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Tuesday, July 15th, 2025
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
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Read the Bible

JPS Old Testament

Ezekiel 4:12

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

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Bread;   Instruction;   Prayer;   Symbols and Similitudes;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Prophets;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Dung;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Fuel;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Agriculture;   Barley;   Dung;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Barley;   Beyond the River;   Dung;   Ezekiel;   Fuel;   Gestures;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Fuel;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Dung;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Bread;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Barley;   Dung;   Fuel;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Bread;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Food;   Fuel;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
You will eat it as you would a barley cake and bake it over dried human excrement in their sight.”
Hebrew Names Version
You shall eat it as barley cakes, and you shall bake it in their sight with dung that comes out of man.
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.
English Standard Version
And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it in their sight on human dung."
New American Standard Bible
"You shall eat it as a barley cake, having baked it in their sight over human dung."
New Century Version
Eat your food as you would eat a barley cake, baking it over human dung where the people can see."
Amplified Bible
"You shall eat your food as barley cakes, having baked it in their sight over human dung."
World English Bible
You shall eat it as barley cakes, and you shall bake it in their sight with dung that comes out of man.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And thou shalt eate it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it in the dongue that commeth out of man, in their sight.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"You shall eat it as a barley cake, having baked it in their sight over human dung."
Legacy Standard Bible
You shall eat it as a barley cake, having baked it in their sight over human dung."
Berean Standard Bible
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."
Contemporary English Version
Use dried human waste to start a fire, then bake the bread on the coals where everyone can watch you.
Complete Jewish Bible
[The bread] you eat is to be baked like barley cakes; you are to bake it before their eyes, using human dung as fuel."
Darby Translation
And thou shalt eat it [as] barley-cake, and thou shalt bake it in their sight with dung that cometh out of man.
Easy-to-Read Version
You 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."
George Lamsa Translation
And you shall eat it as if you ate barley cakes, having baked it in their sight with the dung that comes out of men.
Good News Translation
You are to build a fire out of dried human excrement, bake bread on the fire, and eat it where everyone can see you."
Lexham English Bible
And as a bread-cake of barley you shall eat it, and with human excrement you shall bake it before their eyes."
Literal Translation
And you shall eat cakes of barley, and you shall bake it with dung of the excrement of man, in their sight.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Barly cakes shalt thou eate, yet shalt thou first strake the ouer with mas donge, yt they maye se it.
American Standard Version
And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it in their sight with dung that cometh out of man.
Bible in Basic English
And let your food be barley cakes, cooking it before their eyes with the waste which comes out of a man.
King James Version (1611)
And thou shalt eate it as barley cakes, & thou shalt bake it with doung that commeth out of man in their sight.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Barly cakes shalt thou eate, and them shalt thou bake in mans doung before their eyes.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And thou shalt eat them as a barley cake: thou shalt bake them before their eyes in man’s dung.
English Revised Version
And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it in their sight with dung that cometh out of man.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And thou schalt ete it as barli breed bakun vndur the aischis; and with `a toord that goith out of a man thou schalt hile, it bifore the iyen of hem.
Update Bible Version
And you shall eat it as barley cakes, and you shall bake it in their sight with dung that comes out of man.
Webster's Bible Translation
And thou shalt eat it [as] barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with human excrement in their sight.
New English Translation
And you must eat the food like you would a barley cake. You must bake it in front of them over a fire made with dried human excrement."
New King James Version
And you shall eat it as barley cakes; and bake it using fuel of human waste in their sight."
New Living Translation
Prepare and eat this food as you would barley cakes. While all the people are watching, bake it over a fire using dried human dung as fuel and then eat the bread."
New Life Bible
Eat your food as you would barley cakes, making it ready in front of their eyes over a fire burning human waste."
New Revised Standard
You shall eat it as a barley-cake, baking it in their sight on human dung.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
and as a barley cake, shalt thou eat it, - and the same with dung proceeding from man, shalt thou bake, before their eyes.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And thou shalt eat it as barley bread baked under the ashes: and thou shalt cover it, in their sight, with the dung that cometh out of a man.
Revised Standard Version
And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it in their sight on human dung."
Young's Literal Translation
A barley-cake thou dost eat it, and it with dung -- the filth of man -- thou dost bake before their eyes.

Contextual Overview

9 Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof; according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, even three hundred and ninety days, shalt thou eat thereof. 10 And thy food which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day; from time to time shalt thou eat it. 11 Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of a hin; from time to time shalt thou drink. 12 And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it in their sight with dung that cometh out of man.' 13 And the LORD said: 'Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations whither I will drive them.' 14 Then said I: 'Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul hath not been polluted; for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn of beasts; neither came there abhorred flesh into my mouth.' 15 Then He said unto me: 'See, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread thereon.' 16 Moreover He said unto me: 'Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they shall eat bread by weight, and with anxiety; and they shall drink water by measure, and in appalment; 17 that they may want bread and water, and be appalled one with another, and pine away in their iniquity.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

cakes: a "round" thing, Genesis 18:6

Reciprocal: Ezekiel 21:6 - before

Cross-References

Genesis 4:3
And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
Genesis 4:4
And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering;
Genesis 4:14
Behold, Thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the land; and from Thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth; and it will come to pass, that whosoever findeth me will slay me.'
Genesis 4:17
And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bore Enoch; and he builded a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son Enoch.
Genesis 4:18
And unto Enoch was born Irad; and Irad begot Mehujael; and Mehujael begot Methushael; and Methushael begot Lamech.
Genesis 4:23
And Lamech said unto his wives: Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech; for I have slain a man for wounding me, and a young man for bruising me;
Genesis 4:24
If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.
Leviticus 26:20
And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield her produce, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.
Leviticus 26:36
And as for them that are left of you, I will send a faintness into their heart in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a driven leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as one fleeth from the sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth.
Psalms 109:10
Let his children be vagabonds, and beg; and let them seek their bread out of their desolate places.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And thou shalt eat it [as] barley cakes,.... That is, the bread made of wheat, barley, beans, lentiles, millet, and fitches, was to be made in the form of barley cakes, and to be baked as they; not in an oven, but under ashes; and these ashes not of wood, or straw, or turf, but as follows:

and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of men, in their sight: the prophet was to take human dung, and dry it, and then cover the cakes or loaves of his mixed bread with it, and burn it over them, and with it bake it; which must be a very disagreeable task to him, and make the food very nauseous, both to himself and to the Jews, in whose sight it was done; and this shows scarcity of fuel, and the severity of the famine; that they had not fuel to bake with, or could not stay till it was baked in an oven, and therefore took this method; as well as points at what they were to eat when carried captive, as follows:

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

In eastern countries where fuel is scarce the want is supplied by dried cow-dung laid up for the winter. Barley cakes were (and are) baked under hot ashes without an oven. The dung here is to be burned to ashes, and the ashes so employed.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ezekiel 4:12. Thou shalt bake it with dung — Dried ox and cow dung is a common fuel in the east; and with this, for want of wood and coals, they are obliged to prepare their food. Indeed, dried excrement of every kind is gathered. Here, the prophet is to prepare his bread with dry human excrement. And when we know that this did not come in contact with the bread, and was only used to warm the plate, (see Ezekiel 4:3,) on which the bread was laid over the fire, it removes all the horror and much of the disgust. This was required to show the extreme degree of wretchedness to which they should be exposed; for, not being able to leave the city to collect the dried excrements of beasts, the inhabitants during the siege would be obliged, literally, to use dried human ordure for fuel. The very circumstances show that this was the plain fact of the case. However, we find that the prophet was relieved from using this kind of fuel, for cow's dung was substituted at his request. See Ezekiel 4:15.


 
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