And you shall eat it as barley cakes; and bake it using fuel of human waste in their sight.”
Parallel translations
- WEB You shall eat it as barley cakes, and you shall bake it in their sight with dung that comes out of man.”
- KJV And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.
- BSB 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.”
- NASB You shall eat it as a barley cake, having baked it in their sight over human dung.”
- NLT Prepare and eat this food as you would barley cakes. While all the people are watching, bake it over a fire using dried human dung as fuel and then eat the bread.”
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 must bake his bread over human dung in public view. The defiling fuel pictures the uncleanness Israel will endure in exile.
Overview
God commands bread baked over human excrement, a deliberately shocking sign of defilement. The image foreshadows the ceremonial uncleanness Israel will suffer scattered among the nations, cut off from the purity of temple worship. It underscores how sin defiles every part of life and how exile strips away the holiness God's people were called to embody.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 2
- Isa 36:12But Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me only to your master and to you, to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, who will eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?”
- Gen 18:6Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quickly prepare three seahs of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 4:12 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.