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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Ezekiel 4:4

lay the iniquity … upon it The meaning seems to be that as when one lies on his side it bears his weight, so this laying of the prophet's weight upon his side is a symbol of the weight of punishment which shall be laid on Israel for its iniquity. Others propose to alter the pointing and read: and I will laythe iniquity of the house of Israel upon thee. The alteration is unnecessary.

thou shalt bear their iniquity To "bear iniquity" is a standing expression meaning to bear the punishment of iniquity. Possibly the word actually means "punishment of iniquity" in such phrases. The prophet does not bear the iniquity of Israel insteadof Israel, as the servant of the Lord in Isaiah 53, his act is entirely symbolical, representing how Israel shall bear its iniquity.

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See also Ezekiel 4:4 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Ezekiel 4:4. _LIE THOU ALSO UPON THY LEFT SIDE_] It appears that all that is mentioned here and in the following verses was done, not in _idea_, but in _fact_. The prophet lay down on _his left...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    The siege being thus represented, the condition and suffering of the inhabitants is exhibited by the condition of one, who, bound as a prisoner or oppressed by sickness, cannot turn from his right sid...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    Ezekiel 4:1. The word tile means “brick.” They were used by the Babylonians to preserve their records, and many have been found marked with building plans, etc. The sign of the tile foretells the sieg...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    (B) THE EXILE: ITS DURATION. The next action is more curious. Ezekiel is represented as lying upon his side for 190 days (as LXX correctly reads in Ezekiel 4:5) to symbolise the years of punishment in...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    LAY. set, or place. Hebrew sum. See note on Ezekiel 4:1. ACCORDING TO THE NUMBER, &c. Reference to Pentateuch, (Numbers 14:34). This is no evidence that in prophetic scriptures there is. "year. day "t...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    LAY THE INIQUITY OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL UPON IT— By the _iniquity_ is meant the punishment of the iniquity of the house of Israel; and though several commentators interpret this passage of what was pa...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    II. PARABLE OF ISRAEL'S SIN 4:4-8 TRANSLATION (4) And as for you, lie upon your left side, and set the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it. The number of days in which you lay upon it you shall b...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity. LIE THOU ALSO...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    § 2. THE OVERTHROW OF THE JEWISH KINGDOM FORETOLD (EZEKIEL 4-7) The great theme of the first part of Ezekiel's prophetic ministry was the certainty of the complete downfall of the Jewish state. Though...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL] used here and in Ezekiel 4:5 in the limited sense of the northern kingdom of the Ten Tribes....

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    EZEKIEL: ‘THEY SHALL KNOW THAT I AM GOD’ THE *SIN OF JUDAH AND THE JUDGEMENT OF GOD EZEKIEL CHAPTER S 1 TO 24 _IAN MACKERVOY_ CHAPTER 4 THE BRICK AND THE IRON PLATE – EZEKIEL 4:1-8 V1 ‘*Son

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    וְ אַתָּ֤ה שְׁכַב֙ עַל ־צִדְּךָ֣ הַ שְּׂמָאלִ

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    THE END FORETOLD Ezekiel 4:1 - Ezekiel 7:1 WITH the fourth chapter we enter on the exposition of the first great division of Ezekiel's prophecies. The chaps, 4-24, cover a period of about four and a...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    The second division of the Book contains the messages of the prophet concerning the reprobation of the chosen nation. These fall into three parts. In the first, by symbolism and speech he described th...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the (b) house of Israel upon it: [according] to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity. (b) By thi...

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    _Sleep. Hebrew, "lie down." (Menochius) --- He eat at intervals. (Calmet) --- Iniquities, or punishments. (Haydock)_...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    I cannot but think somewhat more than Ezekiel, as a servant, and the captivity of the people in Babylon, was intended by this type. At least it is hardly possible to overlook Christ, the one and only...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    We must first consider the scope of this prophecy, and we shall then discuss more conveniently its separate parts. It is not doubtful that God wished to oppose the pride of the people, for they though...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    Besides the general judgment that God pronounced upon the condition of Israel, Jerusalem-on whom lay all the iniquity of the people now come to its height-appears before God whom she had despised. The...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    LIE THOU ALSO UPON THY LEFT SIDE,.... Some think this was not in reality, but in vision, as Kimchi observes; and so Maimonides c; and in like manner they understand his eating and drinking by measures...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: [according] to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity. Ver. 4. _Lie t...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _Lie thou also_, &c. “In his own house, Ezekiel 3:24. This was to be his posture, not without intermission, but in the exercise of his prophetical office, during that part of each day, when the people...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    THE SYMBOL OF THE SIEGE...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    Lie thou also upon thy left side, in another symbolical act, AND LAY THE INIQUITY OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL UPON IT, like a sickness which causes the diseased person to lie in one position without shifti...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    1-8 The prophet was to represent the siege of Jerusalem by signs. He was to lie on his left side for a number of days, supposed to be equal to the years from the establishment of idolatry. All that th...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    LIE THOU ALSO; a posture which was to signify the settled resolution of the besiegers, who had taken up their abode till the siege were finished in taking Jerusalem. UPON THY LEFT SIDE, to note the le...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Ezekiel 4:4 Lie H7901 (H8798) left H8042 side H6654 lay H7760 (H8804) iniquity H5771 house H1004 Israel...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    “Moreover lie on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it. According to the number of days you will lie on it. You will bear their iniquity. For I have appointed the years of...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: The sign of the tile. Typical representations. CHARACTERS: God, Ezekiel. CONCLUSION: If men will not serve God with cheerfulness in the abundance of all things, God will make them serve th...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Ezekiel 4:1. _Son of man, take thee a tile._ It is probable that the prophet took a sheet of plastic clay proper for his purpose; for the Hebrew root בנה _banah,_ is generally applied to construction...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Take thee a tile._ THE MINISTRY OF SYMBOLISM In this chapter there begins a series of symbols utterly impossible of modern interpretation. This ministry of symbolism has still a place in all progres...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    EZEKIEL—NOTE ON EZEKIEL 4:1 Judgment on Jerusalem and Judah. The oracles of chs. Ezekiel 4:1 come before Jerusalem’s downfall in 587 B.C. Although the sequence

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    EZEKIEL—NOTE ON EZEKIEL 4:4 The NUMBER OF THE DAYS, as specified in vv. Ezekiel 4:5, corresponds to periods of exile for Israel and Judah. Compare the announcement of the 40 years

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    3. FIRST INSTRUCTIONS BY SIGNS AND THEIR INTERPRETATION (Chaps. Ezekiel 4:1 to Ezekiel 5:17). EXEGETICAL NOTES.—Ezekiel is ordered to carry out certain specified processes. Their purport is expressed...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION Prior to any detailed examination of the strange series of acts recorded in this and the following chapter, we are met with the question whether they were indeed visible and outward acts,...

  • The Typology of Scripture by Patrick Fairbairn

    CHAPTER 4. THE VISION OF THE SIEGE AND THE INIQUITY-BEARING. Ezekiel 4:1. _And thou, son of man, take thee a brick, and set it before thee, and engrave on it the city Jerusalem._ Ezekiel 4:2. _And l...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Now thou also, Son of man, take a tile (Ezekiel 4:1), Now this is a brick, and it's about twelve inches by fourteen inches. The archeologists have uncovered thousands of these bricks there in the area...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    1 Peter 2:24; 2 Kings 17:21; Ezekiel 4:5; Ezekiel 4:8; Hebrews 9:28;...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    Lay — Take upon thee the representation of their guilt and punishment. House of Israel — The ten tribes. The number — By this thou shalt intimate how long I have borne with their sins, and how long th...

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