You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread: The Hebrew verb rendered profaned means to treat with contempt or disdain something that is sacred or holy, in this case God himself. You have profaned me among my people may mean the female prophets misused God’s name during their false predictions, thus breaking the commandment against taking the name of God in vain; for example, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “By your deeds you take my name in vain.” This clause may also mean they dishonored God by their use of magic, or they dishonored him by turning the people away from him by their false predictions; for example, New Living Translation (1996) has “You turn my people away from me.” Also likely in this context is that they dishonored God by saying that their predictions came from him when in fact they didn’t. In any case, what is clear is that in some way they dishonored God among his own people. Some scholars think handfuls of barley and pieces of bread refer to what the women scattered around as part of their magic rites, perhaps to find out from where they fell if a certain person would live or die. Others believe the barley and bread were the price for which the women sold what they claimed to be messages from God. It is not explicit how many handfuls are meant—it may have been only two or three. In any case, the price was not large because barley was the cereal that poor people normally ate (see 4.9). If it is not known, translators may say “grain” or “flour.” Bread of any sort was the staple diet of the people. This whole sentence may be rendered “You have dishonored me among my own people for a few handfuls of barley and a few pieces of bread [or, for a few handfuls of food].”
Putting to death persons who should not die and keeping alive persons who should not live, by your lies to my people, who listen to lies: This last half of the verse in Hebrew means the lying female prophets were able to kill some people and keep other people alive (so Revised Standard Version); for example, Revised English Bible says “By telling my people lies they wish to hear, you bring death to those who should not die, and keep alive those who should not live.” But it may also mean they were making false predictions about who would die and who would live; for example, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “you have announced the death of persons who will not die and the survival of persons who will not live—lying to My people, who listen to your lies.”
Two models for verses 18-19 are:
• 18 Ezekiel, say this: ‘This is a message from the Lord Yahweh: “It will be terrible for those women who make stuffed pouches and tie them on to people’s arms, and make head coverings for everyone, no matter how big or small they are. They are using these things to trap people by magic. It is my people they are trapping, but they are saving themselves! 19 They have dishonored me by making predictions [about Jerusalem] to my people. They are charging a few handfuls of barley and a few pieces of bread for these predictions. [or, They use a few handfuls of barley and some crumbs of bread to ‘see’ their predictions.] They are predicting that some people will die—but they won’t die—and they are predicting that some people will stay alive—but they won’t stay alive. What they are predicting to my people are lies, yet my people are listening to their lies.” ’
• 18 Ezekiel, say this: ‘Here is a message from the Lord Yahweh: “How terrible it will be for you women who are trying to gain control over people with your magic. You make magic charms and put them on people’s wrists and you make head coverings for people of all ages. You are trying to trap my people with your magic so you can make some money for yourselves. 19 You have dishonored me among my own people for a few handfuls of barley and a few pieces of bread. You tell people the lies they want to hear when you say that some people will die who are not going to die, and others will live who in fact are not going to survive.” ’
Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .