Ezekiel 4:1

Ominous Object Lessons

4:1 “And you, son of man, take a brick ¹  and set it in front of you. Inscribe ²  a city on it – Jerusalem.

Ezekiel 14:19

14:19 “Or suppose I were to send a plague into that land, and pour out my rage on it with bloodshed, killing both people and animals.

Ezekiel 22:3

22:3 Then say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: O city, who spills blood within herself (which brings on her doom), ³  and who makes herself idols (which results in impurity),

Ezekiel 23:8

23:8 She did not abandon the prostitution she had practiced in Egypt; for in her youth men had sex with her, fondled her virgin breasts, and ravished her. ⁴ 

Ezekiel 28:23

28:23 I will send a plague into the city ⁵  and bloodshed into its streets;

the slain will fall within it, by the sword that attacks it ⁶  from every side.

Then they will know that I am the Lord.

¹ sn Ancient Near Eastern bricks were 10 to 24 inches long and 6 to 13 1/2 inches wide.

² tn Or perhaps “draw.”

³ tn Heb “her time”; this refers to the time of impending judgment (see the note on “doom” in v. 4).

⁵ tn Heb “and poured out their harlotry on her.”

⁷ tn Heb “into it”; the referent of the feminine pronoun has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁸ tn Heb “by a sword against it.”