Ezekiel 4:1
in Ezekiel 4“Now you, son of man, take a brick, place it before you, and draw on it the city of Jerusalem.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and portray upon it a city, even Jerusalem:
KJV
Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:
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This verse in Ezekiel 4
Commentary
4 notes on this verseThou also, son of man, take thee a tile,.... Or "brick" (z). The Targum renders it, a "stone"; but a tile or brick, especially one that is not dried and burned, but green, is more fit to cut in it the figure of a city.
This site's exposition
take thee a tile
on Ezekiel 4:1-3
The prophet is told to take a tile and scratch a city on it, Jerusalem drawn as a child draws a fort, with a mound and a camp and battering rams set against it in miniature. The scene is called a sign to the house of Israel before a word of interpretation is given, the pattern of Ezekiel's whole ministry, act first and speech after. Henry reads the model siege as a rehearsal meant to convince exiles who still hoped Jerusalem would stand that the city they trusted was already, in effect, under the rod. The iron pan set as a wall of iron pictures a barrier no prayer will move, the Lord himself besieging the city he once dwelt in.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
It was Jerusalem's honour that while she kept her integrity God had graven her upon the palms of his hands ( Isa. xlix. 16 ), and the names of the tribes were engraven in precious stones on the breast-plate of the high priest; but, now that the faithful city has become a harlot, a worthless brittle tile or brick is thought good enough to portray it upon.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
A tile - Rather, a brick. Sun-dried or kiln-burned bricks were from very early times used for building walls throughout the plain of Mesopotamia. The bricks of Nineveh and Babylon are sometimes stamped with what appears to be the device of the king in whose reign they were made, and often covered with a kind of enamel on which various scenes are portrayed. Among the subjects depicted on such bricks discovered at Nimroud are castles and forts.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
a brick Heb. לְבֵנָה, tivle in Old French [tuile in modern French]. Some of them are large.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְאַתָּ֤ה | veatah | and you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| בֶן־ | ven- | O son of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| אָדָם֙ | ʾadam | humankind | H120 → | 551 times |
| קַח־ | kach- | take | H3947 → | 966 times |
| לְךָ֣ | lekha | <for> yourself | ||
| לְבֵנָ֔ה | levenah | a brick | H3843 → | |
| וְנָתַתָּ֥ה | venatatah | and you will set | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| אוֹתָ֖הּ | ʾotah | <obj.> it | H853 → | 10935 times |
| לְפָנֶ֑יךָ | lefaneikha | <to> before you | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| וְחַקּוֹתָ֥ | vechakota | and you will inscribe | H2710 → | |
| עָלֶ֛יהָ | ʾaleiha | on it | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| עִ֖יר | ʾir | a city | H5892 → | 1090 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| יְרוּשָׁלִָֽם׃ | yerushalim | Jerusalem | H3389 → | 643 times |
וְאַתָּ֤הand you
veatahH859 →1094 times
בֶן־O son of
ven-H1121 →4930 times
אָדָם֙humankind
ʾadamH120 →551 times
קַח־take
kach-H3947 →966 times
לְךָ֣<for> yourself
lekha
לְבֵנָ֔הa brick
levenahH3843 →
וְנָתַתָּ֥הand you will set
venatatahH5414 →2011 times
אוֹתָ֖הּ<obj.> it
ʾotahH853 →10935 times
לְפָנֶ֑יךָ<to> before you
lefaneikhaH6440 →2123 times
וְחַקּוֹתָ֥and you will inscribe
vechakotaH2710 →
עָלֶ֛יהָon it
ʾaleihaH5921 →5755 times
עִ֖ירa city
ʾirH5892 →1090 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
יְרוּשָׁלִָֽם׃Jerusalem
yerushalimH3389 →643 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
2 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 6:6For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Cut down the trees and raise a siege ramp against Jerusalem. This city must be punished; there is nothing but oppression in her midst.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 20:19–20
When you lay siege to a city for an extended time while fighting against it to capture it, you must not destroy its trees by putting an axe to them, because you can eat…
- Jeremiah 32:24
See how the siege ramps are mounted against the city to capture it. And by sword and famine and plague, the city has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting…
- Deuteronomy 20:19–20
About Ezekiel
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.