Ezekiel 4:6
in Ezekiel 4When you have completed these days, lie down again, but on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. I have assigned to you 40 days, a day for each year.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And again, when thou hast accomplished these, thou shalt lie on thy right side, and shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah: forty days, each day for a year, have I appointed it unto thee.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Ezekiel 4
Commentary
8 notes on this verseForty days - Reckon, says Archbishop Newcome, near fifteen years and six months in the reign of Manasseh, two years in that of Amon, three months in that of Jehoahaz, eleven years in that of Jehoiakim, three months and ten days in that of Jehoiachin, and eleven years in that of Zedekiah; and there arises a period of forty years, during which gross idolatry was practiced in the kingdom of Judah. Forty days may have been employed in spoiling and desolating the city and the temple.
This site's exposition
lie down on your left side
on Ezekiel 4:4-6
Ezekiel is to lie “on your left side” for “390 days,” then “on your right side” for “40 days” with “a day for each year.” The text gives the numbers without naming the events they measure, and Keil notes that the older writers already disagreed over which years are meant.
This site's exposition
a day for each year
After the left side, Ezekiel lies 40 days on his right side for the house of Judah, a day for each year. Adam Clarke reports a count of about forty years across the reigns from Manasseh to Zedekiah. Other readers start from the renewal of the covenant under Josiah.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
(Ver. 4 seqq.) And you shall lie on your left side, and you shall bear the iniquities of the house of Israel upon it, according to the number of days that you lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity. For I have laid on you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of days, three hundred and ninety days; so you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when you have completed these, you shall lie again on your right side, and you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days.
Ezekiel was to lie down on his right side for 40 days and 150 on his left, to dig through a wall and flee, portraying in himself the captivity. Another time Ezekiel is to sharpen a sword to a point, shave his head with it …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Forty days - Probably from Josiah's renewing the covenant, until the destruction of the temple, during which time God deferred to punish, expecting whether they would keep their covenant, or retain their idolatries, which latter they did for thirteen years of Josiah's reign, for eleven of Jehoiakim's, and eleven of Zedekiah's reign, and five of his captivity, which amount to just forty years.
And when thou hast accomplished them,....
The famine that should rage within the city; this is signified by his eating very coarse fare, and confining himself to a little of it, so long as this typical representation lasted,
The words behind it
21 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְכִלִּיתָ֣ | vekhilita | and you will complete | H3615 → | 208 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| אֵ֗לֶּה | ʾeleh | these | H428 → | 746 times |
| וְשָׁ֨כַבְתָּ֜ | veshakhavta | and you will lie down | H7901 → | 212 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| צִדְּךָ֤ | tzidekha | side your | H6654 → | 33 times |
| הַיְמָנִי֙ | haymoni | <the> right | H3233 → | 32 times |
| שֵׁנִ֔ית | shenit | a second [time] | H8145 → | 156 times |
| וְנָשָׂ֖אתָ | venasata | and you will bear | H5375 → | 656 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| עֲוֹ֣ן | ʾavon | [the] iniquity of | H5771 → | 233 times |
| בֵּית־ | beit- | [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| יְהוּדָ֑ה | yehudah | Judah | H3063 → | 819 times |
| אַרְבָּעִ֣ים | ʾarbaim | forty | H705 → | 136 times |
| י֔וֹם | yom | day[s] | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| י֧וֹם | yom | a day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| לַשָּׁנָ֛ה | lashanah | for the year | H8141 → | 877 times |
| י֥וֹם | yom | a day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| לַשָּׁנָ֖ה | lashanah | for the year | H8141 → | 877 times |
| נְתַתִּ֥יו | netativ | I have assigned it | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| לָֽךְ׃ | lakh | to you |
וְכִלִּיתָ֣and you will complete
vekhilitaH3615 →208 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
אֵ֗לֶּהthese
ʾelehH428 →746 times
וְשָׁ֨כַבְתָּ֜and you will lie down
veshakhavtaH7901 →212 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
צִדְּךָ֤side your
tzidekhaH6654 →33 times
הַיְמָנִי֙<the> right
haymoniH3233 →32 times
שֵׁנִ֔יתa second [time]
shenitH8145 →156 times
וְנָשָׂ֖אתָand you will bear
venasataH5375 →656 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
עֲוֹ֣ן[the] iniquity of
ʾavonH5771 →233 times
בֵּית־[the] house of
beit-H1004 →2046 times
יְהוּדָ֑הJudah
yehudahH3063 →819 times
אַרְבָּעִ֣יםforty
ʾarbaimH705 →136 times
י֔וֹםday[s]
yomH3117 →2304 times
י֧וֹםa day
yomH3117 →2304 times
לַשָּׁנָ֛הfor the year
lashanahH8141 →877 times
י֥וֹםa day
yomH3117 →2304 times
לַשָּׁנָ֖הfor the year
lashanahH8141 →877 times
נְתַתִּ֥יוI have assigned it
netativH5414 →2011 times
לָֽךְ׃to you
lakh
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
Revelation 13:5The beast was given a mouth to speak arrogant and blasphemous words, and authority to act for 42 months.
it leads to
- Daniel 7:8
While I was contemplating the horns, suddenly another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like those of a…
- Daniel 7:25
He will speak out against the Most High and oppress the saints of the Most High, intending to change the appointed times and laws; and the saints will be given into his hand for…
- Daniel 11:36
Then the king will do as he pleases and will exalt and magnify himself above every god, and he will speak monstrous things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the…
- Revelation 12:6
And the woman fled into the wilderness, where God had prepared a place for her to be nourished for 1,260 days.
- Daniel 7:11
Then I kept watching because of the arrogant words the horn was speaking. As I continued to watch, the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire.
- Daniel 7:8
Through
Numbers 14:34In keeping with the forty days you spied out the land, you shall bear your guilt forty years—a year for each day—and you will experience My alienation.
it leads to
- Numbers 13:25
After forty days the men returned from spying out the land,
- Jeremiah 18:9–10
And if at another time I announce that I will build up and establish a nation or kingdom,
- Daniel 9:24
Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city to stop their transgression, to put an end to sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up…
- Numbers 13:25
About Ezekiel
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; 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 Theodoret of Cyrus, LIVES OF SIMEON STYLITES 12.