“Son of man, eat your bread with trembling, and drink your water with quivering and anxiety.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Son of man, eat your bread with quaking, and drink your water with trembling and with fearfulness.
- KJV Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and with carefulness;
- NKJV “Son of man, eat your bread with quaking, and drink your water with trembling and anxiety.
- NASB “Son of man, eat your bread with trembling, and drink your water with quivering and anxiety.
- NLT “Son of man, tremble as you eat your food. Shake with fear as you drink your water.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Ezekiel is to eat and drink with trembling and fear, picturing the anxiety of those under siege.
Overview
The prophet acts out the dread that will grip Jerusalem when food and water become scarce and survival uncertain. His shaking meal preaches the coming terror more powerfully than words. The sign warns that sin's consequences bring not just loss but consuming fear.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Lam 5:9We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness.
- Ps 60:2–3You have shaken the land and torn it open. Heal its fractures, for it is quaking.
- Ps 80:5You fed them with the bread of tears and made them drink the full measure of their tears.
- Lev 26:26When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will bake your bread in a single oven and dole out your bread by weight, so that you will eat but not be satisfied.
- Deut 28:48you will serve your enemies the LORD will send against you in famine, thirst, nakedness, and destitution. He will place an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.
- Lev 26:36As for those of you who survive, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, so that even the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. And they will flee as one flees the sword, and fall when no one pursues them.
- Ezek 4:16–17Then 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.
- Job 3:24I sigh when food is put before me, and my groans pour out like water.
- Deut 28:65Among those nations you will find no repose, not even a resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a despairing soul.
- Ps 102:4–9My heart is afflicted, and withered like grass; I even forget to eat my bread.
- Ezek 23:33You will be filled with drunkenness and grief, with a cup of devastation and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.
How Ezekiel 12:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.