Bible Strands

Ezekiel 4:12

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.”

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — God commands Ezekiel to enact a prophetic sign-act detailing the impending siege and exile of Jerusalem. The prophet is instructed to bake and consume a measured ration of bread while the people observe.

The words — The text specifies שְׂעֹרִ֖ים (se.'o.Rim), meaning barley, and צֵאַ֣ת הָֽ/אָדָ֔ם (tze.'At ha.'a.Dam), meaning human excrement. Ezekiel is commanded to bake the barley cake over this dung before eating it.

The thread — This degrading preparation directly fulfills the warning in Ezekiel 4:13 about Israel eating defiled bread among the nations. It contrasts with the clean bread preparation described in Genesis 18:6.

Why it lands — The passage demands immediate obedience to a physically repulsive command that visually predicts national defilement. It forces the reader to confront the concrete reality of judgment preceding displacement.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וְעֻגַ֥תve./'u.Gatand/ a bread cake ofשְׂעֹרִ֖יםse.'o.Rimbarley<s>תֹּֽאכֲלֶ֑נָּהto.kha.Le./nahyou will eat/ itוְהִ֗יאve./Hi'and/ itבְּגֶֽלְלֵי֙be./ge.Leiin/ [the] dung<s> ofצֵאַ֣תtze.'At[the] excrement ofהָֽאָדָ֔םha./'a.Dam<the>/ humankindתְּעֻגֶ֖נָהte.'u.Ge./nahyou will bake/ itלְעֵינֵיהֶֽם׃ סle./'ei.nei./Hemto/ eyes/ their

King James Version

And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.

Cross-references