²⁰ for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.”^(A)

¹³ For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.^{(A) 14} For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died.^(B)

¹⁴ The spirit lifted me up and bore me away; I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, the hand of the Lord being strong upon me.^{(A) 15} I came to the exiles at Tel-abib, who lived by the River Chebar.^[a] And I sat there among them, stunned, for seven days.^(B)

¹⁶ At the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁷ Mortal, I have made you a sentinel for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.^{(C) 18} When I say to the wicked, “You shall surely die,” and you give them no warning and do not speak to warn the wicked from their wicked way in order to save their lives, those wicked persons shall die for their iniquity, but their blood I will require at your hand.^{(D) 19} But if you warn the wicked and they do not turn from their wickedness or from their wicked way, they shall die for their iniquity, but you will have saved your life.^{(E) 20} Again, if the righteous turn from their righteousness and commit iniquity and I lay a stumbling block before them, they shall die; because you have not warned them, they shall die for their sin, and their righteous deeds that they have done shall not be remembered, but their blood I will require at your hand.^{(F) 21} If, however, you warn the righteous not to sin and they do not sin, they shall surely live because they took warning, and you will have saved your life.^(G)

Ezekiel Isolated and Silenced

²² Then the hand of the Lord was upon me there, and he said to me, “Rise up, go out into the valley, and there I will speak with you.”^{(H) 23} So I rose up and went out into the valley, and the glory of the Lord stood there, like the glory that I had seen by the River Chebar, and I fell on my face.^{(I) 24} The spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and he spoke with me and said to me: “Go, shut yourself inside your house.^{(J) 25} As for you, mortal, cords shall be placed on you, and you shall be bound with them so that you cannot go out among the people,^{(K) 26} and I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth so that you shall be speechless and unable to reprove them, for they are a rebellious house.^{(L) 27} But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God’; let those who will hear, hear, and let those who refuse to hear, refuse, for they are a rebellious house.^(M)