Ezekiel 24:22
in Ezekiel 24Then you will do as I have done: You will not cover your lips or eat the bread of mourners.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And ye shall do as I have done: ye shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.
KJV
And ye shall do as I have done: ye shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.
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This verse in Ezekiel 24
Commentary
5 notes on this verseAnd ye shall do as I have done,.... When his wife died, and as he was ordered by the Lord; the meaning of Which they were now inquiring: ye shall not cover your lips; as a token of mourning; nor use any other of their country rites and ceremonies, for fear of provoking their enemies, in whose hands they shall be: nor eat the bread of men; or "of mourners", as the Targum; there shall be none to comfort them, or send bread to them; they shall all be alike mourners.
This site's exposition
Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us
on Ezekiel 24:19-24
The answer names the coming loss in the same terms as the prophet's own. Gill reads the parallel as deliberately built, the temple to Jerusalem what the wife was to Ezekiel. JFB notes the command laid on the people, ye shall not mourn nor weep, turns Ezekiel's silence into theirs.
This site's exposition
the bread of mourners
The exiles will copy Ezekiel's conduct when the news reaches them. Gill added that they would set aside every rite of their country for the dead. The loss will be too great for ordinary mourning.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 15 and following) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes with a plague, and you shall not mourn or weep, neither shall your tears flow. Sigh in silence, you shall not mourn for the dead. Your turban shall be on your head, and your sandals shall be on your feet; you shall not cover your lips nor eat the bread of mourners. Therefore, I spoke to the people in the morning, and my wife died in the evening.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
6 Wherefore thus saith the Lord G OD ; Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum is not gone out of it! bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it. 7 For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it upon the top of a rock; she poured it not upon the ground, to cover it with dust;
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:97%@v6-7
The words behind it
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַעֲשִׂיתֶ֖ם | vaasitem | and you will do | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| כַּאֲשֶׁ֣ר | kaasher | just as | H834 → | 5497 times |
| עָשִׂ֑יתִי | ʾasiti | I have done | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | over | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| שָׂפָם֙ | safam | a moustache | H8222 → | |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תַעְט֔וּ | ta'tu | you must cover | H5844 → | |
| וְלֶ֥חֶם | velechem | and food of | H3899 → | 298 times |
| אֲנָשִׁ֖ים | ʾanashim | people | H582 → | 566 times |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תֹאכֵֽלוּ׃ | tokhelu | you must eat | H398 → | 810 times |
וַעֲשִׂיתֶ֖םand you will do
vaasitemH6213 →2628 times
כַּאֲשֶׁ֣רjust as
kaasherH834 →5497 times
עָשִׂ֑יתִיI have done
ʾasitiH6213 →2628 times
עַל־over
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
שָׂפָם֙a moustache
safamH8222 →
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
תַעְט֔וּyou must cover
ta'tuH5844 →
וְלֶ֥חֶםand food of
velechemH3899 →298 times
אֲנָשִׁ֖יםpeople
ʾanashimH582 →566 times
לֹ֥אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
תֹאכֵֽלוּ׃you must eat
tokheluH398 →810 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 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
Job 27:15His survivors will be buried by the plague, and their widows will not weep for them.
it leads to
- Psalms 78:64
His priests fell by the sword, but their widows could not lament.
- Jeremiah 22:18
Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: “They will not mourn for him: ‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’ They will not mourn for him: ‘Alas,…
- 1 Kings 21:21–24
This is what the LORD says: ‘I will bring calamity on you and consume your descendants; I will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, both slave and free.
- Psalms 78:64
Through
Jeremiah 47:3at the sound of the galloping hooves of stallions, the rumbling of chariots, and the clatter of their wheels. The fathers will not turn back for their sons; their hands will hang limp.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 8:16
The snorting of enemy horses is heard from Dan. At the sound of the neighing of mighty steeds, the whole land quakes. They come to devour the land and everything in it, the city…
- Judges 5:22
Then the hooves of horses thundered—the mad galloping of his stallions.
- Jeremiah 46:9
Advance, O horses! Race furiously, O chariots! Let the warriors come forth—Cush and Put carrying their shields, men of Lydia drawing the bow.
- Lamentations 4:3–4
Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like an ostrich in the wilderness.
- Ezekiel 26:10–11
His multitude of horses will cover you in their dust. When he enters your gates as an army entering a breached city, your walls will shake from the noise of cavalry, wagons, and chariots.
- Jeremiah 8:16
About Ezekiel

This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
