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Ezekiel 4:8

in Ezekiel 4

Now behold, I will tie you up with ropes so you cannot turn from side to side until you have finished the days of your siege.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And, behold, I lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to the other, till thou hast accomplished the days of thy siege.

KJV

And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.

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This verse in Ezekiel 4

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ezekiel · Written before 420.

(Verse 8.) Behold, I have surrounded you with chains, and you will not turn from one side to the other, until the days of your siege (or conclusion) are completed. The left side, because it was without a temple and knowledge of God, is assigned to the Israelites; the right side, to the Jews, in whom (or where) the worship and religion of God reside. And it should be noted that in one side there is punishment for sinners, and in the other, exercise of virtue.

This site's exposition

turn your face toward the siege

on Ezekiel 4:7-8

Ezekiel is to “turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared, and prophesy against it.” Clarke explains the bared arm as the sign of a champion going to battle. The Lord then ties him “with ropes so you cannot turn from side to side.”

This site's exposition

I will tie you up with ropes

God will tie Ezekiel with ropes so he cannot turn from side to side. The days of lying still are the days of the siege. Albert Barnes reads the ropes as a figure of God's constraint, keeping the prophet at his task of declaring the city's fall.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

And, behold, I will lay hands upon thee,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

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 Nineteenth Century1 voice

I will lay bands upon thee - Contrast margin reference. The Lord will put constraint upon him, to cause him to exercise his office. In the retirement of his house, figuratively bound and under constraint, he shall not cease to proclaim the doom of the city. The days of thy siege - Those during which he should thus foretell the approaching calamity.

The words behind it

13 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וְהִנֵּ֛הand there!

    vehinehH2009 →843 times

  • נָתַ֥תִּיI will put

    natatiH5414 →2011 times

  • עָלֶ֖יךָon you

    ʾaleikhaH5921 →5755 times

  • עֲבוֹתִ֑יםropes

    avotimH5688 →24 times

  • וְלֹֽא־and not

    velo'-H3808 →5168 times

  • תֵהָפֵ֤ךְyou will turn yourself

    tehafekhH2015 →

  • מִֽצִּדְּךָ֙from side your

    mitzidekhaH6654 →33 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • צִדֶּ֔ךָside your

    tzidekhaH6654 →33 times

  • עַד־until

    ʾad-H5704 →1261 times

  • כַּלּוֹתְךָ֖completing you

    kalotkhaH3615 →208 times

  • יְמֵ֥י[the] days of

    yemeiH3117 →2304 times

  • מְצוּרֶֽךָ׃siege your

    metzurekhaH4692 →25 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

2 in all, six open

The walk

5 stops

Each 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

    Ezekiel 3:25

    And you, son of man, they will tie with ropes, and you will be bound so that you cannot go out among the people.

    it leads to

    • Acts 9:16

      I will show him how much he must suffer for My name.”

    • Mark 3:21

      When His family heard about this, they went out to take custody of Him, saying, “He is out of His mind.”

    • Acts 21:11–13

      Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, bound his own feet and hands, and said, “The Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt…

    • John 21:18

      Truly, truly, I tell you, when you were young, you dressed yourself and walked where you wanted; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you…

    • Acts 20:23

      I only know that in town after town the Holy Spirit warns me that chains and afflictions await me.

About Ezekiel

Ezekiel’s Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Ezekiel’s Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Ezekiel: the study guide →Read Ezekiel 4 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Patrick Fairbairn, An Exposition of Ezekiel.

Read on in Ezekiel 4 →