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.

Christ Is Our Advocate

2 ^(A)My little children, I am ^(B)writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, ^(C)we have an ^[a](D)Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; ² and He Himself is ^(E)the ^[b]propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also ^(F)for the sins of the whole world.

^3 (G)By this we know that we have come to ^(H)know Him, if we ^(I)keep His commandments. ⁴ The one who says, “^(J)I have come to ^(K)know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a ^(L)liar, and ^(M)the truth is not in him; ⁵ but whoever ^(N)follows His word, in him the ^(O)love of God has truly been perfected. ^(P)By this we know that we are in Him: ⁶ the one who says that he ^(Q)remains in Him ^(R)ought, himself also, walk just as He walked.

^7 (S)Beloved, I am ^(T)not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had ^(U)from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard. ^8 [c]On the other hand, I am writing ^(V)a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because ^(W)the darkness is passing away and ^(X)the true Light is already shining. ⁹ The one who says that he is in the Light and yet ^(Y)hates his ^(Z)brother or sister is in the darkness until now. ^10 (AA)The one who loves his brother and sister remains in the Light, and there is nothing in him to cause stumbling. ¹¹ But the one who ^(AB)hates his brother or sister is in the darkness and ^(AC)walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has ^(AD)blinded his eyes.

¹² I am writing to you, ^(AE)little children, because ^(AF)your sins have been forgiven you on account of His name. ¹³ I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him ^(AG)who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because ^(AH)you have overcome ^(AI)the evil one. I have written to you, children, because ^(AJ)you know the Father. ¹⁴ I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him ^(AK)who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are ^(AL)strong, and the ^(AM)word of God remains in you, and ^(AN)you have overcome the evil one.

Do Not Love the World

¹⁵ Do not love ^(AO)the world nor the things in the world. ^(AP)If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world, ^(AQ)the lust of the flesh and ^(AR)the lust of the eyes and ^(AS)the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. ^17 (AT)The world is passing away and also its lusts; but the one who ^(AU)does the will of God continues to live forever.

¹⁸ Children, ^(AV)it is the last hour; and just as you heard that ^(AW)antichrist is coming, ^(AX)even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. ^19 (AY)They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, ^(AZ)so that ^[d]it would be evident that they all are not of us. ^20 [e]But you have an ^(BA)anointing from ^(BB)the Holy One, and ^(BC)you all know. ²¹ I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but ^(BD)because you do know it, and ^[f]because no lie is ^(BE)of the truth. ²² Who is the liar except ^(BF)the one who denies that Jesus is the ^[g]Christ? This is ^(BG)the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. ^23 (BH)Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. ²⁴ As for you, see that what you heard ^(BI)from the beginning remains in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you also ^(BJ)will remain in the Son and in the Father.

The Promise Is Eternal Life

^25 (BK)This is the promise which He Himself ^[h]made to us: eternal life.

²⁶ These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to ^(BL)deceive you. ²⁷ And as for you, the ^(BM)anointing which you received from Him remains in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing ^(BN)teaches you about all things, and is ^(BO)true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, ^[i]you remain in Him.

²⁸ Now, ^(BP)little children, remain in Him, so that when He ^(BQ)appears, we may have ^(BR)confidence and ^(BS)not ^[j]draw back from Him in shame ^[k]at His ^(BT)coming. ²⁹ If you know that ^(BU)He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness also ^(BV)has been born of Him.

Children of God Love One Another

3 See ^[l](BW)how great a love the Father has given us, that we would be called ^(BX)children of God; and in fact we are. For this reason the world does not know us: because ^(BY)it did not know Him. ^2 (BZ)Beloved, now we are ^(CA)children of God, and ^(CB)it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He ^(CC)appears, we will be ^(CD)like Him, because we will ^(CE)see Him just as He is. ³ And everyone who has this ^(CF)hope set on Him ^(CG)purifies himself, just as He is pure.

⁴ Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and ^(CH)sin is lawlessness. ⁵ You know that He ^(CI)appeared in order to ^(CJ)take away sins; and ^(CK)in Him there is no sin. ⁶ No one who remains in Him ^(CL)sins continually; no one who sins continually has seen Him or ^[m](CM)knows Him. ^7 (CN)Little children, make sure no one ^(CO)deceives you; ^(CP)the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; ⁸ the one who practices sin is ^(CQ)of the devil; for the devil ^[n]has been sinning from the beginning. ^(CR)The Son of God ^(CS)appeared for this purpose, ^(CT)to destroy the works of the devil. ⁹ No one who has been ^(CU)born of God practices sin, because His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin continually, because he has been born of God. ¹⁰ By this the ^(CV)children of God and the ^(CW)children of the devil are obvious: ^[o]anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who ^(CX)does not love his ^(CY)brother and sister.

^11 (CZ)For this is the message ^(DA)which you have heard from the beginning, ^(DB)that we are to love one another; ¹² not as ^(DC)Cain, who was of ^(DD)the evil one and murdered his brother. And for what reason did he murder him? Because ^(DE)his own deeds were evil, but his brother’s were righteous.

¹³ Do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, if ^(DF)the world hates you. ¹⁴ We know that we have ^(DG)passed out of death into life, ^(DH)because we love the brothers and sisters. The one who does not love remains in death. ¹⁵ Everyone who ^(DI)hates his brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that ^(DJ)no murderer has eternal life remaining in him. ¹⁶ We know love by this, that ^(DK)He laid down His life for us; and ^(DL)we ought to lay down our lives for the ^(DM)brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ But ^(DN)whoever has worldly goods and sees his brother or sister in need, and ^(DO)closes his ^[p]heart ^[q]against him, ^(DP)how does the love of God remain in him? ^18 (DQ)Little children, let’s not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and ^(DR)truth. ¹⁹ We will know by this that we are ^(DS)of the truth, and will set our heart at ease before Him, ²⁰ that if our heart condemns us, that God is greater than our heart, and He knows all things. ^21 (DT)Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have ^(DU)confidence ^[r]before God; ²² and ^(DV)whatever we ask, we receive from Him, because we ^(DW)keep His commandments and do ^(DX)the things that are pleasing in His sight.

²³ This is His commandment, that we ^[s](DY)believe in ^(DZ)the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as ^(EA)He ^[t]commanded us. ²⁴ The one who ^(EB)keeps His commandments ^(EC)remains in Him, and He in him. ^(ED)We know by this that ^(EE)He remains in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

Thanksgiving for Rescue from Death.