Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.

EZEKIEL 4:11KJV
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Ezekiel 4:11 (KJV)

What does Ezekiel 4:11 mean?

Ezekiel 4:11 describes God telling Ezekiel to drink a fixed, small amount of water at intervals. Ezekiel’s limited water is part of an acted message about the scarcity people would face when Jerusalem was under attack and cut off from supplies.

God gives Ezekiel this instruction alongside the measured food in the previous verse. The “sixth part of an hin” was a quantity familiar as a liquid measure, though its exact modern equivalent is uncertain. It is often estimated at roughly half a liter, or about two cups.

The Hebrew behind Ezekiel 4:11

  • “hin” — הִין (hin): A hin was a unit for measuring liquids. Naming a fraction of a hin gives Ezekiel a specific allowance rather than simply telling him to drink sparingly.
  • “time” — עֵת (ʿet): This word can mean a time or an occasion. In the repeated phrase “from time to time,” it points to drinking at intervals.

Why Ezekiel 4:11 matters

  • Ezekiel’s water is part of a public sign, not just a private restriction. Earlier in the passage, God tells him to portray an attack on Jerusalem before the people (Ezekiel 4:1–3).
  • The measured allowance helps explain the alarm described later in the passage. God says the people will drink water “with astonishment” because food and water will be scarce (Ezekiel 4:16–17).

Where else these words appear

“measure” Hebrew H4884 · used in 4 verses

  • Leviticus 19:35 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure.
  • 1 Chronicles 23:29 Both for the shewbread, and for the fine flour for meat offering, and for the unleavened cakes, and for that which is baked in the pan, and for that which is fried, and for all manner of measure and size;
  • Ezekiel 4:16 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:

“hin” Hebrew H1969 · used in 19 verses

  • Exodus 29:40 And with the one lamb a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil; and the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink offering.
  • Numbers 15:6 Or for a ram, thou shalt prepare for a meat offering two tenth deals of flour mingled with the third part of an hin of oil.
  • Numbers 28:14 And their drink offerings shall be half an hin of wine unto a bullock, and the third part of an hin unto a ram, and a fourth part of an hin unto a lamb: this is the burnt offering of every month throughout the months of the year.

“part” Hebrew H8345 · used in 26 verses

  • Genesis 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
  • Numbers 29:29 And on the sixth day eight bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish:
  • 1 Chronicles 26:3 Elam the fifth, Jehohanan the sixth, Elioenai the seventh.