Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.
I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung - a mitigation of the former order (Ezekiel 4:12); no longer "the dung of man;" still the bread so baked is "defiled;" to imply that, whatever partial abatement there might be for the prophet's sake, the main decree of God, as to the pollution of Israel by exile among the Gentiles, is unalterable.