Ezekiel 4:13-16
Ah <0162> [Ah.]
ceremonially <05315> [my soul.]
eaten <0398> [have I.]
unclean <06292> [abominable.]
cow's manure ..... excrement <06832 01561 01241> [cow's dung.]
Dried cow-dung is a common fuel in the East, as it is in many parts of England, to the present day; but the prophet was ordered to prepare his bread with human ordure, to shew the extreme degree of wretchedness to which the besieged should be exposed, as they would be obliged literally to use it, from not being able to leave the city to collect other fuel.
remove <07665> [I will.]
eat <0398> [eat.]
The prophet was allowed each day only twenty shekels weight, or about ten ounces, of the coarse food he had prepared, and the sixth part of a hin, scarcely a pint and a half, of water; all of which was intended to shew that they should be obliged to eat the meanest and coarsest food, and that by weight, and their water by measure.
