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Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

Ezekiel 4:10

“And your food which you will eat will be by weight twenty shekels a day. Each day at the same time you will eat it.”

Twenty shekels would come to about 225 grams (eight ounces). This was minimum rations indicating siege rations. ‘Each day at the same time you will eat it.' The Hebrew is literally ‘from time to time' but compare the similar use in 1 Chronicles 9:25. It seems to signify a recurring action taking place at the same time each day. The purpose of this was to make it a recognised activity in front of those who came to observe his behaviour.

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See also Ezekiel 4:10 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Ezekiel 4:10. _TWENTY SHEKELS A DAY_] The whole of the above grain, being ground, was to be formed into one _mass_, out of which he was to make _three hundred and ninety loaves; one loaf_ for _...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    MEAT - A general term for food, which in this case consists of grain. Instead of measuring, it was necessary in extreme scarcity to weigh it Leviticus 26:26; Revelation 6:6. TWENTY SHEKELS A DAY - The...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    Ezekiel 4:1. The word tile means “brick.” They were used by the Babylonians to preserve their records, and many have been found marked with building plans, etc. The sign of the tile foretells the sieg...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    (C) THE HARDSHIPS OF THE EXILES AND THE BESIEGED. The horrors of famine, consequent upon the siege, are suggested by the symbolical action of this section, in which the prophet's food and drink are to...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    SHEKELS. See App-51....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    Second Section. Ch. Ezekiel 3:22 to Ezekiel 7:27 The second section of the Book contains these parts: (1) Ch. Ezekiel 3:22-27. A preface in which the prophet is commanded to confine himself to his o...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    Symbol of scarcity during the siege and pollution in the dispersion from having to eat unclean things among the Gentiles The passage continues Ezekiel 4:8. The prophet is commanded (while lying immov...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _twenty shekels a day_ Twenty shekels might be eight or nine ounces. In this country two pounds of bread is held an ordinary allowance....

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    FROM TIME TO TIME SHALT THOU EAT IT— _And thou shalt eat it at certain hours:_ that is to say, at the different and stated hours of the day. Houbigant....

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    III. THE PARABLE OF JERUSALEM'S FAMINE 4:9-17 TRANSLATION (9) NOW as for You, take to you wheat and barley, and beans and lentils and millet and fitches, and put them in a vessel, and prepare them fo...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it. THY MEAT SHALL BE BY WEIGHT TWENTY SHEKELS ie little more than ten ounces A scant me...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    TWENTY SHEKELS] eight or nine ounces....

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    § 2. THE OVERTHROW OF THE JEWISH KINGDOM FORETOLD (EZEKIEL 4-7) The great theme of the first part of Ezekiel's prophetic ministry was the certainty of the complete downfall of the Jewish state. Though...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    EZEKIEL: ‘THEY SHALL KNOW THAT I AM GOD’ THE *SIN OF JUDAH AND THE JUDGEMENT OF GOD EZEKIEL CHAPTER S 1 TO 24 _IAN MACKERVOY_ CHAPTER 4 THE BRICK AND THE IRON PLATE – EZEKIEL 4:1-8 V1 ‘*Son

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    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 allowa...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    וּ מַאֲכָֽלְךָ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר תֹּאכֲלֶ֔נּוּ בְּ מִשְׁקֹ֕ול...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    THE END FORETOLD Ezekiel 4:1 - Ezekiel 7:1 WITH the fourth chapter we enter on the exposition of the first great division of Ezekiel's prophecies. The chaps, 4-24, cover a period of about four and a...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    The second division of the Book contains the messages of the prophet concerning the reprobation of the chosen nation. These fall into three parts. In the first, by symbolism and speech he described th...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    And thy food which thou shalt eat [shall be] by weight, (h) twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it. (h) Which make a pound....

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    _Staters, sicles, each being equal to 9 dwt. 2.57 gr. Eng. The hin contained 1 gal. 2 pints. (Arbuthnot.) (Haydock) --- He had an allowance of ten ounces a-day. (Calmet) (Tirinus)_...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    The Reader will have a better idea of the coarse and scanty fare of the Prophet, if he understands, that this mixed grain not only made the whole unpleasant, but the allowance was scarcely enough, (an...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    This confirms what I have said, namely, that the want should be such, that the Prophet dared not eat even that bread to satiety: _you shall eat, _says he, _bread by weight, _viz, _twenty shekels. _The...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    Besides the general judgment that God pronounced upon the condition of Israel, Jerusalem-on whom lay all the iniquity of the people now come to its height-appears before God whom she had despised. The...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    AND THY MEAT WHICH THOU SHALL EAT [SHALL BE] BY WEIGHT, TWENTY SHEKELS A DAY,.... To eat bread by weight was a sign of a grievous famine; see Leviticus 26:26; a shekel, according to Josephus i, weighe...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    And thy meat which thou shalt eat [shall be] by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it. Ver. 10. _Twenty shekels a day._] Five ounces, or ten at most; not prisoners' pittan...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    And thy meat which thou shalt eat, the food which he should consume according to this strict rationing, SHALL BE BY WEIGHT, TWENTY SHEKELS A DAY, estimated at some twenty ounces avoirdupois, about hal...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    THE SYMBOLS OF THE FAMINE...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    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....

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    THY MEAT; the mean and coarse bread which thou must eat and be content with. BY WEIGHT; not full, as once; not as much as you will, but a small pittance delivered by weight to all; which bespeaks the...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Ezekiel 4:10 food H3978 eat H398 (H8799) weight H4946 twenty H6242 shekels H8255 day H3117 time H6256 time...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: The sign of the tile. Typical representations. CHARACTERS: God, Ezekiel. CONCLUSION: If men will not serve God with cheerfulness in the abundance of all things, God will make them serve th...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Ezekiel 4:1. _Son of man, take thee a tile._ It is probable that the prophet took a sheet of plastic clay proper for his purpose; for the Hebrew root בנה _banah,_ is generally applied to construction...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread._ CONFORMITY OF PUNISHMENT TO SIN They had sinned in excess, and God would take away their plenty. Hosea 13:6, “According to their past...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    EZEKIEL—NOTE ON EZEKIEL 4:1 Judgment on Jerusalem and Judah. The oracles of chs. Ezekiel 4:1 come before Jerusalem’s downfall in 587 B.C. Although the sequence

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    EZEKIEL—NOTE ON EZEKIEL 4:10 The TWENTY SHEKELS ration of bread amounts to just 8 ounces (0.23 kg). ⇐...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    _Scanty means of subsistence symbolising punishment_ (chap. Ezekiel 4:9) EXEGETICAL NOTES.— Ezekiel 4:9. The several sorts of vegetable food—the richest and the poorest in nutritive elements—being pla...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION Prior to any detailed examination of the strange series of acts recorded in this and the following chapter, we are met with the question whether they were indeed visible and outward acts,...

  • The Typology of Scripture by Patrick Fairbairn

    CHAPTER 4. THE VISION OF THE SIEGE AND THE INIQUITY-BEARING. Ezekiel 4:1. _And thou, son of man, take thee a brick, and set it before thee, and engrave on it the city Jerusalem._ Ezekiel 4:2. _And l...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Now thou also, Son of man, take a tile (Ezekiel 4:1), Now this is a brick, and it's about twelve inches by fourteen inches. The archeologists have uncovered thousands of these bricks there in the area...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    Deuteronomy 28:51; Ezekiel 14:13; Ezekiel 4:16; Isaiah 3:1;...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    By weight — Not as much as you will, but a small pittance delivered by weight to all. Twenty shekels — Ten ounces: scarce enough to maintain life. From time to time — At set hours this was weighed out...

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