deeds were drawn up in a contract of sale; the one, the original copy, witnessed and sealed with the public seal; the other not so, but open, and therefore less authoritative, being but a copy. Gataker thinks that the purchaser sealed the one with his own seal; the other he showed to witnesses that they might write their names on the back of it and know th...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-17** The bread which was Ezekiel's support, was to be made of coarse grain and pulse mixed together, seldom used except in times of urgent scarcity, and of this he was only to take a small quantity. Thus was figured the extremity to which the Jews were to be reduced during the siege and captivity. Ezekiel does not plead, Lord, from my youth I have been brought up delicately, and never u...
Read full commentary →That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume away for their iniquity.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume away for their iniquity.</strong> This devastating conclusion explains God's purpose in the famine: experiencing comprehensive lack will expose their iniquity's true consequences. "Want" (<em>yachseru</em>, יַחְסְרוּ) means to lack, be without, or suffer deficiency. "Be astonied one with another" (<em>venashs...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**12. Baruch--**Jeremiah's amanuensis and agent (Jr 36:4, &c.).
**before all--**In sales everything clandestine was avoided; publicity was required. So here, in the court of prison, where Jeremiah was confined, there were soldiers and others, who had free access to him, present (Jr 38:1).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-17** The bread which was Ezekiel's support, was to be made of coarse grain and pulse mixed together, seldom used except in times of urgent scarcity, and of this he was only to take a small quantity. Thus was figured the extremity to which the Jews were to be reduced during the siege and captivity. Ezekiel does not plead, Lord, from my youth I have been brought up delicately, and never u...
Read full commentary →