Ezekiel 4:10
in Ezekiel 4You are to weigh out twenty shekels of food to eat each day, and you are to eat it at set times.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And thy food which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.
KJV
And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.
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This verse in Ezekiel 4
Commentary
11 notes on this verseTwenty shekels a day - The whole of the above grain, being ground, was to be formed into one mass, out of which he was to make three hundred and ninety loaves; one loaf for each day; and this loaf was to be of twenty shekels in weight. Now a shekel, being in weight about half an ounce, this would be ten ounces of bread for each day; and with this water to the amount of one sixth part of a hin, which is about a pint and a half of our measure.
This site's exposition
take wheat, barley, beans, lentils
on Ezekiel 4:9-11
The bread mixes six kinds of grain and pulse in “a single container.” The prophet eats “twenty shekels of food” a day and drinks “a sixth of a hin of water.” The ration echoes the curse of Leviticus 26:26, where bread is doled out by weight and eaten without satisfying.
This site's exposition
twenty shekels of food
Ezekiel's food is weighed out, twenty shekels each day, eaten at set times. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown put this at little more than ten ounces, a scant measure to keep a man alive, as in Jeremiah 52:6. Food weighed out marks famine.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
(Vrs. 9 ff.) And you will take for yourself wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt; and you will put them into one vessel, and you will make for yourself breads according to the number of days on which you will sleep on your side: three hundred and ninety days you will eat it. But your food that you will eat will be in the weight of twenty shekels a day: from time to time you will eat it.
A commentator
Philoxenus of Mabbug13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 11 -- On Abstinence · Written before 523.
proposed
And the prophet Ezekiel also, when he was about to receive the revelation of the prophecy of the uprooting of the city and the overthrowing of the temple, did the word of God bring into severe tribulations to eat bread by weight, and to drink …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
By weight - Not as much as you will, but a small pittance delivered by weight to all. Twenty shekels - Ten ounces: scarce enough to maintain life. From time to time - At set hours this was weighed out.
, where he pathetically describes the terrible famine that was in Jerusalem during the siege and the sad effects of it. The prophet here, to affect the people with the foresight of it, must confine himself for 390 days to coarse fare and short commons, and that ill-dressed, for they should want both food and fuel.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
And thy meat which thou shall eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day,....
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The prophet is here ordered to represent to himself and others by signs which would be proper and powerful to strike the fancy and to affect the mind, the siege of Jerusalem; and this amounted to a prediction. He was ordered to engrave a draught of Jerusalem upon a tile,
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
twenty shekels--that is, little more than ten ounces; a scant measure to sustain life (Jer 52:6). But it applies not only to the siege, but to their whole subsequent state.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
meat - A general term for food, which in this case consists of grain. Instead of measuring, it was necessary in extreme scarcity to weigh it Lev 26:26; Rev 6:6. Twenty shekels a day - The shekel contained about 220 grains, so that 20 shekels would be about 56 of a pound. From time to time - Thou shalt receive and eat it at the appointed interval of a day.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
with a weight [This is] symbolic of the besieged people, who are fearful of the famine and [so] eat with a measure and drink with a measure.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
from time to time From day to day you shall drink with this measure, viz. a sixth of a hin.
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
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּמַאֲכָֽלְךָ֙ | umaakhalekha | and food your | H3978 → | 30 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֣ר | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| תֹּאכֲלֶ֔נּוּ | tokhalenu | you will eat it | H398 → | 810 times |
| בְּמִשְׁק֕וֹל | bemishkol | by weight | H4946 → | |
| עֶשְׂרִ֥ים | ʾesrim | [will be] twenty | H6242 → | 315 times |
| שֶׁ֖קֶל | shekel | shekel[s] | H8255 → | 88 times |
| לַיּ֑וֹם | laiyom | to the day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| מֵעֵ֥ת | meet | from time | H6256 → | 296 times |
| עַד־ | ʾad- | to | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| עֵ֖ת | ʾet | time | H6256 → | 296 times |
| תֹּאכֲלֶֽנּוּ׃ | tokhalenu | you will eat it | H398 → | 810 times |
וּמַאֲכָֽלְךָ֙and food your
umaakhalekhaH3978 →30 times
אֲשֶׁ֣רwhich
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
תֹּאכֲלֶ֔נּוּyou will eat it
tokhalenuH398 →810 times
בְּמִשְׁק֕וֹלby weight
bemishkolH4946 →
עֶשְׂרִ֥ים[will be] twenty
ʾesrimH6242 →315 times
שֶׁ֖קֶלshekel[s]
shekelH8255 →88 times
לַיּ֑וֹםto the day
laiyomH3117 →2304 times
מֵעֵ֥תfrom time
meetH6256 →296 times
עַד־to
ʾad-H5704 →1261 times
עֵ֖תtime
ʾetH6256 →296 times
תֹּאכֲלֶֽנּוּ׃you will eat it
tokhalenuH398 →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
Isaiah 3:1For behold, the Lord GOD of Hosts is about to remove from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support: the whole supply of food and water,
it leads to
- Leviticus 26:26
When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will bake your bread in a single oven and dole out your bread by weight, so that you will eat but not be satisfied.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Leviticus 26:26
Through
Ezekiel 45:12The shekel will consist of twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels will equal one mina.
it leads to
- Exodus 30:13
Everyone who crosses over to those counted must pay a half shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs. This half shekel is an offering to the LORD.
- Leviticus 27:25
Every valuation will be according to the sanctuary shekel, twenty gerahs to the shekel.
- Numbers 3:47
you are to collect five shekels for each one, according to the sanctuary shekel of twenty gerahs.
- Exodus 30:13
Through
Leviticus 26:26When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will bake your bread in a single oven and dole out your bread by weight, so that you will eat but not be satisfied.
it leads to
- Micah 6:14
You will eat but not be satisfied, and your hunger will remain with you. What you acquire, you will not preserve; and what you save, I will give to the sword.
- Isaiah 3:1
For behold, the Lord GOD of Hosts is about to remove from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support: the whole supply of food and water,
- Psalms 105:16
He called down famine on the land and cut off all their supplies of food.
- Micah 6:14
Through
Ezekiel 14:13“Son of man, if a land sins against Me by acting unfaithfully, and I stretch out My hand against it to cut off its supply of food, to send famine upon it, and to…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 4:16
Then He told me, “Son of man, I am going to cut off the supply of food in Jerusalem. They will anxiously eat bread rationed by weight, and in despair they will drink water…
- Ezekiel 4:16
About Ezekiel
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Philoxenus of Mabbug, 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 11 -- On Abstinence.