²² The previous evening the Lord had taken hold of me and given me back my voice. So I was able to speak when this man arrived the next morning.

³ (The Lord gave this message to Ezekiel son of Buzi, a priest, beside the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians,^[a] and he felt the hand of the Lord take hold of him.)

²⁶ And I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be speechless and unable to rebuke them, for they are rebels. ²⁷ But when I give you a message, I will loosen your tongue and let you speak. Then you will say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says!’ Those who choose to listen will listen, but those who refuse will refuse, for they are rebels.

A Valley of Dry Bones

37 The Lord took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord to a valley filled with bones.

²⁶ And on that day a survivor from Jerusalem will come to you in Babylon and tell you what has happened. ²⁷ And when he arrives, your voice will suddenly return so you can talk to him, and you will be a symbol for these people. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

⁶⁴ Instantly Zechariah could speak again, and he began praising God.

The New Temple Area

40 On April 28,^[a] during the twenty-fifth year of our captivity—fourteen years after the fall of Jerusalem—the Lord took hold of me.

²² Then the Lord took hold of me and said, “Get up and go out into the valley, and I will speak to you there.”