Bible Strands
Ezekiel 4:5
For I have assigned to you 390 days, according to the number of years of their iniquity. So you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses Ezekiel during a prophetic enactment, instructing him to lie on his left side to symbolically bear the guilt of the house of Israel.
The words — נָתַ֤תִּֽי (na.Ta.ti) means "I have assigned," and לְ/מִסְפַּ֣ר (le./mis.Par) translates to "to the number of," establishing a direct numerical correspondence between the days of the sign and the years of their iniquity.
The thread — The day-for-year principle for bearing guilt appears in Numbers 14:34, where the forty days the spies spent in the land correspond to forty years of judgment, while Isaiah 53:6 applies the same concept of iniquity being laid upon a representative figure.
Why it lands — The text states that prolonged sin incurs a measured period of consequence, requiring the observer to physically enact that duration before turning to bear the iniquity of Judah.
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
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Numbers 14:34 In keeping with the forty days you spied out the land, you shall bear your guilt forty years—a year for each day—and you will experience My alienation.
- Isaiah 53:6 We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.