Ezekiel 4 — The enacted siege and rationed bread — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 4:5, 4:9
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Ezekiel 4 — The enacted siege and rationed bread
4:1–4:3 — Jerusalem engraved on a brick
Verse 4:1 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:1] “And you, son of man, take a brick, set it before you, and engrave on it a city—Jerusalem.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:1] “And you, son of man, take a brick, set it before your face, and draw upon it a city—Jerusalem;
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The brick depicting Jerusalem agrees; engraving/drawing reflects the respective verbs.
Verse 4:2 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:2] Lay siege against it: build siegeworks against it, heap a ramp against it, set camps against it, and place battering rams around it.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:2] lay an encirclement against it, build forward defenses against it, throw up a palisade against it, set camps against it, and arrange missile positions all around.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: The siege model agrees, but Hebrew’s ramp and battering rams become Greek palisade and missile positions. The military equipment is not harmonized.
Verse 4:3 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:3] Take an iron griddle and place it as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your face toward it; it shall be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This is a sign for the house of Israel.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:3] Take an iron pan and place it as an iron wall between you and the city. Prepare your face against it; it shall be enclosed, and you shall enclose it. This is a sign for the sons of Israel.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The iron barrier and siege sign correspond; Hebrew addresses the house of Israel, Greek the sons.
4:4–4:8 — The days borne on each side
Verse 4:4 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:4] Lie on your left side and place the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it. For the number of days you lie upon it, bear their iniquity.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:4] Lie on your left side and place the injustices of the house of Israel upon it, according to the number of days—one hundred fifty—that you lie upon it; bear their injustices.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek expressly adds one hundred fifty days here; Hebrew gives no number in this verse. Greek’s figure is not changed to the one hundred ninety of its next verse.
Verse 4:5 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:5] I have assigned you the years of their iniquity as a number of days, three hundred ninety days; bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:5] I have assigned you their two injustices as a number of days, one hundred ninety days; bear the injustices of the house of Israel
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew assigns years of iniquity and three hundred ninety days; Greek assigns two injustices and one hundred ninety days. Both the reckoning and its duration differ materially.
Verse 4:6 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:6] When you finish these, lie a second time on your right side and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days; a day for a year, a day for a year, I have assigned it to you.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:6] and complete all these things. Lie on your right side and bear the injustices of the house of Judah forty days. I have appointed you a day for a year.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Both give Judah forty days and a day-year relation; Hebrew repeats the day-year formula and specifies a second time, absent in Greek.
Verse 4:7 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:7] Set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with your arm bared, and prophesy against it.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:7] Prepare your face against Jerusalem’s enclosure, strengthen your arm, and prophesy against it.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew bares the arm; Greek strengthens it.
Verse 4:8 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:8] Behold, I have placed cords upon you, and you shall not turn from side to side until you finish the days of your siege.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:8] Behold, I have placed bonds upon you; do not turn from side to side until the days of your enclosure are completed.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The binding and prohibition of turning agree; Hebrew has the prophet finishing, Greek passive completion.
4:9–4:17 — Bread and water under siege
Verse 4:9 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:9] Take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet and spelt; put them in one vessel and make bread from them for yourself. For the number of days you lie on your side—three hundred ninety days—you shall eat it.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:9] Take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet and spelt; put them in one earthen vessel and make loaves from them for yourself. According to the number of days you sleep on your side, you shall eat them one hundred ninety days.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew prescribes three hundred ninety days; Greek one hundred ninety, again altering the duration. Greek also specifies an earthen vessel and plural loaves. The final cereal names are conventional renderings, not botanical certainties.
Verse 4:10 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:10] The food you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day; eat it from time to time.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:10] The food you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day; eat it from time to time.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both preserve twenty shekels as a daily weight of food; this is not converted into currency or a modern mass.
Verse 4:11 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:11] Drink water by measure, a sixth of a hin; drink it from time to time.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:11] Drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin; drink it from time to time.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Greek in borrows the Hebrew measure; both retain one sixth without a modern conversion.
Verse 4:12 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:12] Eat it as a barley cake, and bake it over pellets of human excrement before their eyes.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:12] Eat it as a barley cake baked in embers; bake it in pellets of human dung before their eyes,
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Both prescribe human dung as the baking medium before witnesses. Greek’s en-baking term is more explicit about embedding in the fuel; neither text says to mix dung into the dough.
Verse 4:13 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:13] YHWH said, “Thus the sons of Israel will eat their bread unclean among the nations where I will drive them.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:13] and say, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: So the sons of Israel will eat unclean things among the nations.’”
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Hebrew has YHWH speaking and specifies their bread and His driving them abroad. Greek instructs the prophet to speak, adds God of Israel, and lacks both bread and the expulsion clause.
Verse 4:14 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:14] I said, “Ah, Lord YHWH! Behold, I have not been defiled; from my youth until now I have not eaten an animal that died of itself or was torn, and tainted meat has not entered my mouth.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:14] I said, “By no means, Lord, God of Israel! Behold, my life has not been defiled with uncleanness. From my birth until now I have eaten neither what died of itself nor what a wild animal killed, nor has any stale meat entered my mouth.”
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew begins with lament and counts from youth; Greek begins with refusal and counts from birth. Hebrew piggul is tainted or disqualified meat; Greek heōlon names stale meat.
Verse 4:15 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:15] He said to me, “See, I have given you cattle dung instead of human dung; prepare your bread over it.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:15] He said to me, “Behold, I have given you cattle dung instead of human dung; prepare your loaves over it.”
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both explicitly substitute cattle dung for the former fuel.
Verse 4:16 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:16] He said to me, “Son of man, behold, I am breaking the staff of bread in Jerusalem. They will eat bread by weight and in anxiety, and drink water by measure and in dismay,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:16] He said to me, “Son of man, behold, I am breaking the support of bread in Jerusalem. They will eat bread by weight and in need, and drink water by measure and in devastation,
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew describes anxiety and dismay; Greek describes need and devastation. Both retain weighed bread and measured water.
Verse 4:17 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:17] so that they lack bread and water, are appalled, one with his brother, and waste away in their iniquity.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:17] so that they become needy for bread and water. A man and his brother will disappear, and they will waste away in their injustices.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew’s mutual appallment becomes Greek disappearance/destruction; both retain wasting away under guilt.