Ezekiel 4 · Verse 2

Ezekiel 4:2

And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.
Ezekiel 4:2, King James Version

Ezekiel 4:2 in other translations

BSBThen lay siege against it: Construct a siege wall, build a ramp to it, set up camps against it, and place battering rams around it on all sides.
WEBLay siege against it, build forts against it, and cast up a mound against it. Also set camps against it and plant battering rams against it all around.
ASVand lay siege against it, and build forts against it, and cast up a mound against it; set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it round about.
YLTand hast placed against it a siege, and builded against it a fortification, and poured out against it a mount, and placed against it camps, yea, set thou against it battering-rams round about.
DARBYand lay siege against it, and build forts against it, and cast a mound against it, and set camps against it, and place battering-rams against it round about.
BBEAnd make an attack on it, shutting it in, building strong places against it, and making high an earthwork against it; and put up tents against it, placing engines all round it for smashing down its walls.
WebsterAnd lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it on every side.

What does Ezekiel 4:2 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
2. fort--rather, "watch-tower" (Jr 52:4) wherein the besiegers could watch the movements of the besieged [Gesenius]. A wall of circumvallation [Septuagint and Rosenmuller]. A kind of battering-ram [Maurer]. The first view is best. a mount--wherewith the Chaldeans could be defended from missiles. battering-rams--literally, "through-borers." In Eze 21:22 the same Hebrew is translated "captains."

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 2 Battering rams - כרים carim. This is the earliest account we have of this military engine. It was a long beam with a head of brass, like the head and horns of a ram, whence its name. It was hung by chains or ropes, between two beams, or three legs, so that it could admit of being drawn backward and forward some yards. Several stout men, by means of ropes, pulled it as far back as it could go, and then, suddenly letting it loose, it struck with great force against the wall which it was intended to batter and bring down. This machine was not known in the time of Homer, as in the siege of Troy there is not the slightest mention of such. And the first notice we have of it is here, where we see that it was employed by Nebuchadnezzar in the siege of Jerusalem, A.M. 3416. It was afterwards used by the Carthaginians at the siege of Gades, as Vitruvius notes, lib. 10 c. 19, in which he gives a circumstantial account of the invention, fabrication, use, and improvement of this machine. It was for the want of a machine of this kind, that the ancient sieges lasted so long; they had nothing with which to beat down or undermine the walls.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Ezekiel 4:1-8

The siege of Jerusalem. (Ezek 4:1-8) The famine the inhabitants would suffer. (Ezek 4:9-17) Verses 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 the prophet sets before the children of his people, about the destruction of Jerusalem, is to show that sin is the…

Read the full comment on Ezekiel 4:1-8 →

Ezekiel 4:2 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וְנָתַתָּ֨הve.na.ta.Tahand you will makeH5414
עָלֶ֜יהָ'a.Lei.haon itH5921
מָצ֗וֹרma.Tzora siegeH4692
וּבָנִ֤יתָu.va.Ni.taand you will buildH1129
עָלֶ֙יהָ֙'a.Lei.haon itH5921
דָּיֵ֔קda.Yeka siege-wallH1785
וְשָׁפַכְתָּ֥ve.sha.fakh.Taand you will pour outH8210
עָלֶ֖יהָ'a.Lei.haon itH5921
סֹֽלְלָ֑הso.le.Laha moundH5550
וְנָתַתָּ֨הve.na.ta.Tahand you will set upH5414
עָלֶ֧יהָ'a.Lei.haon itH5921
מַחֲנ֛וֹתma.cha.NotarmiesH4264
וְשִׂים\־ve.sim-and setH7760
עָלֶ֥יהָ'a.Lei.haon itH5921
כָּרִ֖יםka.Rimbattering-ramsH3733
סָבִֽיב\׃sa.Vivall aroundH5439

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Ezekiel 4:2

  • Ezekiel 21:22

    At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to appoint captains, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to appoint battering rams against the gates, to cast a mount, and to build a fort.

  • Jeremiah 6:6

    For thus hath the Lord of hosts said, Hew ye down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.

  • Luke 19:42-44

    Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

  • Jeremiah 52:4

    And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts against it round about.

  • Jeremiah 39:1-2

    In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and they besieged it. And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
lay.
Jer 39:1,2; 52:4; Lu 19:42-44
battering rams. or, chief leaders.
21:22

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Ezekiel 4:1

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

  • Ezekiel 4:2

    And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.

  • Ezekiel 4:3

    Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.

Read all of Ezekiel 4

Ezekiel 4:2 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Y pondrás contra ella cerco, y edificarás contra ella fortaleza, y sacarás contra ella baluarte, y asentarás delante de ella campo, y pondrás contra ella arietes alrededor.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Et mets le siège contre elle, et bâtis contre elle des tours, et élève contre elle une terrasse, et pose des camps contre elle, et place contre elle des béliers tout autour.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Und mache eine Belagerung wider sie, und baue Belagerungstürme wider sie, und schütte wider sie einen Wall auf, und stelle Heerlager wider sie, und errichte Sturmböcke wider sie ringsum.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Et ordinabis adversus eam obsidionem, et ædificabis munitiones, et comportabis aggerem, et dabis contra eam castra, et pones arietes in gyro.