Ezekiel 4:5

4:5 I have determined that the number of the years of their iniquity are to be the number of days ¹  for you – 390 days. ²  So bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. ³ 

Ezekiel 4:8

4:8 Look here, I will tie you up with ropes, so you cannot turn from one side to the other until you complete the days of your siege. ⁴ 

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¹ tn Heb “I have assigned for you that the years of their iniquity be the number of days.” Num 14:33-34 is an example of the reverse, where the days were converted into years, the number of days spying out the land becoming the number of years of the wilderness wanderings.

² tc The LXX reads “190 days.”

sn The significance of the number 390 is not clear. The best explanation is that “days” are used figuratively for years and the number refers to the years of the sinfulness of Israel during the period of the First Temple. Some understand the number to refer to the length of the division of the northern and southern kingdoms down to the fall of Jerusalem (931-586 b.c.), but this adds up to only 345 years.

³ tn Or “When you have carried the iniquity of the house of Israel,” and continuing on to the next verse.

⁴ sn The action surely refers to a series of daily acts rather than to a continuous period.