Ezekiel 4:1

KJV1611 – Modern English

You also, son of man, take a tile and lay it before you, and portray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וְאַתָּ֤ה בֶן־אָדָם֙ קַח־לְךָ֣ לְבֵנָ֔ה וְנָתַתָּ֥ה אוֹתָ֖הּ לְפָנֶ֑יךָ וְחַקּוֹתָ֥ עָלֶ֛יהָ עִ֖יר אֶת־יְרוּשָׁלָֽ͏ִם׃

Transliteration

And ʾattāh ben-ʾādām take-to-you lᵊbēnāh and nāṯattāh ʾôṯāh before-you and ḥaqqôṯā upon-it ʿîr ʾeṯ-yᵊrûšālāim

Grammar Details

• *ʾattāh*: pronoun, 2nd person, masculine, singular - you
• *ben-ʾādām*: construct phrase, masculine - son of man/humanity
• *lᵊbēnāh*: noun, feminine, singular - brick/tile
• *nāṯattāh*: verb, qal perfect, 2nd person, masculine, singular - you will put/place
• *ʾôṯāh*: direct object marker with 3rd person feminine singular suffix - it (referring to the brick)
• *ḥaqqôṯā*: verb, qal perfect, 2nd person, masculine, singular - you will inscribe/draw/portray
• *ʿîr*: noun, feminine, singular - city
• *ʾeṯ*: direct object marker
• *yᵊrûšālāim*: proper noun - Jerusalem

Word Meanings

• *lᵊbēnāh*: brick/tile/clay tablet
• *ḥaqqôṯā*: inscribe/carve/portray/draw
• *ʿîr*: city/town/settlement

Other Translations

• Linguistic Bible Translation from Source Texts

  Now, you, son of man, take a brick and set it before you; then inscribe on it the city of Jerusalem.

• King James Version 1769 (Standard Version)

  Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:

• American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

  Thou also, son{H1121} of man,{H120} take{H3947} thee a tile,{H3843} and lay{H5414} it before{H6440} thee, and portray{H2710} upon it a city,{H5892} even Jerusalem:{H3389}

• King James Version with Strong's Numbers

  Thou also, son{H1121} of man{H120}, take{H3947}{(H8798)} thee a tile{H3843}, and lay{H5414}{(H8804)} it before{H6440} thee, and pourtray{H2710}{(H8804)} upon it the city{H5892}, even Jerusalem{H3389}:

• Coverdale Bible (1535)

  Thou sonne off man: take a tyle stone, and laye it before the, and descrybe vpon it the cite off Ierusalem:

• Geneva Bible (1560)

  Thou also sonne of man, take thee a bricke, and lay it before thee, and pourtray vpon it the citie, euen Ierusalem,

• Bishops' Bible (1568)

  Thou sonne of man, take thee a tyle stone and lay it before thee, and purtray vpon it the citie Hierusalem,

• Authorized King James Version (1611)

  ¶ Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, [even] Jerusalem:

• Webster's Bible (1833)

  You also, son of man, take a tile, and lay it before you, and portray on it a city, even Jerusalem:

• Young's Literal Translation (1862/1898)

  `And thou, son of man, take to thee a brick, and thou hast put it before thee, and hast graven on it a city -- Jerusalem,

• American Standard Version (1901)

  Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and portray upon it a city, even Jerusalem:

• American Standard Version (1901)

  Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and portray upon it a city, even Jerusalem:

• Bible in Basic English (1941)

  And you, son of man, take a back and put it before you and on it make a picture of a town, even Jerusalem.

• World English Bible (2000)

  You also, son of man, take a tile, and lay it before yourself, and portray on it a city, even Jerusalem:

• NET Bible® (New English Translation)

  Ominous Object Lessons“And you, son of man, take a brick and set it in front of you. Inscribe a city on it– Jerusalem.

Referenced Verses

• 1 Sam 15:27-28 : 27 And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it tore. 28 And Samuel said to him, The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.
• 1 Kgs 11:30-31 : 30 And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and tore it in twelve pieces. 31 And he said to Jeroboam, Take ten pieces: for thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you.
• Isa 20:2-4 : 2 At that same time the LORD spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and remove the sackcloth from your waist, and take off your sandals from your feet. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. 3 And the LORD said, Just as my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia; 4 So will the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians as prisoners, and the Ethiopians as captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.
• Jer 6:6 : 6 For thus has the LORD of hosts said, Cut down trees, and build a mound against Jerusalem. This is the city to be visited; she is full of oppression in her midst.
• Jer 13:1-9 : 1 Thus says the LORD to me, Go and get yourself a linen belt, and put it around your waist, and do not put it in water. 2 So I got a belt according to the word of the LORD, and put it around my waist. 3 And the word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying, 4 Take the belt that you have got, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole in the rock. 5 So I went, and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me. 6 And it came to pass after many days, that the LORD said to me, Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take the belt from there, which I commanded you to hide there. 7 Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and took the belt from the place where I had hidden it: and, behold, the belt was marred, it was profitable for nothing. 8 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 9 Thus says the LORD, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the imagination of their heart, and follow other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, will be like this belt, which is good for nothing. 11 For as the belt clings to the waist of a man, so have I caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to me, says the LORD; that they might be to me a people, and a name, and a praise, and a glory: but they would not hear. 12 Therefore you shall speak to them this word; Thus says the LORD God of Israel, Every bottle shall be filled with wine: and they shall say to you, Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine? 13 Then you shall say to them, Thus says the LORD, Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings that sit on David's throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness. 14 And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, says the LORD: I will have no pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them.
• Jer 18:2-9 : 2 Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear my words. 3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he was working on the wheels. 4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again into another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. 5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 6 O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter? says the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 At any moment I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; 8 If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turns from their evil, I will relent of the evil that I thought to do to them. 9 And at any moment I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; 10 If it does evil in my sight, so that it does not obey my voice, then I will relent of the good with which I said I would benefit them. 11 Now therefore go, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a plan against you: return now everyone from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good. 12 And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own plans, and we will everyone do the imagination of his evil heart.
• Jer 19:1-9 : 1 Thus says the LORD, Go and get a potter's earthen bottle, and take some of the elders of the people, and of the elders of the priests; 2 And go forth to the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell you, 3 And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring disaster upon this place, which whoever hears of it, his ears shall tingle. 4 Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it to other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents; 5 They have also built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I commanded not, nor spoke it, nor did it come into my mind: 6 Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that this place shall no longer be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter. 7 And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of those who seek their lives: and their corpses will I give to be food for the birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth. 8 And I will make this city desolate, and an object of scorn; everyone who passes by it shall be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues. 9 And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend during the siege and distress, with which their enemies, and those who seek their lives, shall distress them. 10 Then you shall break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with you, 11 And shall say to them, Thus says the LORD of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, until there is no place left to bury. 12 Thus will I do to this place, says the LORD, and to its inhabitants, and even make this city like Tophet: 13 And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled like the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense to all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings to other gods. 14 Then Jeremiah came from Tophet, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the LORD’S house; and said to all the people, 15 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words.
• Jer 25:15-38 : 15 For thus says the LORD God of Israel to me; Take the wine cup of this fury at My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. 16 And they shall drink, and stagger, and go mad, because of the sword that I will send among them. 17 Then I took the cup from the LORD'S hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom the LORD had sent me: 18 To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and its kings, and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse; as it is this day; 19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people; 20 And all the mixed people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod, 21 Edom, Moab, and the children of Ammon, 22 And all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands which are beyond the sea, 23 Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who are in the farthest corners, 24 And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed people who dwell in the desert, 25 And all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes, 26 And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world which are upon the face of the earth; and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them. 27 Therefore you shall say to them, Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink, and be drunk, and vomit, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you. 28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, Thus says the LORD of hosts; You shall certainly drink. 29 For, behold, I begin to bring calamity on the city which is called by My name, and should you be completely unpunished? You shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, says the LORD of hosts. 30 Therefore prophesy against them all these words, and say to them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation; He shall mightily roar upon His dwelling place; He shall give a shout, as those who tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. 31 A noise shall come to the ends of the earth; for the LORD has a controversy with the nations, He will plead with all flesh; He will give those who are wicked to the sword, says the LORD. 32 Thus says the LORD of hosts, Behold, disaster shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the farthest parts of the earth. 33 And at that day the slain of the LORD shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered nor buried; they shall be like dung upon the ground. 34 Wail, you shepherds, and cry; and wallow in the ashes, you leaders of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and your dispersions are fulfilled; and you shall fall like a pleasant vessel. 35 And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the leaders of the flock to escape. 36 A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and a wailing of the leaders of the flock, shall be heard: for the LORD has plundered their pasture. 37 And the peaceful habitations are cut down because of the fierce anger of the LORD. 38 He has forsaken His shelter, like a lion; for their land is desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of His fierce anger.
• Jer 27:2-9 : 2 Thus says the LORD to me; Make bonds and yokes, and put them upon your neck, 3 And send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah, king of Judah; 4 And command them to say to their masters, Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Thus shall you say to your masters; 5 I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it to whom it seemed right to me. 6 And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field I have given him also to serve him. 7 And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his grandson, until the very time of his land comes: and then many nations and great kings shall enslave him. 8 And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish, says the LORD, with the sword, and with famine, and with pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. 9 Therefore do not listen to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, You shall not serve the king of Babylon: 10 For they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and you should perish. 11 But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those I will let remain still in their own land, says the LORD; and they shall till it, and dwell therein. 12 I spoke also to Zedekiah, king of Judah, according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live. 13 Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, as the LORD has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? 14 Therefore do not listen to the words of the prophets that speak to you, saying, You shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they prophesy a lie to you. 15 For I have not sent them, says the LORD, yet they prophesy a lie in my name; that I might drive you out, and that you might perish, you, and the prophets that prophesy to you. 16 Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, Thus says the LORD; Do not listen to the words of your prophets that prophesy to you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the LORD's house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon: for they prophesy a lie to you. 17 Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live: why should this city be laid waste? 18 But if they are prophets, and if the word of the LORD is with them, let them now make intercession to the LORD of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, go not to Babylon. 19 For thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the rest of the vessels that remain in this city, 20 Which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took not, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem; 21 Yes, thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem; 22 They shall be carried to Babylon, and there they shall be until the day that I visit them, says the LORD; then I will bring them up, and restore them to this place.
• Jer 32:31 : 31 For this city has been to me a provocation of my anger and of my fury from the day that they built it even to this day; that I should remove it from before my face,
• Ezek 5:1-9 : 1 And you, son of man, take a sharp knife, take a barber's razor, and cause it to pass over your head and your beard: then take scales to weigh and divide the hair. 2 You shall burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and you shall take a third part, and strike around it with a knife: and a third part you shall scatter to the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them. 3 You shall also take a few in number, and bind them in your skirts. 4 Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; from it a fire shall come forth into all the house of Israel. 5 Thus says the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are around her. 6 And she has changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries around her: for they have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them. 7 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Because you have multiplied more than the nations that are around you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, nor done according to the judgments of the nations around you; 8 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, am against you, and will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations. 9 And I will do in you what I have not done, and the like of which I will not do anymore, because of all your abominations. 10 Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in your midst, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in you, and the whole remnant of you I will scatter into all the winds. 11 Therefore, as I live, says the Lord GOD; Surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things, and with all your abominations, therefore will I also diminish you; neither shall my eye spare, nor will I have any pity. 12 A third part of you shall die with pestilence, and with famine they shall be consumed in your midst: and a third part shall fall by the sword around you; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them. 13 Thus shall my anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal when I have accomplished my fury in them. 14 Moreover I will make you a waste, and a reproach among the nations that are around you, in the sight of all that pass by. 15 So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment to the nations that are around you, when I shall execute judgments in you in anger and in fury and in fierce rebukes. I the LORD have spoken it. 16 When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread: 17 So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave you; and pestilence and blood shall pass through you; and I will bring the sword upon you. I the LORD have spoken it.
• Ezek 12:3-9 : 3 Therefore, son of man, prepare your belongings for departure, and remove by day in their sight; and you shall move from your place to another place in their sight: it may be they will consider, though they are a rebellious house. 4 Then you shall bring out your belongings by day in their sight, as belongings for exile: and you shall go forth in the evening in their sight, as those who go into captivity. 5 Dig through the wall in their sight, and carry your belongings out through it. 6 In their sight you shall bear it upon your shoulders, and carry it forth at twilight: you shall cover your face, that you do not see the ground: for I have set you as a sign to the house of Israel. 7 And I did so as I was commanded: I brought out my belongings by day, as belongings for captivity, and in the evening I dug through the wall with my hand; I brought them out at twilight, and I bore them on my shoulder in their sight. 8 In the morning the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 9 Son of man, has not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said to you, What are you doing? 10 Say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD; This burden concerns the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel who are among them. 11 Say, I am your sign: as I have done, so it shall be done to them: they shall move and go into captivity. 12 And the prince who is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out through it: he shall cover his face, that he may not see the ground with his eyes. 13 My net also I will spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet he shall not see it, though he shall die there. 14 And I will scatter toward every wind all who are around him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them. 15 And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries. 16 But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the nations where they go; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
• Hos 1:2-9 : 2 The beginning of the word of the LORD through Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take for yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for the land has committed great harlotry, departing from the LORD. 3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, who conceived and bore him a son. 4 And the LORD said to him, Call his name Jezreel, for in a little while I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and will bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 And it shall come to pass in that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. 6 And she conceived again and bore a daughter. And God said to him, Call her name Lo-Ruhamah, for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, but I will utterly take them away. 7 But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen. 8 Now when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. 9 Then God said, Call his name Lo-Ammi, for you are not My people, and I will not be your God.
• Hos 3:1-5 : 1 Then the LORD said to me, Go again, love a woman loved by her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who turn to other gods and love raisin cakes. 2 So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver, and a homer of barley, and a half homer of barley. 3 And I said to her, You shall stay for me many days; you shall not play the prostitute, and you shall not be for another man: so will I also be for you. 4 For the children of Israel shall remain many days without a king, without a prince, without a sacrifice, without a pillar, without an ephod, and without household gods. 5 Afterward, the children of Israel shall return, and seek the LORD their God and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the last days.
• Hos 12:10 : 10 I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used parables, by the ministry of the prophets.
• Amos 3:2 : 2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.