Ezekiel 4New International Version (NIV)
Siege of Jerusalem Symbolized
Ezekiel Bread, as sold in stores.
Parody of Ezekiel Bread. Although it should say “Cooked over cow dung,” the parody does show that the original bread takes Ezekiel 4:9 out of context.
“Now, son of man, take a block of clay, put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. 2 Then lay siege to it: Erect siege works against it, build a ramp up to it, set up camps against it and put battering rams around it. 3 Then take an iron pan, place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign to the people of Israel.
4 “Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the people of Israel upon yourself.You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side. 5 I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the people of Israel.
6 “After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the people of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year. 7 Turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem and with bared arm prophesy against her. 8 I will tie you up with ropes so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have finished the days of your siege.
9 “Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself. You are to eat it during the 390 days you lie on your side. 10 Weigh out twenty shekels[8 ounces] of food to eat each day and eat it at set times. 11 Also measure out a sixth of a hin[2/3 Quart] of water and drink it at set times. 12 Eat the food as you would a loaf of barley bread; bake it in the sight of the people, using human excrement for fuel.” 13 The Lord said, “In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them.”
14 Then I said, “Not so, Sovereign Lord! I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have never eaten anything found dead or torn by wild animals. No impure meat has ever entered my mouth.”
15 “Very well,” he said, “I will let you bake your bread over cow dung instead of human excrement.”
16 He then said to me: “Son of man, I am about to cut off the food supply in Jerusalem. The people will eat rationed food in anxiety and drink rationed water in despair, 17 for food and water will be scarce. They will be appalled at the sight of each other and will waste away because of their sin.
I will add just a few small points about this story. Ezekiel and god seem to be able to have a conversation with each other like any two normal human beings. This is common in the bible but never occurs in real life. Even while I was a Christian, I remember reading these stories and wondering why the god of the bible was so different than the god of the 20th century. It would be nice if god could just talk to everyone, but he or she could only do that if he or she really existed.
Not only does god talk to Ezekiel, but he says he will tie him up with ropes. God will do this in order to make sure Ezekiel lies on his left side fro 390 days and his right side for 40 days. The 390 days represents the sinfulness of Israel, and the 40 days represents that of Judah. This is pretty silly, but the god of the Old Testament does some silly things to show how sinful Israel is, such as ordering Hosea to marry a prostitute (Hosea 1:2).
But the strangest thing of all is that god tells Ezekiel to bake the bread over HUMAN FECES (that’s SHIT for those of you inner city dwellers). Ezekiel asks god to reconsider, and god decides Ezekiel can bake his bread over cow feces. How wonderful. Your bread may smell like cow poop, but it least it does not smell like human poop.
Finally, I would like to ask all Christians to imagine how they would react if this story were in the Koran and not in the Bible. If a Christian were honest, he or she would admit that he or she would use this story to show how ridiculous the Koran is. This story makes the most sense when it is viewed as an untrue story told by Bronze Age goat herders for the purpose of motivating the followers of their religion to behave in a desired way. Believing that this ridiculous story actually happened is simply ridiculous.
Bible Verses Rarely Read on Sunday 
This is a great story for Christians. Why no comment so far?
By: VHS on November 1, 2017
at 2:14 am
Must not have traveled outside the country very much as many people use dung for fuel and building.
Funny how you relate this to Christians and not Jews. Guess you have a specific axe to grind
By: Obama on July 9, 2019
at 11:39 pm
I lived in Germany as a Department of Defense civilian from 1989 – 1995 and have visited over 100 countries on 3 continents. My 3rd sentence mentions growing up as a Christian, which is reflected in my answer. I also debate Mulims, Jews, Mormons, etc.
By: edhensley on July 9, 2019
at 11:59 pm
But I have seen Christ Jesus and He spoke to me and gave me a book that had a word written on its cover that said “Holy Bible”
I am so glad and blessed about the fact that Jesus revealed Himself to me.
Do not be a fool whom the Bible talks about that says God doesn’t exist!!!.
By: Worrior princess on September 27, 2019
at 7:49 pm
What version of the bible did Jesus give to you?
By: edhensley on September 28, 2019
at 12:53 am
you don’t deserve a rebuttal and you don’t deserve the truth, and the Bible explains this as well
By: mystery1@asdf.com on November 23, 2019
at 5:12 pm
The bible is unclear on everything. That is why there are over 30,000 different sects of Christianity.
By: edhensley on November 28, 2019
at 11:51 am
That’s where you are wrong. You are correct there are an enormous amount of sects both Christianity and Jews. But what you fail to see is the real reason why they exist. They exist amongst those religions because they are the unfaithful. I’ll use Christianity as an example the same applies to the Jewish religion.
Jesus condemned the Jewish leaders of his day. Not only did he condemn them he called them serpents and told them their father is the devil. So Jesus tell s the leaders of his day they are the spawn of Satan. They were not real believers in their own religion yet they were the leaders of it. Are you starting to see the difference now?
So Jesus is crucified and on the third day rises again and the apostles start telling the Jewish people what took place. Approximately about half of the Jewish people at that time believed in Jesus and followed him after his resurrection. Nation was divided. Half of them believe Jesus and the other half did not. The half that believed in Jesus went into all the world and preach to the rest of the world. The entire “Christian Church” for the first few decades were all just Jewish people until the apostle Paul appeared. When Paul appeared he was sent into the gentile Nations. Now there are two things that exist and they have existed from the beginning this is the part you missed.
There are Christians and there are believers and the two have nothing in common. Christianity is a man-made religion created by Caesar. Caesar declared everyone in his country to be a Christian by decree thus the birth of the Roman Catholic Church they had nothing to do with believing it had to do with being forced to believe something. So there is the formation of a man-made religion called the Roman Catholic Church. The word Christian was only applied biblically to people who believed by unbelievers. Believers never called themselves Christians never ever in the Bible will you see a believer calling themselves a Christian that was a slang word address to believers by unbelievers. This truth has not changed for over 2,000 years there are believers that have nothing to do with the Christian religion they just believe in God’s word and follow God and that’s all. Then there are the churchgoers that claim to be believers but they’re just Christians following a man-made religion filled with dogma negating God’s word.
This still exists to this day you just haven’t noticed it it’s clearly outlined in the book of Galatians.
By: John Gregory on December 6, 2023
at 10:27 pm
Many people who believe they are led by god and who believe the Bible is the word of god have very different conclusions about major theological issues.
By: edhensley on December 11, 2023
at 11:03 pm
Well, Mr. Hensley, one day, you will find out whether God is real, and whether the Bible is God’s word. Whether you believe in God or not is your choice. And, your ability to share your views is your first amendment right, which was adopted on December 15, 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights—the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. The Bill of Rights provides constitutional protection for certain individual liberties, including freedoms of speech, assembly and worship. Those who visit your site also have the right to either agree or disagree with you…hopefully in a courteous, intellectual manner.
By: LAURAN HILL on August 3, 2020
at 3:37 am
The background on this is that Ezekiel is a prophet during the last days of Jerusalem before the Babylonians destroyed the city and the temple in 586 BCE. God is sending Ezekiel out into the plains, into a wilderness beyond the city and gives to him a series of directions that Ezekiel is supposed to do. The Babylonian Empire is rising and is about to go to war with Judah, and Ezekiel is predicting doom because Judah has turned its back on God, and now God has turned his back on Judah. God has directed Ezekiel, his prophet, to perform certain things in advance so that Ezekiel can better comprehend how devastating it will be for the Jews. Ezekiel, is told ,for example, to make bread, fueled by dried dung. He is then told to eat it front of people. The Jews are being punished for sinning, turning against God, and worshiping other gods.
This particular incident is strange to us, especially without knowing the context or the background. God is trying to warn the Jews what is to happen to them in the coming days, through his prophet, Ezekiel. What better way then to see Ezekiel actually acting this out! There will be literally little or no food in the coming days(prepare yourselves). God is not going to save us because we have repeatedly turned our backs on God. Who does that? Warns his people in advance? God does because although he hates sin, he still loves the Jews. God knows that eventually the Jews will repent of their sins and call out to him and God will save them once again. Why? “Because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.” Proverbs 3:12
By: buzzyspeedo on April 23, 2021
at 5:05 pm
“What better way then to see Ezekiel actually acting this out!”
God could communicate by appearing directly on Earth in a form that all could see and hear. Everyone in the world (not just Israel or Judah) could know clearly what god wants. That would be a much better way than having a prophet eat bread baked over dung.
By: edhensley on April 23, 2021
at 9:26 pm
Your way may make better sense to you or us, but back then Ezekiel used both words and sign acts or street theater to get God’s message across in what we would think as maybe strange and bazaar ways which are like parables of God’s prophetic message. Despite this, Ezekiel was told, the people will not listen. God was very angry. Please read Ezekiel 4 and 5.
By: buzzyspeedo on April 24, 2021
at 12:09 am
I have read the entire protestant bible twice and the deuterocanon once. It is nonsense.
By: edhensley on April 24, 2021
at 12:27 am
Why do you say it’s nonsense? Which part doesn’t make sense. If you read the Bible, you understand that Gods ways are higher than our ways. Isaiah 55:8 I don’t think think there is anyone on the planet that completely understands all of the Bible. It’s a lot to comprehend. The basic message is very clear to me; that is the Good News of the Gospel. Once you get that, the Bible makes better sense to me. It’s not the Bible that I need to believe in; it’s Gods free gift of Salvation, through his son Jesus Christ. If your having trouble with that, you are not alone my friend. Matthew 7:13 says, “ You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way.” Reading the Bible is one thing, but truly understanding it only comes through God. You must ask God to reveal his word to you and He will. He did to me and after that I read with better understanding. It’s in the book, Ed. Deuteronomy 4:29; Proverbs 8:17; Jeremiah 29:13; Matthew 7:7; Luke 11:9; Acts 17:24-28 All say basically that “ But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.” I will pray that your eyes will be open Ed. If God can change me, a long lost sinner for many decades, God can save you. Please let know how I can help. I’ll try and answer any questions you might have. Thanks Ed.
By: buzzyspeedo on April 26, 2021
at 8:58 pm
The creator of the universe asking his prophet to eat bread baked over human shit is nonsense.
By: edhensley on April 26, 2021
at 9:10 pm
I love how this person goes out of their way to ignore the most basic historical context. Settlers and entire native cultures were cooking every meal with cow dung in America just a couple of hundred years ago, and still are in many parts of the world.
Using human dung instead horrified Ezekiel because of the Jewish laws of cleanliness and all, it wouldn’t have been as big a deal to any of their neighbors, except for obviously being an act done in times of extreme deprivation when other fuel wasn’t available/affordable. (Which was the point.)
The “Ezekiel bread” itself , the recipe of mixed grains given was a bread eaten when people were scraping together anything they could in times of hardship, so I do find it funny it’s now packaged as an expensive health food.
Although for that matter, people routinely fertilized fields with the stuff and still do today. For real I just love this person’s air of cringing fastidiousness that they assume other people will share, I get the impression they’ve never stepped out of their $4000 apartment.
By: sheriwood on May 4, 2021
at 2:35 pm
And of course I have the usual amusement over the focus on attacking “Christians” when the people you really want to slam over this story are Jews…only you can’t, because if you let your true anti-Semitic feelings be known, that would make you look bad.
By: sheriwood on May 4, 2021
at 2:39 pm
Your accusations about anti-semitism and your comments about my $4000 apartment (I am a homeowner) show more about your character than any accusations you can make about me.
By: edhensley on May 4, 2021
at 7:40 pm
Ezekiel has given a nice atonement of sins for the Christians since it’s allowed to bake the bread with dried human dung. As far as Hinduism is concerned the blacks are supposed to use the cow dung cakes for fuel and die down by going into the pit and resurret as flowers or frogs etc till they become a Brahmin. But Ezekiel allows the blacks to get burned like apostles and enter into heaven instead of having repeated births
By: Cylus Benjamin on November 5, 2022
at 6:33 am
I think they ate the poop and that’s probably the story they all got when someone finally asked there leader why there eaten poop. Dude made up some “shit” lol. And these people are still being fed “the same old shit” killing me. And still eating that “ shit” help …. And told to smile Like it -and trust me. It’s chocolate…. I dunno man Sounds like some bullshit to me. People poop cow poop or bulkshit I’m not eating it
By: John Raffaele on November 21, 2022
at 10:40 pm
Lol
Everyone here is talking about poop. That’s Awesome. I don’t care Jew Muslim Christian catholic pagan and so on
We all have one thing in common no matter what. We all poop. Am I right? Now can we all hold hands? Just not whatever hand you wipe with Damn No way around it. Someone is getting the butt hand. Just smile pretend you don’t smell stink finger!
By: John Raffaele on November 21, 2022
at 10:49 pm
God does talk to people in real life. You just have to practice quieting enough to listen; He WILL speak, sometimes saying more than you were ready for. I promise it’s too true. Love, LOVE.
By: LOSE YOUR FEAR OF FAILURE on December 12, 2022
at 2:34 am
I don’t remember reading this in the Bible. I will have to go to my Bible and read what was happening before this and if it was taken out of context. I don’t believe that God wants us to cook out bread over poop.when Jesus was born many things changed. What you have here was from the old testament. Jesus changed things. Happy baking!!!
By: Pat on February 21, 2023
at 8:03 pm
Fundamentalist Christians believe the Old Testament covers 4000 years, while Jesus has been here just 2000 years or so. If Jesus is the perfection of a plan, then the plan has been imperfect for 2/3 of the time since the creation of the Earth.
By: edhensley on February 21, 2023
at 8:05 pm