And thy meat that thou shalt eat, shall be in weight twenty staters a day: from time to time thou shalt eat it.

And thy food that thou dost eat is by weight, twenty shekels daily; from time to time thou dost eat it.

And you are to take your food by weight, twenty shekels a day: you are to take it at regular times.

But your food, which you will eat, shall be in weight twenty staters a day. You shall eat it from time to time.

Et cibus quem comedes in pondere, erit viginti siclorum pro die [93] a tempore usque ad tempus comedes. [94]

This confirms what I have said, namely, that the want should be such, that the Prophet dared not eat even that bread to satiety: you shall eat, says he, bread by weight, viz, twenty shekels. These are not complete rounds, so that the sense is, that God commanded his Prophet to live sparingly. When the city was besieged, bread was distributed in pieces to each person. God then here says, that the Jews should be almost famished during the siege, so that they should not have bread except by fixed weight, and that a small one. What follows is more miserable, namely, the want of water; for this is the last stage of calamity when thirst oppresses us. it seems hard, indeed, to want wine, but when water is deficient, this, as I have said, is the last stage of famine, and this the Prophet denounces against the Jews when he says, water was not given to him during the time of the siege unless by measure. I shall leave the rest till to-morrow.

meat - A general term for food, which in this case consists of grain. Instead of measuring, it was necessary in extreme scarcity to weigh it Leviticus 26:26; Revelation 6:6.
Twenty shekels a day - The shekel contained about 220 grains, so that 20 shekels would be about 56 of a pound.
From time to time - Thou shalt receive and eat it at the appointed interval of a day.

Twenty shekels a day - The whole of the above grain, being ground, was to be formed into one mass, out of which he was to make three hundred and ninety loaves; one loaf for each day; and this loaf was to be of twenty shekels in weight. Now a shekel, being in weight about half an ounce, this would be ten ounces of bread for each day; and with this water to the amount of one sixth part of a hin, which is about a pint and a half of our measure. All this shows that so reduced should provisions be during the siege, that they should be obliged to eat the meanest sort of aliment, and that by weight, and their water by measure; each man's allowance being scarcely a pint and a half, and ten ounces, a little more than half a pound of bread, for each day's support.

And thy food which thou shalt eat [shall be] by weight, (h) twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.
(h) Which make a pound.

And thy meat which thou shall eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day,.... To eat bread by weight was a sign of a grievous famine; see Leviticus 26:26; a shekel, according to Josephus (i), weighed four Attic drachms, or half an ounce, wherefore twenty shekels weighed ten ounces; so that the bread the prophet had to eat was but ten ounces a day:
from time to time shall thou eat it; at the certain time of eating, or but once a day; from a set time in one day to the same in another; as from morning to morning, or from noon to noon, or from evening to evening; see Jeremiah 37:21.
(i) Antiqu. l. 3. c. 8. sect. 2.

twenty shekels--that is, little more than ten ounces; a scant measure to sustain life (Jeremiah 52:6). But it applies not only to the siege, but to their whole subsequent state.

By weight - Not as much as you will, but a small pittance delivered by weight to all. Twenty shekels - Ten ounces: scarce enough to maintain life. From time to time - At set hours this was weighed out.