Ezekiel 24:15-27

Living Bible

¹⁵ Again a message came to me from the Lord, saying:

¹⁶ “Son of dust, I am going to take away your lovely wife. Suddenly, she will die. Yet you must show no sorrow. Do not weep; let there be no tears. ¹⁷ You may sigh, but only quietly. Let there be no wailing at her grave; don’t bare your head nor feet, and don’t accept the food brought to you by consoling friends.”

¹⁸ I proclaimed this to the people in the morning, and in the evening my wife died. The next morning I did all the Lord had told me to.

¹⁹ Then the people said: “What does all this mean? What are you trying to tell us?”

^20-21 And I answered, “The Lord told me to say to the people of Israel: ‘I will destroy my lovely, beautiful Temple, the strength of your nation. And your sons and daughters in Judea will be slaughtered by the sword. ²² And you will do as I have done; you may not mourn in public or console yourself by eating the food brought to you by sympathetic friends. ²³ Your head and feet shall not be bared; you shall not mourn or weep. But you will sorrow to one another for your sins and mourn privately for all the evil you have done. ²⁴ Ezekiel is an example to you,’ the Lord God says. ‘You will do as he has done. And when that time comes, then you will know I am the Lord.’”

²⁵ “Son of dust, on the day I finish taking from them in Jerusalem the joy of their hearts and their glory and joys—their wives and their sons and their daughters— ²⁶ on that day a refugee from Jerusalem will start on a journey to come to you in Babylon to tell you what has happened. ²⁷ And on the day of his arrival, your voice will suddenly return to you so that you can talk with him; and you will be a symbol for these people, and they shall know I am the Lord.”