Ezekiel 2:1-3:15

Common English Bible

Ezekiel’s commissioning

2 The voice said to me: Human one, stand on your feet, and I’ll speak to you. ² As he spoke to me, a wind^[a] came to me and stood me on my feet, and I heard someone addressing me. ³ He said to me: Human one, I’m sending you to the Israelites, a traitorous and rebellious people. They and their ancestors have been rebelling against me to this very day. ⁴ I’m sending you to their hardheaded and hard-hearted descendants, and you will say to them: The Lord God proclaims. ⁵ Whether they listen or whether they refuse, since they are a household of rebels, they will know that a prophet has been among them.

⁶ And as for you, human one, don’t be afraid of them or their words. Don’t be afraid! You possess thistles and thorns that subdue scorpions.^[b] Don’t be afraid of their words or shrink from their presence, because they are a household of rebels. ⁷ You’ll speak my words to them whether they listen or whether they refuse. They are just a household^[c] of rebels!

⁸ As for you, human one, listen to what I say to you. Don’t become rebellious like that household of rebels. Open your mouth and eat what I give you. ⁹ Then I looked, and there in a hand stretched out to me was a scroll. ¹⁰ He spread it open in front of me, and it was filled with writing on both sides, songs of mourning, lamentation, and doom.

3 Then he said to me: Human one, eat this thing that you’ve found. Eat this scroll and go, speak to the house of Israel. ² So I opened my mouth, and he fed me the scroll. ³ He said to me: Human one, feed your belly and fill your stomach with this scroll that I give you. So I ate it, and in my mouth it became as sweet as honey.

⁴ Then he said to me: Human one, go! Go to the house of Israel and speak my words to them. ⁵ You aren’t being sent to a people whose language and speech are difficult and obscure but to the house of Israel. ⁶ No, not to many peoples who speak difficult and obscure languages, whose words you wouldn’t understand. If I did send you to them, they would listen to you. ⁷ But the house of Israel—they will refuse to listen to you because they refuse to listen to me. The whole house of Israel is hardheaded and hard-hearted too. ⁸ I’ve now hardened your face so that you can meet them head-on. ⁹ I’ve made your forehead like a diamond, harder than stone. Don’t be afraid of them or shrink away from them, because they are a household of rebels.

¹⁰ He said to me: Human one, listen closely, and take to heart every word I say to you. ¹¹ Then go to the exiles, to your people’s children. Whether they listen or not, speak to them and say: The Lord God proclaims!

¹² Then a wind lifted me up, and I heard behind me a great quaking sound from his place. Blessed is the Lord’s glory! ¹³ The sound was the creatures’ wings beating against each other and the sound of the wheels beside them; it was a great rumbling noise. ¹⁴ Then the wind picked me up and took me away. With the Lord’s power pressing down against me I went away, bitter and deeply angry, ¹⁵ and I came to the exiles who lived beside the Chebar River at Tel-abib. I stayed there among them for seven desolate days.