Ezekiel Chapter 4 verse 4 Holy Bible
Moreover lie thou 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.
read chapter 4 in ASV
Then, stretching yourself out on your left side, take the sin of the children of Israel on yourself: for as long as you are stretched out, so long will the sin of the children of Israel be on you.
read chapter 4 in BBE
And thou, lie upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: the number of the days that thou liest upon it, thou shalt bear their iniquity.
read chapter 4 in DARBY
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.
read chapter 4 in KJV
read chapter 4 in WBT
Moreover lie you on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it; [according to] the number of the days that you shall lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity.
read chapter 4 in WEB
`And thou, lie on thy left side, and thou hast placed the iniquity of the house of Israel on it; the number of the days that thou liest on it, thou bearest their iniquity.
read chapter 4 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 4. - Lie thou also upon thy left side, etc. We find the explanation of the attitude in Ezekiel 16:46. Samaria was on the "left hand," i.e. to the north, as a man looked to the east. So the same word yamin is both "the south" (1 Samuel 23:19, 24; Psalm 84:12) and "the right hand." Here, accordingly, the "house of Israel" is taken in its specific sense, as the northern kingdom as distinguished from the "house of Judah" in ver. 6. Thou shalt bear their iniquity; ie., as in all similar passages (Exodus 28:43; Leviticus 5:17; Leviticus 7:18; Numbers 18:1, et al.), the punishment of their iniquity. The words so taken will help us to understand the numerical symbolism of the words that followed. The prophet was by this act to identify himself with both divisions of the nation, by representing in this strange form at once the severity and the limits of their punishment. I adopt, without any hesitation, the view that we have here the record of a fact, and not of a vision narrated. The object of the act was to startle men and make them wonder. As week after week went on this, exceptis excipiendis, was to be Ezekiel's permanent attitude, as of one crushed to the very ground, prostrate under the burden thus laid upon him, as impersonating his people.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(4) Lie thou also upon thy left side.--Here a fresh feature of this symbolical prophecy begins, while the former siege is still continued (Ezekiel 4:7).Lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it.--The expression, to bear the iniquity of any one, is common in Scripture to denote the suffering of the punishment due to sin. (See, among many other passages, Ezekiel 18:19-20; Ezekiel 23:35; Leviticus 19:8; Numbers 14:34; Isaiah 53:12.) It is clear, therefore, that Ezekiel is here to represent the people as enduring the Divine judgment upon their sins. This may seem inconsistent with his representing at the same time the besiegers of Jerusalem, the instruments in the Divine hand for inflicting that punishment; but such inconsistencies are common enough in all symbolic representations, and neither offend nor in any way mar the effect of the representation. "The house of Israel" is here expressly distinguished from "the house of Judah," and means the ten tribes. They are symbolised by the prophet's lying on his left side, because it was the Oriental habit to look to the east when describing the points of the compass, and the northern kingdom was therefore on the left. . . .
