Ezekiel 3
New King James Version
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. 15 Then I came to the captives at Tel Abib, who dwelt by the River Chebar; and (N)I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.
Ezekiel Is a Watchman
16 Now it (O)came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 17 (P)“Son of man, I have made you (Q)a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them (R)warning from Me: 18 When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man (S)shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. 19 Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; (T)but you have delivered your soul.
20 “Again, when a (U)righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. 21 Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; also you will have delivered your soul.”
22 (V)Then the hand of the Lord was upon me there, and He said to me, “Arise, go out (W)into the plain, and there I shall talk with you.”
23 So I arose and went out into the plain, and behold, (X)the glory of the Lord stood there, like the glory which I (Y)saw by the River Chebar; (Z)and I fell on my face. 24 Then (AA)the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet, and spoke with me and said to me: “Go, shut yourself inside your house. 25 And you, O son of man, surely (AB)they will put ropes on you and bind you with them, so that you cannot go out among them. 26 (AC)I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be mute and (AD)not be [c]one to rebuke them, (AE)for they are a rebellious house. 27 (AF)But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, (AG)‘Thus says the Lord God.’ He who hears, let him hear; and he who refuses, let him refuse; for they are a rebellious house.
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 3:7 Lit. strong of forehead
- Ezekiel 3:14 Or anger
- Ezekiel 3:26 Lit. one who rebukes
Ezekiel 3
New International Reader's Version
3 The Lord said to me, “Son of man, eat what is in front of you. Eat this scroll. Then go and speak to the people of Israel.” 2 So I opened my mouth. And he gave me the scroll to eat.
3 Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you. Fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it. And it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.
4 Then he said to me, “Son of man, go to the people of Israel. Give them my message. 5 I am not sending you to people who speak another language that is hard to learn. Instead, I am sending you to the people of Israel. 6 You are not being sent to many nations whose people speak other languages that are hard to learn. You would not be able to understand them. Suppose I had sent you to them. Then they certainly would have listened to you. 7 But the people of Israel do not want to listen to you. That is because they do not want to listen to me. All the Israelites are very stubborn. 8 But I will make you just as stubborn as they are. 9 I will make you very brave. So do not be afraid of them. Do not let them terrify you, even though they refuse to obey me.”
10 He continued, “Son of man, listen carefully. Take to heart everything I tell you. 11 Go now to your own people who were brought here as prisoners. Speak to them. Tell them, ‘Here is what the Lord and King says.’ Speak to them whether they listen or not.”
12 Then the Spirit of the Lord lifted me up. I heard a loud rumbling sound behind me. The sound was made when the glory of the Lord rose up. It rose up from the place it had been standing. 13 The sound was made by the wings of the living creatures. They were brushing against one another. The sound was also made by the wheels beside them. It was a loud rumbling sound. 14 Then the Spirit lifted me up and took me away. My spirit was bitter. I was very angry. The power of the Lord was on me. 15 I came to my people who had been brought as prisoners to Tel Aviv. It was near the Kebar River. I went to where they were living. There I sat among them for seven days. I was very sad and scared about everything that had happened.
The Lord Has Appointed Ezekiel to Warn Israel
16 After seven days, a message from the Lord came to me. 17 The Lord said, “Son of man, I have appointed you as a prophet to warn the people of Israel. So listen to my message. Give them a warning from me. 18 Suppose I say to a sinful person, ‘You can be sure you will die.’ And you do not warn them. You do not try to get them to change their evil ways in order to save their life. Then that sinful person will die because they have sinned. And I will hold you responsible for their death. 19 But suppose you do warn that sinful person. And they do not turn away from their sin or their evil ways. Then they will die because they have sinned. But you will have saved yourself.
20 “Or suppose a godly person turns away from their godliness and does what is evil. And suppose I put something in their way that will trip them up. Then they will die. Since you did not warn them, they will die for their sin. The godly things that person did will not be remembered. And I will hold you responsible for their death. 21 But suppose you do warn a godly person not to sin. And they do not sin. Then you can be sure that they will live because they listened to your warning. And you will have saved yourself.”
22 The power of the Lord was on me. He said, “Get up. Go out to the plain. I will speak to you there.” 23 So I got up and went out to the plain. The glory of the Lord was standing there. It was just like the glory I had seen by the Kebar River. So I fell with my face toward the ground.
24 Then the Spirit of the Lord came into me. He raised me to my feet. He said to me, “Go, son of man. Shut yourself inside your house. 25 Some people will tie you up with ropes. So you will not be able to go out among your people. 26 I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth. Then you will be silent. You will not be able to correct them. That’s because they always refuse to obey me. 27 But later I will speak to you. I will open your mouth. Then you will tell them, ‘Here is what the Lord and King says.’ Those who listen will listen. And those who refuse to listen will refuse. They always refuse to obey me.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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