Section 13 of 1834:1–8Ezekiel

Go to another section

Jump to a verse

Jump to a verseOpen a verse without taking it out of context.

Try Ezekiel 36:26, Book of Ezekiel 36:26, or Ezk 36:26.

Choose book, chapter, and verse

BookChapterVerse

King James VersionEzekiel 4:1–8

Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:

And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.

Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.

Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.

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.

And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.

Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.

And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.

Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.

Scripture text: King James Version, Standardized 1769 text. Public domain in the United States.About this Bible text

Ezekiel 4:1–8

The Brick, Siege, and Days on Each Side Enact Jerusalem's Doom

A brick becomes Jerusalem under siege

Son of man, take a tile, and portray upon it the city, even Jerusalem. Lay siege against it, build a fort, cast a mount, set the camp, and set battering rams against it round about. An iron pan is a wall between him and the city. This is a sign to the house of Israel.

He lies upon his left side three hundred and ninety days for the iniquity of the house of Israel, then forty days on his right side for the iniquity of the house of Judah, a day for a year. He is told the LORD will lay bands upon him so he will not turn from one side to another till the days are accomplished.

Public sign is not a diet of harm

The enacted siege is theater for a watching house, bearing iniquity as representation, not as a stunt to copy. The numbers belong to this sign. They do not start a calculator for later history.

The act does not authorize self-harm, forced endurance, imitation of prophetic binding, or arithmetic that dates modern events. Do not lie down to prove a timeline.

How this should shape us

See the brick and the bound sides as a public warning about a city, not as a spiritual exercise. Do not harm your body to look prophetic, and do not turn the days into a modern countdown.

Teach it back

Explain Ezekiel 4:1–8 in your own words. Name its place in Ezekiel, one source-controlled observation, one uncertainty, one enduring truth, and one harmful use the passage does not authorize.

Explain the section in your own words

Your explanation stays in this browser. It is not sent or saved.

Go deeper

The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.

Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.

Ezekiel 4:1–8, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Ezekiel

Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a critical apparatus or interpretation.

Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ezek.xml, OSIS 4:1–8

NET Bible Notes: Ezekiel

Supports: Verse-level controls for difficult Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, dates, place names, textual issues, vision language, and material alternatives.

Official NET Ezekiel PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Ezekiel 4:1–8

Ezekiel course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, themes, and passage studies

Supports: Reader-oriented historical, literary, theological, and pastoral synthesis with visible alternatives and ancient-to-modern limits.

Enter the Bible Ezekiel course, Outline and passage studies: signs, temple judgment, and departing glory; applied to Ezekiel 4:1–8

Jeremiah and Ezekiel: Ezekiel Parts 1-3 Study Guides

Supports: Current university-level literary-historical synthesis and interpretive questions, including ethical attention to gendered rhetoric and the final vision.

Yale Bible Study, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Ezekiel Parts 1-2 study guides: temple vision, judgment, responsibility, and presence; applied to Ezekiel 4:1–8

Sources for This Section

These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.

Biblical text

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society

USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.

Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.

Exact location: Ezekiel 4:1–8, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus

Open source ↗

hebrew text and morphology

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Ezekiel

Open Scriptures

Open Scriptures, release 2.2

Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a critical apparatus or interpretation.

Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ezek.xml, OSIS 4:1–8

Open the fixed Hebrew Ezekiel file ↗

translation and translator notes

NET Bible Notes: Ezekiel

Biblical Studies Press

Biblical Studies Press, 2016; current official PDF

Supports: Verse-level controls for difficult Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, dates, place names, textual issues, vision language, and material alternatives.

Exact location: Official NET Ezekiel PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Ezekiel 4:1–8

Open the official NET Ezekiel PDF ↗

modern scholarly book course

Ezekiel course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, themes, and passage studies

Alan G. Padgett; revised by Tyler Mayfield

Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, revised June 2023

Supports: Reader-oriented historical, literary, theological, and pastoral synthesis with visible alternatives and ancient-to-modern limits.

Exact location: Enter the Bible Ezekiel course, Outline and passage studies: signs, temple judgment, and departing glory; applied to Ezekiel 4:1–8

Open the Enter the Bible Ezekiel course ↗

open university study guide series

Jeremiah and Ezekiel: Ezekiel Parts 1-3 Study Guides

Joel S. Baden and Jacqueline Vayntrub

Yale Bible Study, 2024

Supports: Current university-level literary-historical synthesis and interpretive questions, including ethical attention to gendered rhetoric and the final vision.

Exact location: Yale Bible Study, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Ezekiel Parts 1-2 study guides: temple vision, judgment, responsibility, and presence; applied to Ezekiel 4:1–8

Open the Yale Jeremiah and Ezekiel course ↗