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And he said to me, “Son of man,[a] what you find, eat! Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” And I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat, and he said to me, “Son of man,[b] you must give your stomach this to eat, and you must fill your belly with this scroll that I am giving to you.” And I ate, and it became like sweet honey[c] in my mouth. And he said to me, “Son of man,[d] come! Go to the house of Israel, and you must speak to them with my words. For you are sent to the house of Israel, not to a people of obscure speech[e] and of a difficult language,[f] and not to many nations of obscure speech[g] and a difficult language[h] whose words[i] you do not understand, for if I had sent you to them they would have listened to you. And the house of Israel, they are not willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me, for all of the house of Israel is hard of forehead, and they are hard of heart. But look, I have made[j] your face hard against[k] their faces and your forehead hard against[l] their forehead. Like a diamond harder than flint[m] I have made your forehead; you must not fear them, and you must not be dismayed on account of them,[n] for they are a rebellious house.[o] 10 And he said to me, “Son of man,[p] all of my words that I shall speak to you, receive into[q] your heart and hear with your ears. 11 And come, go to the exiles,[r] to the children[s] of your people, and you must speak to them, and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh!’ whether they listen or whether they fail to listen.” 12 And the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the sound of a great earthquake when the glory of Yahweh rose from its place. 13 And it was the sound of the wings of the living creatures touching lightly[t] one against the other,[u] and the sound of the wheels beside them and the sound of a great earthquake. 14 And the Spirit lifted me and took me, and I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, and the hand of Yahweh was strong on me. 15 And I went to the exiles[v] at Tel Abib, who were dwelling near the Kebar River,[w] and I sat where they were dwelling. I sat there seven days in the midst of them, stunned. 16 And then it happened[x] at the end of seven days, the word of Yahweh came[y] to me, saying, 17 “Son of man,[z] I have appointed you as a watchman for the house of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, then you must warn them from me. 18 When I say[aa] to the wicked, ‘Surely you will die,’ and you do not warn him and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way so that he may live,[ab] that wicked person will die because of his guilt, and from your hand I will seek his blood. 19 And you, if you do warn the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness and from his wicked way, on account of his guilt he will die, and you yourself will have saved your life.[ac] 20 And when the righteous turns from his righteousness[ad] and does injustice, and I place[ae] a stumbling block before him,[af] he will die, for you did not warn him. Because of his sin he will die, and his righteousness[ag] that he did will not be remembered, and his blood I shall seek from your hand. 21 And if you warn him, the righteous, not to sin, and the righteous does not sin, surely he will live, for he heeded a warning. And you will have saved your life.”[ah]

22 And the hand of Yahweh was on me there, and he said to me, “Rise up, go out to the valley, and there I will speak with you.” 23 And I rose up, and I went to the valley, and, look, there the glory of Yahweh was standing, like the glory that I saw near the Kebar River,[ai] and I fell on my face. 24 And the Spirit[aj] came into me, and it made me stand on my feet, and he spoke with me and said to me, “Come, shut yourself inside your house,[ak] 25 and you, son of man,[al] look, they will place[am] cords on you, and they will tie you up with them. Then you will not go out into the midst of them. 26 And I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, and you will be silenced, and you will not be a reproving man for them, for they are a rebellious house.[an] 27 And when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you must say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “The one hearing him, let him hear, and the one failing to hear, let him fail,”’ for they are a rebellious house.[ao]

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 3:1 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
  2. Ezekiel 3:3 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
  3. Ezekiel 3:3 Literally “like honey for sweetness”
  4. Ezekiel 3:4 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
  5. Ezekiel 3:5 Literally “obscure of lip”
  6. Ezekiel 3:5 Literally “heavy/thick of tongue”
  7. Ezekiel 3:6 Literally “obscure of tongue”
  8. Ezekiel 3:6 Literally “heavy/thick of tongue”
  9. Ezekiel 3:6 Literally “their words”
  10. Ezekiel 3:8 Or “set”
  11. Ezekiel 3:8 Literally “to correspond to
  12. Ezekiel 3:8 Literally “to correspond to
  13. Ezekiel 3:9 Literally “hard more than flint”
  14. Ezekiel 3:9 Literally “from the face of them”
  15. Ezekiel 3:9 Literally “are a house of rebellion”
  16. Ezekiel 3:10 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
  17. Ezekiel 3:10 Hebrew “in”
  18. Ezekiel 3:11 Hebrew “exile”
  19. Ezekiel 3:11 Or “sons”
  20. Ezekiel 3:13 Or “brushing against”
  21. Ezekiel 3:13 Literally “each against each its sister
  22. Ezekiel 3:15 Hebrew “exile”
  23. Ezekiel 3:15 Literally “river of Kebar”
  24. Ezekiel 3:16 Or “was”
  25. Ezekiel 3:16 Literally “and it was the word of Yahweh to me to say saying
  26. Ezekiel 3:17 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
  27. Ezekiel 3:18 Literally “at/in my saying”
  28. Ezekiel 3:18 Literally “so that you let him live”
  29. Ezekiel 3:19 Or “soul,” or “self”
  30. Ezekiel 3:20 Literally “and at the to turn of the righteous from his righteousness”
  31. Ezekiel 3:20 Or “give”
  32. Ezekiel 3:20 Literally “to the face of him”
  33. Ezekiel 3:20 Or “righteous deeds”
  34. Ezekiel 3:21 Or “soul,” or “self”
  35. Ezekiel 3:23 Literally “river of Kebar”
  36. Ezekiel 3:24 Or “a spirit”
  37. Ezekiel 3:24 Literally “in the midst of your house”
  38. Ezekiel 3:25 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
  39. Ezekiel 3:25 Or “give”
  40. Ezekiel 3:26 Literally “a house of rebellion”
  41. Ezekiel 3:27 Literally “a house of rebellion”

And he said to me, “Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat.

Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate(A) it, and it tasted as sweet as honey(B) in my mouth.

He then said to me: “Son of man, go now to the people of Israel and speak my words to them.(C) You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and strange language,(D) but to the people of Israel— not to many peoples of obscure speech and strange language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you.(E) But the people of Israel are not willing to listen(F) to you because they are not willing to listen to me, for all the Israelites are hardened and obstinate.(G) But I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are.(H) I will make your forehead(I) like the hardest stone, harder than flint.(J) Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people.(K)

10 And he said to me, “Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart(L) all the words I speak to you. 11 Go(M) now to your people in exile and speak to them. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says,’(N) whether they listen or fail to listen.(O)

12 Then the Spirit lifted me up,(P) and I heard behind me a loud rumbling sound as the glory of the Lord rose from the place where it was standing.[a] 13 It was the sound of the wings of the living creatures(Q) brushing against each other and the sound of the wheels beside them, a loud rumbling sound.(R) 14 The Spirit(S) then lifted me up(T) and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the Lord(U) on me. 15 I came to the exiles who lived at Tel Aviv near the Kebar River.(V) And there, where they were living, I sat among them for seven days(W)—deeply distressed.

Ezekiel’s Task as Watchman

16 At the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me:(X) 17 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman(Y) for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.(Z) 18 When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,(AA)’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for[b] their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood.(AB) 19 But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn(AC) from their wickedness(AD) or from their evil ways, they will die(AE) for their sin; but you will have saved yourself.(AF)

20 “Again, when a righteous person turns(AG) from their righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block(AH) before them, they will die. Since you did not warn them, they will die for their sin. The righteous things that person did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for their blood.(AI) 21 But if you do warn the righteous person not to sin and they do not sin, they will surely live because they took warning, and you will have saved yourself.(AJ)

22 The hand of the Lord(AK) was on me there, and he said to me, “Get up and go(AL) out to the plain,(AM) and there I will speak to you.” 23 So I got up and went out to the plain. And the glory of the Lord was standing there, like the glory I had seen by the Kebar River,(AN) and I fell facedown.(AO)

24 Then the Spirit came into me and raised me(AP) to my feet. He spoke to me and said: “Go, shut yourself inside your house.(AQ) 25 And you, son of man, they will tie with ropes; you will be bound so that you cannot go out among the people.(AR) 26 I will make your tongue stick to the roof(AS) of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to rebuke them, for they are a rebellious people.(AT) 27 But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’(AU) Whoever will listen let them listen, and whoever will refuse let them refuse; for they are a rebellious people.(AV)

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 3:12 Probable reading of the original Hebrew text; Masoretic Text sound—may the glory of the Lord be praised from his place
  2. Ezekiel 3:18 Or in; also in verses 19 and 20