I will do this that they may lack bread and water, and look at one another in dismay, and rot away because of their punishment.
The best exposition of this part of Ezekiel's prediction of Jerusalem's desolation is Jeremiah's lamentation of it, Lam 4:3, Lam 4:4, etc., and Lam 4:10, where he pathetically describes the terrible famine that was in Jerusalem during the siege and the sad effects of it. I.
Commenting on Ezekiel 4:9-17
That they may want bread and water,.... Or, "because they shall want" (l) &c. therefore they shall eat the one, and drink the other, by weight; or they shall do this till there shall be none to eat and drink: and be astonished one with another; when they shall find they cannot relieve one another; and not knowing what method to take for the support...
astonied one with another--mutually regard one another with astonishment: the stupefied look of despairing want. Next: Ezekiel Chapter 5