Ezekiel Called to Be a Prophet

2 And He said to me, “Son of man, ^(A)stand on your feet, and I will speak to you.” ² Then ^(B)the Spirit entered me when He spoke to me, and set me on my feet; and I heard Him who spoke to me. ³ And He said to me: “Son of man, I am sending you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has ^(C)rebelled against Me; ^(D)they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day. ^4 (E)For they are ^[a]impudent and stubborn children. I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ ^5 (F)As for them, whether they hear or whether they refuse—for they are a ^(G)rebellious house—yet they ^(H)will know that a prophet has been among them.

⁶ “And you, son of man, ^(I)do not be afraid of them nor be afraid of their words, though ^(J)briers and thorns are with you and you dwell among scorpions; ^(K)do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their looks, ^(L)though they are a rebellious house. ^7 (M)You shall speak My words to them, whether they hear or whether they refuse, for they are rebellious. ⁸ But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and ^(N)eat what I give you.”

⁹ Now when I looked, there was ^(O)a hand stretched out to me; and behold, ^(P)a scroll of a book was in it. ¹⁰ Then He spread it before me; and there was writing on the inside and on the outside, and written on it were lamentations and mourning and woe.

⁸ Beware lest anyone ^[a]cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to ^(A)the tradition of men, according to the ^(B)basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. ⁹ For ^(C)in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead ^[b]bodily; ¹⁰ and you are complete in Him, who is the ^(D)head of all ^[c]principality and power.

Not Legalism but Christ

¹¹ In Him you were also ^(E)circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by ^(F)putting off the body ^[d]of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ^12 (G)buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through ^(H)faith in the working of God, ^(I)who raised Him from the dead. ¹³ And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, ^14 (J)having wiped out the ^[e]handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. ^15 (K)Having disarmed ^(L)principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

¹⁶ So let no one ^(M)judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a ^[f]festival or a new moon or sabbaths, ^17 (N)which are a shadow of things to come, but the ^[g]substance is of Christ. ¹⁸ Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has ^[h]not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, ¹⁹ and not holding fast to ^(O)the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, ^(P)grows with the increase that is from God.

The Responsibility of the Prophet

3 Moreover 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 opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat that scroll.

³ And He said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly, and fill your stomach with this scroll that I give you.” So I ^(B)ate, and it was in my mouth ^(C)like honey in sweetness.

⁴ Then He said to me: “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them. ⁵ For you are not sent to a people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, but to the house of Israel, ⁶ not to many people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, ^(D)had I sent you to them, they would have listened to you. ⁷ But the house of Israel will not listen to you, ^(E)because they will not listen to Me; ^(F)for all the house of Israel are ^[a]impudent and hard-hearted. ⁸ Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads. ^9 (G)Like adamant stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; ^(H)do not be afraid of them, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.”

¹⁰ Moreover He said to me: “Son of man, receive into your heart all My words that I speak to you, and hear with your ears. ¹¹ And go, get to the captives, to the children of your people, and speak to them and tell them, ^(I)‘Thus says the Lord God,’ whether they hear, or whether they refuse.”

¹² Then ^(J)the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a great thunderous voice: “Blessed is the ^(K)glory of the Lord from His place!” ¹³ I also heard the ^(L)noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels beside them, and a great thunderous noise. ¹⁴ So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the ^[b]heat of my spirit; but ^(M)the hand of the Lord was strong upon me.

The True Vine

15 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. ^2 (A)Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He ^[a]takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear ^(B)more fruit. ^3 (C)You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. ^4 (D)Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

⁵ “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much ^(E)fruit; for without Me you can do ^(F)nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, ^(G)he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. ⁷ If you abide in Me, and My words ^(H)abide in you, ^(I)you^[b] will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. ^8 (J)By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; ^(K)so you will be My disciples.

Love and Joy Perfected

⁹ “As the Father ^(L)loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. ^10 (M)If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

¹¹ “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and ^(N)that your joy may be full. ^12 (O)This is My ^(P)commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ^13 (Q)Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. ^14 (R)You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. ¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, ^(S)for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. ^16 (T)You did not choose Me, but I chose you and ^(U)appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father ^(V)in My name He may give you. ¹⁷ These things I command you, that you love one another.

The World’s Hatred

^18 (W)“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. ^19 (X)If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet ^(Y)because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the word that I said to you, ^(Z)‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. ^(AA)If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. ²¹ But ^(AB)all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. ^22 (AC)If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, ^(AD)but now they have no excuse for their sin. ^23 (AE)He who hates Me hates My Father also. ²⁴ If I had not done among them ^(AF)the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have ^(AG)seen and also hated both Me and My Father. ²⁵ But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ^(AH)‘They hated Me without a cause.’

The Coming Rejection

^26 (AI)“But when the ^[c]Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, ^(AJ)He will testify of Me. ²⁷ And ^(AK)you also will bear witness, because ^(AL)you have been with Me from the beginning.