Ezekiel 4–7: The End Has Come": The Brick, the Side, the Hair, and the Four Corners

Scripture: Berean Standard Bible

“Now you, son of man, take a brick, place it before you, and draw on it the city of Jerusalem. Then lay siege against it: Construct a siege wall, build a ramp to it, set up camps against it, and place battering rams around it on all sides. Then take an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between yourself and the city. Turn your face toward it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.

Then lie down on your left side and place the iniquity of the house of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their iniquity for the number of days you lie on your side. For I have assigned to you 390 days, according to the number of years of their iniquity. So you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

When 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. You must turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared, and prophesy against it.

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.

But take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt; put them in a single container and make them into bread for yourself. This is what you are to eat during the 390 days you lie on your side. You are to weigh out twenty shekels of food to eat each day, and you are to eat it at set times.

You are also to measure out a sixth of a hin of water to drink, and you are to drink it at set times. And you shall eat the food as you would a barley cake, after you bake it over dried human excrement in the sight of the people.”

Then the LORD said, “This is how the Israelites will eat their defiled bread among the nations to which I will banish them.”

“Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have not eaten anything found dead or mauled by wild beasts. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth.”

“Look,” he replied, “I will let you use cow dung instead of human excrement, and you may bake your bread over that.”

Then he told me, “Son of man, I am going to cut off the supply of food in Jerusalem. They will anxiously eat bread rationed by weight, and in despair they will drink water by measure. So they will lack food and water; they will be appalled at the sight of one another wasting away in their iniquity.

“As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword, use it as a barber’s razor, and shave your head and beard. Then take a set of scales and divide the hair. When the days of the siege have ended, you are to burn up a third of the hair inside the city; you are also to take a third and slash it with the sword all around the city; and you are to scatter a third to the wind. For I will unleash a sword behind them.

But you are to take a few strands of hair and secure them in the folds of your garment. Again, take a few of these, throw them into the fire, and burn them. From there a fire will spread to the whole house of Israel.

This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. But she has rebelled against my ordinances more wickedly than the nations, and against my statutes worse than the countries around her. For her people have rejected my ordinances and have not walked in my statutes.’

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You have been more insubordinate than the nations around you; you have not walked in my statutes or kept my ordinances, nor have you even conformed to the ordinances of the nations around you.’

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations. Because of all your abominations, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again. As a result, fathers among you will eat their sons, and sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments against you and scatter all your remnant to every wind.’

Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable idols and abominations, I myself will withdraw my favor; I will not look upon you with pity, nor will I spare you.

A third of your people will die by plague or be consumed by famine within you, a third will fall by the sword outside your walls, and a third I will scatter to every wind and unleash a sword behind them.

And when my anger is spent and I have vented my wrath against them, I will be appeased. And when I have spent my wrath on them, they will know that I, the LORD, in my zeal have spoken.

I will make you a ruin and a disgrace among the nations around you, in the sight of all who pass by. So you will be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and a horror to the nations around you, when I execute judgments against you in anger, wrath, and raging fury. I, the LORD, have spoken.

When I shower you with the deadly arrows of famine and destruction that I will send to destroy you, I will intensify the famine against you and cut off your supply of food. I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring a sword against you. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, set your face against the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them.

You are to say: ‘O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD! This is what the Lord GOD says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys: I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places. Your altars will be demolished and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will cast down your slain before your idols. I will lay the corpses of the Israelites before their idols and scatter your bones around your altars.

Wherever you live, the cities will be laid waste and the high places will be demolished, so that your altars will be laid waste and desecrated, your idols smashed and obliterated, your incense altars cut down, and your works blotted out. The slain will fall among you, and you will know that I am the LORD.

Yet I will leave a remnant, for some of you will escape the sword when you are scattered among the nations and throughout the lands.

Then in the nations to which they have been carried captive, your survivors will remember me—how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts that turned away from me, and by their eyes that lusted after idols. So they will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their abominations. And they will know that I am the LORD; I did not declare in vain that I would bring this calamity upon them.

This is what the Lord GOD says: Clap your hands, stomp your feet, and cry out “Alas!” because of all the wicked abominations of the house of Israel, who will fall by sword and famine and plague. He who is far off will die by the plague, he who is near will fall by the sword, and he who remains will die by famine. So I will vent my fury upon them.

Then you will know that I am the LORD, when their slain lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, and under every green tree and leafy oak—the places where they offered fragrant incense to all their idols. I will stretch out my hand against them, and wherever they live I will make the land a desolate waste, from the wilderness to Diblah. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’ ”

And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “O son of man, this is what the Lord GOD says to the land of Israel:

‘The end! The end has comeupon the four corners of the land.The end is now upon you,and I will unleash my anger against you.I will judge you according to your waysand repay you for all your abominations.I will not look on you with pity,nor will I spare you,but I will punish you for your waysand for the abominations among you.

Then you will know that I am the LORD.’

This is what the Lord GOD says:

‘Disaster! An unprecedented disaster —behold, it is coming!The end has come!The end has come!It has roused itself against you.Behold, it has come!Doom has come to you,O inhabitants of the land.The time has come;the day is near;there is panic on the mountainsinstead of shouts of joy.

Very soon I will pour out my wrath upon youand vent my anger against you;I will judge you according to your waysand repay you for all your abominations.I will not look on you with pity,nor will I spare you,but I will punish you for your waysand for the abominations among you.Then you will know that it is I, the LORD,who strikes the blow.

Behold, the day is here!It has come!Doom has gone out,the rod has budded,arrogance has bloomed.Their violence has grown into a rodto punish their wickedness.None of them will remain:none of their multitude,none of their wealth,and nothing of value.

The time has come;the day has arrived.Let the buyer not rejoiceand the seller not mourn,for wrath is upon the whole multitude.The seller will surely not recover what he soldwhile both remain alive.For the vision concerning the whole multitudewill not be revoked,and because of their iniquity,not one of them will preserve his life.

They have blown the trumpetand made everything ready,but no one goes to war,for my wrath is upon the whole multitude.The sword is outside;plague and famine are within.Those in the country will die by the sword,and those in the city will be devouredby famine and plague.

The survivors will escapeand live in the mountains,moaning like doves of the valley,each for his own iniquity.Every hand will go limp,and every knee will turn to water.They will put on sackcloth,and terror will overwhelm them.Shame will cover all their faces,and all their heads will be shaved.

They will throw their silver into the streets,and their gold will seem unclean.Their silver and gold cannot save themin the day of the wrath of the LORD.They cannot satisfy their appetitesor fill their stomachs with wealth,for it became the stumbling blockthat brought their iniquity.

His beautiful ornamentsthey transformed into prideand used them to fashiontheir vile images and detestable idols.Therefore I will make theseinto something unclean for them.And I will hand these things overas plunder to foreignersand loot to the wicked of the earth,who will defile them.I will turn my face away from them,and they will defile my treasured place.Violent men will enter it,and they will defile it.

Forge the chain,for the land is full of crimes of bloodshed,and the city is full of violence.So I will bring the most wicked of nationsto take possession of their houses.I will end the pride of the mighty,and their holy places will be profaned.

Anguish is coming!They will seek peace, but find none.Disaster upon disaster will come,and rumor after rumor.Then they will seek a vision from a prophet,but instruction from the priests will perish,as will counsel from the elders.The king will mourn,the prince will be clothed with despair,and the hands of the people of the land will tremble.I will deal with them according to their conduct,and I will judge them by their own standards.

Then they will know that I am the LORD.’ ”