Keraia
Ezekiel 4

Ezekiel 4:12

The Defiled Bread · Ezekiel 4:9–17
Read Ezekiel 4

Translations

Modern
And you shall eat the food as you would a barley cake, after you bake it over dried human excrement in the sight of the people.”
Traditional
And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.
Literal
And a cake of barley you shall eat it, and with the dung of the excrement of a human you shall bake it before their eyes.”
Latin
Et quasi subcinericium hordeaceum comedes illud, et stercore quod egreditur de homine operies illud in oculis eorum.

Original

Hebrew
English
And you shall eat the food as you would a barley cake, after you bake it over dried human excrement in the sight of the people.”

Notes

Ezekiel 4:12–13

Cooking with human excrement (human waste) would make the bread ceremonially unclean. This means it would be unfit for worship according to the law of Moses. If Ezekiel ate it, he would become unclean.

This act was a sign of what would happen to the Israelites in exile. In a foreign land, it would be very hard to follow the kosher dietary laws (the food laws God gave to Israel). As a result, they would eat food that was unclean.

Because of this, they would be unclean and separated from the Lord’s cleansing presence (his holy presence that makes people pure).

Ezekiel 4:9–17

The near-starvation diet of eight ounces of food and a jar of water each day represents siege rations. This reflects a desperate situation where there was not enough of any one type of grain to make a whole loaf.

Ezekiel 4:1–7:27

These chapters discuss words and actions that warned of disaster for Jerusalem (Ezekiel 4–5) and the land of Judah (Ezekiel 6–7).

Events

Glossary

Barley Bread Dietary Laws Ezekiel, Book of Food and Food Preparation Prophet, Prophetess Son of Man

Topics

Bread: How Prepared: On Coals of Dung Cakes Instruction by Object Lessons: Eating Bread Mixed with Dung Prayer: Answered: Ezekiel, to Have the Baking of his Bread of Affliction Changed Prophets: Frequently in Their Actions Were Made Signs to the People Symbols and Similitudes: Ceremonially Unclean Food Symbols and Similitudes: Cooking