Ezekiel 4:15
in Ezekiel 4“Look,” He replied, “I will let you use cow dung instead of human excrement, and you may bake your bread over that.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Then he said unto me, See, I have given thee cow’s dung for man’s dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread thereon.
KJV
Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow’s dung for man’s dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.
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This verse in Ezekiel 4
Commentary
7 notes on this verseThen he said to me,.... The Lord hearkened to the prophet's prayer and argument, and makes some abatement and alteration in the charge he gave him: lo, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung: that is, allowed him to make use of the one instead of the other, in baking his mingled bread: thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith; having gathered cow's dung, and dried it, he was to burn it, and bake his bread with it, which is meant by preparing it.
This site's exposition
I have never defiled myself
on Ezekiel 4:14-15
Ezekiel protests as a priest who has kept the food laws. From his youth he has eaten nothing “found dead or mauled by wild beasts,” food that Leviticus 22:8 forbids to priests. The Lord grants a change of fuel, “cow dung instead of human excrement,” and the sign itself stands.
This site's exposition
I will let you use cow dung
God answers the priest's protest in verse 14 and allows cow dung in place of human excrement for the fire. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown call this an easing of the first order, yet the bread is still defiled. The exile's uncleanness stands.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 13 and following) And the Lord said: Thus will the sons of Israel eat their polluted bread among the nations to which I will drive them out. And I said, ah, ah, ah, O Lord God: Behold, my soul is not polluted, and I have not eaten carrion or torn flesh from beasts from my youth until now, and all unclean flesh has not entered into my mouth. And he said to me: Behold, I have given you cow dung instead of human dung, and you shall make your bread with it.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
This is a tacit reflection upon man, as intimating that he being polluted with sin his filthiness is more nauseous and odious than that of any other creature. How much more abominable and filthy is man!
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 Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
cow's dung--a mitigation of the former order (Eze 4:12); no longer "the dung of man"; still the bread so baked is "defiled," to imply that, whatever partial abatement there might be for the prophet's sake, the main decree of God, as to the pollution of Israel by exile among Gentiles, is unalterable.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
15 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֣אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֵלַ֔י | ʾelai | to me | H413 → | 5510 times |
| רְאֵ֗ה | reeh | see | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| נָתַ֤תִּֽי | natati | I give | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| לְךָ֙ | lekha | to you | ||
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| צְפִיעֵ֣י | tzefuei | [the] dung<s> of | H6832 → | |
| הַבָּקָ֔ר | habakar | <the> cattle | H1241 → | 183 times |
| תַּ֖חַת | tachat | in place of | H8478 → | 505 times |
| גֶּלְלֵ֣י | gelei | [the] dung<s> of | H1561 → | |
| הָֽאָדָ֑ם | haadam | <the> humankind | H120 → | 551 times |
| וְעָשִׂ֥יתָ | veasita | and you will make | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| אֶֽת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| לַחְמְךָ֖ | lachmekha | bread your | H3899 → | 298 times |
| עֲלֵיהֶֽם׃ ס | ʾaleihem | on them | H5921 → | 5755 times |
וַיֹּ֣אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
אֵלַ֔יto me
ʾelaiH413 →5510 times
רְאֵ֗הsee
reehH7200 →1300 times
נָתַ֤תִּֽיI give
natatiH5414 →2011 times
לְךָ֙to you
lekha
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
צְפִיעֵ֣י[the] dung<s> of
tzefueiH6832 →
הַבָּקָ֔ר<the> cattle
habakarH1241 →183 times
תַּ֖חַתin place of
tachatH8478 →505 times
גֶּלְלֵ֣י[the] dung<s> of
geleiH1561 →
הָֽאָדָ֑ם<the> humankind
haadamH120 →551 times
וְעָשִׂ֥יתָand you will make
veasitaH6213 →2628 times
אֶֽת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
לַחְמְךָ֖bread your
lachmekhaH3899 →298 times
עֲלֵיהֶֽם׃ סon them
ʾaleihemH5921 →5755 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
About Ezekiel
This page draws on 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 Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.