Ezekiel 3
Evangelical Heritage Version
3 Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat what you have received. Eat this scroll, and then go, speak to the house of Israel.” 2 I opened my mouth, and he fed me the scroll.
3 Then he said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll that I am giving you.” I ate, and in my mouth it was sweet like honey.
4 He then said to me, “Son of man, go now to the house of Israel and speak my words to them. 5 For you are not being sent to a people who have incomprehensible speech or a difficult language, but you are being sent to the house of Israel. 6 Nor are you being sent to many peoples who have incomprehensible speech and difficult languages, whose words you cannot understand. Certainly, if I were to send you to such people, they would listen to you. 7 But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to me, because the whole house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted. 8 Look, I have made your face just as hard as their faces and your forehead just as hard as their foreheads. 9 I have made your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not fear them, and do not be intimidated by their looks, for they are a rebellious house.”
10 Then he said to me, “Son of man, receive into your heart all my words that I will speak to you, and hear them with your ears. 11 Go now to the exiles, to your own people.[a] You shall speak to them and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says,’ whether they listen or they do not.”
12 Then the Spirit[b] lifted me up, and I heard a loud rushing sound behind me—Blessed be the Glory of the Lord in its dwelling place!— 13 It was the sound of the wings of the living creatures beating against each other and the sound of the wheels beside them, a loud rumbling sound. 14 The Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and so I went, bitter and heated in my spirit, and the hand of the Lord was upon me with power. 15 I came to the exiles at Tel Aviv, who were living by the Kebar Canal—there where they were living.[c] I sat among them for seven days—stunned.
16 At the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me and said:
17 Son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman for the house of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, you must give them a warning from me. 18 When I announce to a wicked man, “You shall surely die,” if you do not warn him, and you do not speak up to warn the wicked man against his wicked way so that he can live, then that wicked man will die because of his guilt, and I will hold you responsible for his blood. 19 But you, if you warn the wicked man, and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die because of his guilt, but you will have saved your own life. 20 Or when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and becomes unrighteous, and I place a stumbling block in front of him, he shall die. If you have not warned him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he had done will not be remembered, and I will hold you responsible for his blood. 21 But you, if you do warn that righteous man not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall certainly live because he heeded the warning, and you will have saved your own life.
22 Then the hand of the Lord was upon me there, and he said to me, “Get up, go out to the center of the river valley, and there I will speak with you.” 23 So I got up and went out to the center of the valley, and suddenly there it was! The Glory of the Lord was standing there, just like the Glory that I had seen by the Kebar Canal, and I fell on my face. 24 But the Spirit entered into me and brought me to my feet.
Then he spoke to me and said to me, “Go, shut yourself up inside your house. 25 And this is what will happen to you, son of man. They will certainly place ropes upon you and tie you up with them, so that you will not be able to go out among them. 26 I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, so that you will be speechless, and you will not be able to rebuke[d] them, for they are a rebellious house. 27 But whenever I speak to you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says.’ Whoever listens, let him listen. Whoever refuses to listen, let him refuse, for they are a rebellious house.”
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 3:11 Literally the sons of your people
- Ezekiel 3:12 Or the wind. This may be an experience like Elijah’s experience with the whirlwind. See also verse 14.
- Ezekiel 3:15 Again the text is repetitious. It is not likely that this is the result of accidental duplication in the text.
- Ezekiel 3:26 Or admonish
Ezekiel 3
Lexham English Bible
3 And he said to me, “Son of man,[a] what you find, eat! Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” 2 And I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat, 3 and he said to me, “Son of man,[b] you must give your stomach this to eat, and you must fill your belly with this scroll that I am giving to you.” And I ate, and it became like sweet honey[c] in my mouth. 4 And he said to me, “Son of man,[d] come! Go to the house of Israel, and you must speak to them with my words. 5 For you are sent to the house of Israel, not to a people of obscure speech[e] and of a difficult language,[f] 6 and not to many nations of obscure speech[g] and a difficult language[h] whose words[i] you do not understand, for if I had sent you to them they would have listened to you. 7 And the house of Israel, they are not willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me, for all of the house of Israel is hard of forehead, and they are hard of heart. 8 But look, I have made[j] your face hard against[k] their faces and your forehead hard against[l] their forehead. 9 Like a diamond harder than flint[m] I have made your forehead; you must not fear them, and you must not be dismayed on account of them,[n] for they are a rebellious house.[o] 10 And he said to me, “Son of man,[p] all of my words that I shall speak to you, receive into[q] your heart and hear with your ears. 11 And come, go to the exiles,[r] to the children[s] of your people, and you must speak to them, and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh!’ whether they listen or whether they fail to listen.” 12 And the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the sound of a great earthquake when the glory of Yahweh rose from its place. 13 And it was the sound of the wings of the living creatures touching lightly[t] one against the other,[u] and the sound of the wheels beside them and the sound of a great earthquake. 14 And the Spirit lifted me and took me, and I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, and the hand of Yahweh was strong on me. 15 And I went to the exiles[v] at Tel Abib, who were dwelling near the Kebar River,[w] and I sat where they were dwelling. I sat there seven days in the midst of them, stunned. 16 And then it happened[x] at the end of seven days, the word of Yahweh came[y] to me, saying, 17 “Son of man,[z] I have appointed you as a watchman for the house of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, then you must warn them from me. 18 When I say[aa] to the wicked, ‘Surely you will die,’ and you do not warn him and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way so that he may live,[ab] that wicked person will die because of his guilt, and from your hand I will seek his blood. 19 And you, if you do warn the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness and from his wicked way, on account of his guilt he will die, and you yourself will have saved your life.[ac] 20 And when the righteous turns from his righteousness[ad] and does injustice, and I place[ae] a stumbling block before him,[af] he will die, for you did not warn him. Because of his sin he will die, and his righteousness[ag] that he did will not be remembered, and his blood I shall seek from your hand. 21 And if you warn him, the righteous, not to sin, and the righteous does not sin, surely he will live, for he heeded a warning. And you will have saved your life.”[ah]
22 And the hand of Yahweh was on me there, and he said to me, “Rise up, go out to the valley, and there I will speak with you.” 23 And I rose up, and I went to the valley, and, look, there the glory of Yahweh was standing, like the glory that I saw near the Kebar River,[ai] and I fell on my face. 24 And the Spirit[aj] came into me, and it made me stand on my feet, and he spoke with me and said to me, “Come, shut yourself inside your house,[ak] 25 and you, son of man,[al] look, they will place[am] cords on you, and they will tie you up with them. Then you will not go out into the midst of them. 26 And I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, and you will be silenced, and you will not be a reproving man for them, for they are a rebellious house.[an] 27 And when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you must say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “The one hearing him, let him hear, and the one failing to hear, let him fail,”’ for they are a rebellious house.[ao]
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 3:1 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
- Ezekiel 3:3 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
- Ezekiel 3:3 Literally “like honey for sweetness”
- Ezekiel 3:4 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
- Ezekiel 3:5 Literally “obscure of lip”
- Ezekiel 3:5 Literally “heavy/thick of tongue”
- Ezekiel 3:6 Literally “obscure of tongue”
- Ezekiel 3:6 Literally “heavy/thick of tongue”
- Ezekiel 3:6 Literally “their words”
- Ezekiel 3:8 Or “set”
- Ezekiel 3:8 Literally “to correspond to”
- Ezekiel 3:8 Literally “to correspond to”
- Ezekiel 3:9 Literally “hard more than flint”
- Ezekiel 3:9 Literally “from the face of them”
- Ezekiel 3:9 Literally “are a house of rebellion”
- Ezekiel 3:10 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
- Ezekiel 3:10 Hebrew “in”
- Ezekiel 3:11 Hebrew “exile”
- Ezekiel 3:11 Or “sons”
- Ezekiel 3:13 Or “brushing against”
- Ezekiel 3:13 Literally “each against each its sister
- Ezekiel 3:15 Hebrew “exile”
- Ezekiel 3:15 Literally “river of Kebar”
- Ezekiel 3:16 Or “was”
- Ezekiel 3:16 Literally “and it was the word of Yahweh to me to say saying”
- Ezekiel 3:17 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
- Ezekiel 3:18 Literally “at/in my saying”
- Ezekiel 3:18 Literally “so that you let him live”
- Ezekiel 3:19 Or “soul,” or “self”
- Ezekiel 3:20 Literally “and at the to turn of the righteous from his righteousness”
- Ezekiel 3:20 Or “give”
- Ezekiel 3:20 Literally “to the face of him”
- Ezekiel 3:20 Or “righteous deeds”
- Ezekiel 3:21 Or “soul,” or “self”
- Ezekiel 3:23 Literally “river of Kebar”
- Ezekiel 3:24 Or “a spirit”
- Ezekiel 3:24 Literally “in the midst of your house”
- Ezekiel 3:25 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
- Ezekiel 3:25 Or “give”
- Ezekiel 3:26 Literally “a house of rebellion”
- Ezekiel 3:27 Literally “a house of rebellion”
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