ERV -Ezekiel Chapter 4 to 7

4 “Son of man,* take a brick. Scratch a picture on it. Draw a picture of a city—the city Jerusalem. ²And then act like you are an army surrounding the city. Build a dirt wall around the city {to help you attack it}. Build a dirt road leading up to the city wall. Bring battering rams* and set up army camps around the city. ³And then take an iron pan and put it between you and the city. It will be like an iron wall separating you and the city. In this way, you will show that you are against that city. You will surround and attack that city. Why? Because this is an example for the family of Israel. {It will show that I (God) will destroy Jerusalem.} ⁴“Then you must lie down on your left side. You {must do the thing that shows that you} are taking the sins of the people of Israel on yourself. You will carry that guilt for as many days as you lie on your left side. ⁵You must bear the guilt of Israel for 390 days.* In this way, I am telling you how long Israel will be punished, one day equals one year. ⁶“After that time, you will lie on your right side for 40 days. This time you will bear the guilt of Judah for 40 days. One day equals one year. I am telling you {how long Judah must be punished}.” ⁷{God again spoke. He said,} “Now, roll up your sleeve and raise your arm over the brick. Act like you are attacking the city Jerusalem. Do this to show that you are speaking as my messenger to the people. ⁸Now look, I am tying ropes on you. You won’t be able to roll over from one side to another until your attack against the city* is finished.” ⁹{God also said,} “You must get some grain to make bread. Get some wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt. Mix all those things together in one bowl and grind them to make flour. You will use this flour to make bread. You will eat only this bread during the 390 days that you lie on your side. ¹⁰You will be allowed to use only 1 cup* of that flour each day to make bread. You will eat that bread from time to time throughout the day. ¹¹And you can drink only 3 cups* of water each day. You can drink it from time to time throughout the day. ¹²You must make your bread each day. You must get dry human dung and burn it. Then you must cook the bread over this burning dung. You must eat this bread in front of the people.” ¹³Then the Lord said, “This will show that the family of Israel will eat unclean bread* in foreign countries. And I forced them to leave Israel and go to those countries! ¹⁴Then I (Ezekiel) said, “Oh, but Lord my Master, I have never eaten any unclean food. I have never eaten meat from an animal that died from a disease or from an animal that was killed by a wild animal. I have never eaten unclean meat—not from the time I was a little baby until today. None of that bad meat ever entered my mouth.” ¹⁵Then God said to me, “Ok! I will let you use dry cow dung to cook your bread. You don’t have to use dry human dung.” ¹⁶Then God said to me, “Son of man,* I am destroying Jerusalem’s supply of bread. People will have only a little bread to eat. They will be very worried {about their food supply}. And they will have only a little water to drink. They will be very scared when they drink that water. ¹⁷Why? Because there won’t be enough food and water for the people. People will be terrified of each other—they will see each other wasting away because of their sins.

Son of man This was usually just a way of saying “a person,” or “a human being.” But here this is a title for the man, Ezekiel. battering rams Heavy logs that soldiers used to break holes into the gates or walls around a city. 390 days The ancient Greek translation has, “190 days.” your attack against the city This is a word play. The Hebrew word can mean, “time of hunger,” “time of trouble,” or “attack against a city.” 1 cup Literally, “20 shekels.” 3 cups Literally, “1/6 hin.” unclean bread Bread that touched something unclean. If a person ate this bread, then that person could not join in worshiping God. See Lev. 11–15 for rules about clean and unclean things.

5 ^1–2“Son of man,* after your time of hunger* you must do these things. You must get a sharp sword. Use that sword like a barber’s razor. Shave off your hair and beard. Put the hair on a scale and weigh it. Separate your hair into three equal parts. Put one third of your hair on the brick that has the picture of the city on it. Burn that hair in that ‘city.’ {This shows that some of the people will die inside the city.} Then use a sword and cut one third of your hair into small pieces all around the city (brick). {This will show that some of the people will die outside the city.} Then throw one third of your hair into the air—let the wind blow it far away. {This will show that} I will pull out my sword and chase some of the people into faraway countries. ³But then you must get a few of those hairs and wrap them up in your robe. {This will show that I will save a few of my people.} ⁴You must also get some more of those hairs and throw them into the fire. {This will show that} a fire will start there and destroy the whole house of Israel.* ⁵Then the Lord my Master said to me, “That {brick} is a picture of Jerusalem. I put Jerusalem in the middle of other nations. And there are countries all around her. ⁶The people {of Jerusalem} rebelled against my commands. They were worse than any of the other nations! They broke more of my laws than any of the people in the countries around them. They refused to listen to my commands! They did not obey my laws!” ⁷So, the Lord my Master says, “{I will do terrible things to you! Why?} Because you did not obey my laws. You did not obey my commands. You broke more of my laws than the people that live around you! And you even did things those people say are wrong!” ⁸So the Lord my Master says, “So now, even I am against you! And I will punish you while those other people watch. ⁹I will do things to you that I have never done before. And I will never do those terrible things again! Why? Because you did so many terrible things. ¹⁰People in Jerusalem will be so hungry that parents will eat their own children and children will eat their own parents. I will punish you in many ways. And the people that are left alive, I will scatter them to the winds. ¹¹The Lord my Master says, “{Jerusalem,} I promise by my life {that I will punish you}! I promise that I will punish you! Why? Because you did terrible things to my Holy Place. You did horrible things that made it dirty! I will punish you! I won’t show any mercy. I will not feel sorry for you! ¹²One third of your people will die inside the city from diseases and hunger. One third of your people will die in battle outside the city. And then I will pull out my sword and chase one third of your people into faraway countries. ¹³Only then will I stop being angry at your people. I will know that they have been punished for the bad things they did to me. And they will know that I am the Lord, and that I spoke to them because of my strong love* for them!” ¹⁴{God said,} “{Jerusalem,} I will destroy you—you will be nothing but a pile of rocks. The people around you will make fun of you. Every person that walks by will make fun of you. ¹⁵People around you will make fun of you, but you will also be a lesson for them. They will see that I was angry and punished you. I was very angry. I warned you. I, the Lord, told you what I would do! ¹⁶I told you I would send you terrible times of hunger. I told you I would send you things that would destroy you. I told you that I would take away your supply of food and that those times of hunger would come again and again. ¹⁷I told you I would send hunger and wild animals against you that would kill your children. I told you there would be disease and death everywhere in the city. I told you I would bring those enemy soldiers to fight against you. I, the Lord, told you all these things would happen—{and they will happen}!”

Son of man This was usually just a way of saying “a person,” or “a human being.” But here this is a title for the man, Ezekiel. your time of hunger Or, “your attack on the city.” See Ez. 4:8. house of Israel This probably means the people of the northern ten family groups of Israel. strong love The Hebrew word means strong feelings like love, hate, anger, zeal, or jealousy.

6 Then the word of the Lord came to me again. ²He said, “Son of man,* turn towards the mountains of Israel. Speak against them for me. ³Tell those mountains these things: ‘Mountains of Israel, listen to this message from the Lord my Master! The Lord my Master says these things to the hills and mountains, and to the ravines and valleys. Look! I (God) am bringing the enemy to fight against you. I will destroy your high places.* ⁴Your altars* will be broken into pieces! Your incense* altars will be smashed! And I will throw down your dead bodies in front of your filthy idols. ⁵I will put the dead bodies of the people of Israel in front of their filthy idols. I will scatter your bones around your altars. ⁶Bad things will happen wherever your people live. Their cities will become piles of rock. Their high places will be destroyed. Why? So that those places of worship will never be used again. Those altars will all be destroyed. People will never worship those filthy idols again. Those incense altars will be smashed. All the things you made will be completely destroyed! ⁷Your people will be killed. And then you will know that I am the Lord!’” ⁸{God said,} “But I will let a few of your people escape. They will live in other countries for a short time. I will scatter them and force them to live in other countries. ⁹Then those survivors* will be taken prisoners. They will be forced to live in other countries. But those survivors will remember me. I broke their spirit.* They will hate themselves for the bad things they did. In the past, they turned away from me and left me. They chased after their filthy idols. They were like a woman leaving her husband and running after some other man. They did many terrible things. ¹⁰But they will know that I am the Lord. And they will know that if I say that I will do something, then I will do it! They will know that I caused all of the bad things that happened to them.” ¹¹Then the Lord my Master said to me, “Clap your hands and stamp your feet. Speak against all the terrible things that the people of Israel have done. Warn them that they will be killed by disease and hunger. Tell them they will be killed in war. ¹²People far away will die from disease. People near this place will be killed with swords. And the people that are left in the city will starve to death. Only then will I stop being angry. ¹³And only then will you know that I am the Lord. You will know this when you see your dead bodies in front of your filthy idols and around their altars. Those bodies will be near every one of your places of worship—on every high hill and mountain, under every green tree and every oak tree with leaves. In all those places you offered your sacrifices. They were a sweet smell for your filthy idols. ¹⁴But I will raise my arm over you people and punish you and your people, wherever they live! I will destroy your country! It will be emptier than Diblah Desert.* Then they will know that I am the Lord!”

Son of man This was usually just a way of saying “a person,” or “a human being.” But here this is a title for the man, Ezekiel. high places Places for worshiping God or false gods. These places were often on the hills and mountains. altar(s) A stone table used for burning sacrifices offered as gifts to God. incense Special dried tree sap. Burned to make a sweet-smelling smoke, it was offered as a gift to God. survivors People that escaped some disaster. Here this means the Jewish people that survived the destruction of Judah and Israel by its enemy armies. spirit Literally, “heart.” Diblah Desert This is probably “Riblah Desert.”

7 Then the word of the Lord came to me. ²He said, “Now, Son of man,* here is a message from the Lord my Master. This message is for the land of Israel. The end. The end is coming. The whole country will be destroyed. ³Your end is coming now! I will show how angry I am at you. I will punish you for the bad things you did. I will make you pay for all the terrible things you did. ⁴I won’t show you any mercy. I won’t feel sorry for you. I am punishing you for the bad things you did. You have done such terrible things. Now, you will know that I am the Lord.” ⁵The Lord my Master said these things. “There will be one disaster after another! ⁶The end is coming, and it will come quickly! ⁷You people living in Israel, do you hear the whistle? The enemy is coming. That time of punishment is coming very soon! The noise of the enemy is getting louder and louder on the mountains. ⁸Very soon now, I will show you how angry I am. I will show all of my anger against you. I will punish you for the bad things you did. I will make you pay for all the terrible things you did. ⁹I won’t show you any mercy. I won’t feel sorry for you. I am punishing you for the bad things you did. You have done such terrible things. Now, you will know that I am the Lord. ¹⁰“That time of punishment has come like a plant sprouting, budding and flowering: {God} has given the signal, the enemy is prepared, the proud {king} (Nebuchadnezzar) is ready. ¹¹That violent man is ready to punish those evil people. There are very many people {in Israel}—but he is not one of them. He is not a person in that crowd. He is not some important leader from those people. ¹²“That time of punishment has come. That day is here. People that buy things won’t be happy. And people that sell things won’t feel bad about selling them. Why? Because that terrible punishment will happen to every person. ¹³The people that sold their property* will never go back to it. Even if a person escapes alive, he will never go back to his property. Why? Because this vision* is for the whole crowd of people. So even if a person escapes alive, it won’t make people feel better. ¹⁴“They will blow the trumpet to warn the people. The people will get ready for battle. But they won’t go out to fight. Why? Because I will show the whole crowd how angry I am. ¹⁵The enemy with his sword is outside the city. Disease and hunger is inside the city. If a person goes out into the fields, then an enemy soldier will kill him. If he stays in the city, hunger and disease will destroy him. ¹⁶“But some of the people will escape. Those survivors will run to the mountains. But those people won’t be happy. They will be sad for all their sins. They will cry and make sad noises like doves. ¹⁷People will be too tired and sad to raise their arms. Their legs will be like water. ¹⁸They will wear clothes of sadness and be covered with fear. You will see the shame on every face. They will shave their heads {to show their sadness}. ¹⁹They will throw their silver {idols} into the streets. They will treat their gold {statues} like dirty rags! Why? Because those things will not be able to save them when the Lord shows his anger. Those things were nothing but a trap that caused the people to fall (sin). Those things will not give food to the people and they won’t put food in their bellies. ²⁰“Those people used their beautiful jewelry and made an idol. They were proud of that statue. They made their terrible statues. They made those filthy things. So I (God) will throw them away like a dirty rag. ²¹I will let strangers take them. Those strangers will make fun of them. Those strangers will kill some of the people and take others away as prisoners. ²²I will turn my head away from them—I won’t look at them. Those strangers will ruin my temple—they will go into the secret parts of that holy building and make it not holy. ²³“Make chains {for the prisoners}! Why? Because many people will be punished for killing other people. There will be violence every place in the city. ²⁴I will bring evil people from other nations. And those evil people will get all the houses of the people of Israel. I will stop all of you powerful people from being so proud. Those people from other nations will get all your places of worship.* ²⁵“You people will shake with fear. You will look for peace, but there will be none. ²⁶You will hear one sad story after another. You will hear nothing but bad news. You will look for a prophet and ask him for a vision.* {But there won’t be one.} The priests will have nothing to teach you. And the elders (leaders) won’t have any good advice to give you. ²⁷Your king will be crying for the people that died. The leaders will wear clothes of sadness. The common people will be very scared. Why? Because I will pay them back for the things they did. I will decide their punishment. And I will punish them. Then those people will know that I am the Lord.”

Son of man This was usually just a way of saying “a person,” or “a human being.” But here this is a title for the man, Ezekiel. sold their property In ancient Israel property did not belong to a person, it belonged to a family. A person might sell his property, but at the time of Jubilees his family would get the land back. Here, Ezekiel says the people will never get their property again. vision Something like a dream that God used to speak to people. Those people … places of worship. Or, “Those people will make your places of worship dirty and not holy.”