Ezekiel, 4

The New American Bible

1 As for you, son of man, take a clay tablet; lay it in front of you, and draw on it a city (Jerusalem).

2 Raise a siege against it: build a tower, lay out a ramp, pitch camps, and set up batteringrams all around.

3 Then take an iron griddle and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city. Fix your gaze on it: it shall be in the state of siege, and you shall besiege it. This shall be a sign for the house of Israel.

4 Then you shall lie on your left side, while I place the sins of the house of Israel upon you. As many days as you lie thus, you shall bear their sins.

5 For the years of their sins I allot you the same number of days, three hundred and ninety, during which you will bear the sins of the house of Israel.

6 When you finish this, you are to lie down again, but on your right side, and bear the sins of the house of Judah forty days; one day for each year I have allotted you.

7 Fixing your gaze on the siege of Jerusalem, with bared arm you shall prophesy against it.

8 See, I will bind you with cords so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have completed the days of your siege.

9 Again, take wheat and barley, and beans and lentils, and millet and spelt; put them in a single vessel and make bread out of them. Eat it for as many days as you lie upon your side, three hundred and ninety.

10 The food you eat shall be twenty shekels a day by weight; each day the same.

11 And the water you drink shall be the sixth of a hin by measure; each day the same.

12 For your food you must bake barley loaves over human excrement in their sight, said the LORD.

13 Thus the Israelites shall eat their food unclean among the nations where I scatter them.

14 "Oh no, Lord GOD!" I protested. "Never have I been made unclean, and from my youth till now, never have I eaten carrion flesh or that torn by wild beasts; never has any unclean meat entered my mouth."

15 Very well, he replied, I allow you cow's dung in place of human excrement; bake your bread on that.

16 Then he said to me: Son of man, I am breaking the staff of bread in Jerusalem. They shall eat bread which they have weighed out anxiously, and they shall drink water which they have measured out fearfully,

17 so that, owing to the scarcity of bread and water, everyone shall be filled with terror and waste away because of his sins.




Versículos relacionados com Ezekiel, 4:

Ezekiel 4 narrates an episode in which God commands the prophet to make a symbolic representation of the siege and the fall of Jerusalem. Ezekiel is instructed to lie aside for a certain number of days to symbolize the years of punishment that the city would face. The chapter also describes the restricted diet that God commands Ezekiel to follow during this time of punishment. Below are five verses related to the topics covered in Ezekiel 4:

Leviticus 26:18-19: "And if you still do not hear me, I will increase seven times more the pests about you according to your sins. Your land like bronze. " This verse highlights the relationship between disobedience and punishment of God, which is a central theme in Ezekiel 4.

Isaiah 20:2-3: "At the same time the Lord spoke through Isaiah the son of Amos, saying, Go, let the ciliciary of thy loins loose and barefoot the shoes of your feet. And he did so, going naked and Barefoot. And the Lord said, Just as my servant Isaiah was naked and barefoot for three years, as a sign and prodigy against Egypt and against Ethiopia ... "This verse makes a connection with the symbolism of nudity and lack of Shoes that Ezekiel is ordered to follow as a way to signal the punishment that Jerusalem would face.

2 Kings 25:1-3: "And it happened that, in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, at ten of the month, he came Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and camped against it and they raised against her trenches around. And the city was surrounded to the Undécimo year of King Zedekiah. At nine of the month, when hunger was strong in the city, there was no bread for the people of the earth. " This verse describes the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, a historical event that is symbolized in the representation that Ezekiel is ordered to do.

Deuteronomy 28:53: "Then thou shalt eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of thy children, and thy daughters that the Lord thy God has given you, in the siege, and the squeeze with which your enemies shall tighten you." This verse highlights the theme of the hunger and scarcity of foods that Ezekiel is ordered to experiment as part of his symbolic representation of the siege of Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 14:15: “Therefore, thus saith the Lord about the prophets who prophesy in my name, without sending them, and who say, 'There will be no sword or hunger on this earth': Sword and Hunger will be consumed these Prophets. ” Ezekiel's chapter 4 deals with God's vision by instructing the prophet to represent Jerusalem's siege with symbolic acts, such as laying aside by a specific number of days. The selected verses are related to prophecy, which is one of Ezekiel's main messages. In Jeremiah 14:15, there is a condemnation of the prophets who speak in the name of God without being sent by Him, announcing false words of hope, which can be interpreted as a warning for the prophets to be faithful in their message.


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