Ezekiel’s Commission

3 Then He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find; ^(A)eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” ² So I ^(B)opened my mouth, and He fed me this scroll. ³ And He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and ^(C)fill your ^[a]body with this scroll which I am giving you.” Then I ^(D)ate it, and it was as sweet as ^(E)honey in my mouth.

⁴ Then He said to me, “Son of man, ^[b]go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them. ⁵ For ^(F)you are not being sent to a people of ^[c](G)unintelligible speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel, ⁶ nor to many peoples of ^[d]unintelligible speech or difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. ^[e]But I have sent you to ^[f]the people who understand you; ⁷ yet the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, since they are ^(H)not willing to listen to Me. The entire house of Israel certainly is ^[g]stubborn and obstinate. ⁸ Behold, I have made your face just as hard as their faces, and your forehead just as hard as their foreheads. ⁹ Like emery harder than flint I have made your forehead. Do not be afraid of them or be dismayed before them, since they are a rebellious house.” ¹⁰ Moreover, He said to me, “Son of man, take into your heart all My ^(I)words which I will speak to you and listen ^[h]closely. ^11 [i]Go to the exiles, to the sons of your people, and speak to them and tell them, whether they listen or ^[j]not, ‘This is what the Lord ^[k]God says.’”

¹² Then the ^(J)Spirit lifted me up, and I heard a great ^(K)rumbling sound behind me: “Blessed be the glory of the Lord from His place!” ¹³ And I heard the sound of the wings of the living beings touching one another and the sound of the ^(L)wheels beside them, even a great rumbling sound. ¹⁴ So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away; and I went embittered in the rage of my spirit, and ^(M)the hand of the Lord was strong on me. ¹⁵ Then I came to the exiles who lived beside the river Chebar at Tel-abib, and I sat there for ^(N)seven days where they were living, causing consternation among them.

¹⁶ Now ^(O)at the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁷ “Son of man, I have appointed you as a ^(P)watchman for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, ^(Q)warn them from Me. ¹⁸ When I say to the wicked, ‘You will certainly die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way so that he may live, that wicked person shall die for wrongdoing, but his ^(R)blood I will require from your hand. ¹⁹ However if you have ^(S)warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die for wrongdoing, but you have ^(T)saved yourself. ²⁰ Again, ^(U)when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and commits sin, and I place an ^(V)obstacle before him, he will die; since you have not warned him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require from your hand. ²¹ However, if you have ^(W)warned ^[l]the righteous person that the righteous is not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall certainly live because he took warning; and you have saved yourself.”

²² Now the hand of the Lord was on me there, and He said to me, “Get up, go out to the plain, and there I will ^(X)speak to you.” ²³ So I got up and went out to the plain; and behold, the ^(Y)glory of the Lord was standing there, like the glory that ^(Z)I saw by the river Chebar, and I fell on my face. ²⁴ But the ^(AA)Spirit entered me and set me up on my feet; and He spoke with me and said to me, “Go, shut yourself inside your house. ²⁵ And as for you, son of man, they will ^(AB)put ropes ^[m]around you and bind you with them so that you do not go out among them. ²⁶ Moreover, ^(AC)I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be unable to speak and will not be a man who reprimands them, since they are a rebellious house. ²⁷ But ^(AD)when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you will say to them, ‘This is what the Lord ^[n]God says:’ The one who hears, let him hear; and the one who refuses, let him refuse; ^(AE)for they are a rebellious house.

Siege of Jerusalem Predicted

4 “Now you, son of man, ^(AF)get yourself a brick, place it before you, and inscribe a city on it—Jerusalem. ² Then ^(AG)lay siege against it, build a siege wall, pile up an assault ramp, set up camps, and place battering rams against it all around. ³ Then get yourself an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between yourself and the city, and direct your face toward it so that ^(AH)it is under siege, and besiege it. This will be a ^(AI)sign to the house of Israel.

⁴ “Then you are to lie down on your left side and put the wrongdoing of the house of Israel on it; you shall ^(AJ)bear their wrongdoing for the number of days that you lie on it. ⁵ For I have assigned you a number of days corresponding to the years of their wrongdoing, 390 days; so ^(AK)you shall bear the wrongdoing of the house of Israel. ⁶ When you have completed these days, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the wrongdoing of the house of Judah; I have assigned it to you for forty days, a day for ^(AL)each year. ⁷ Then you shall direct your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared, and ^(AM)prophesy against it. ⁸ Now behold, I will ^(AN)put ropes ^[o]around you so that you cannot turn from your one side to your other until you have completed the days of your siege.

Defiled Bread

⁹ “But as for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and ^(AO)spelt, and put them in one vessel and make them into bread for yourself; you shall eat it according to the number of the days that you lie on your side, 390 days. ¹⁰ Your food which you eat shall be ^(AP)twenty shekels a day by weight; you shall eat it from time to time. ¹¹ The water you drink shall be a ^[p]sixth of a hin by measure; you shall drink it from time to time. ¹² You shall eat it as a barley cake, having baked it in their sight over human ^(AQ)dung.” ¹³ Then the Lord said, “In this way the sons of Israel will eat their bread ^(AR)unclean among the nations where I will scatter them.” ¹⁴ But I said, “^(AS)Oh, Lord ^[q]God! Behold, ^[r]I have ^(AT)never been defiled; for from my youth until now I have never eaten what ^(AU)died of itself or was torn by animals, nor has any ^(AV)unclean meat ever entered my mouth!” ¹⁵ Then He said to me, “See, I will give you cow’s dung in place of human dung, so that you may prepare your bread over it.” ¹⁶ Moreover, He said to me, “Son of man, behold, I am going to ^(AW)break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they will eat bread by ^(AX)weight and with anxiety, and drink water by ^(AY)measure and in horror, ¹⁷ because bread and water will be scarce; and they will tremble with one another and ^(AZ)waste away in their guilt.

²⁰ By faith ^(A)Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to come. ²¹ By faith ^(B)Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and ^(C)worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff. ²² By faith ^(D)Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the exodus of the sons of Israel, and gave orders concerning his bones.

²³ By faith ^(E)Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the ^(F)king’s edict. ²⁴ By faith Moses, ^(G)when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, ²⁵ choosing rather to ^(H)endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the temporary pleasures of sin, ^26 (I)considering the ^[a]reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the ^(J)reward. ²⁷ By faith he ^(K)left Egypt, not ^(L)fearing the wrath of the king; for he persevered, as though ^(M)seeing Him who is unseen. ²⁸ By faith he ^[b](N)kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that ^(O)the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch them. ²⁹ By faith they ^(P)passed through the Red Sea as through dry land; and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were ^[c]drowned.

³⁰ By faith ^(Q)the walls of Jericho fell down ^[d](R)after the Israelites had marched around them for seven days. ³¹ By faith the prostitute ^(S)Rahab did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies ^[e]in peace.

³² And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of ^(T)Gideon, ^(U)Barak, ^(V)Samson, ^(W)Jephthah, of ^(X)David and ^(Y)Samuel and the prophets, ³³ who by faith ^(Z)conquered kingdoms, ^(AA)performed acts of righteousness, ^(AB)obtained promises, ^(AC)shut the mouths of lions, ^34 (AD)quenched the power of fire, ^(AE)escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, ^(AF)became mighty in war, ^(AG)put foreign armies to flight. ^35 (AH)Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their ^[f]release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; ³⁶ and others ^[g]experienced mocking and flogging, and further, ^(AI)chains and imprisonment. ³⁷ They were ^(AJ)stoned, they were sawn in two, ^[h]they were tempted, they were ^(AK)put to death with the sword; they went about ^(AL)in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ^(AM)tormented ³⁸ (people of whom the world was not worthy), ^(AN)wandering in deserts, on mountains, and sheltering in caves and holes ^[i]in the ground.

³⁹ And all these, having ^(AO)gained approval through their faith, ^(AP)did not receive ^[j]what was promised, ⁴⁰ because God had ^[k]provided ^(AQ)something better for us, so that ^(AR)apart from us they would not be made perfect.