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Then I looked and realized a hand was stretched out to me, and in it was a written scroll. 10 He unrolled it before me, and it had writing on the front[a] and back;[b] written on it were laments, mourning, and woe.

He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you see in front of you[c]—eat this scroll—and then go and speak to the house of Israel.” So I opened my mouth and he fed me the scroll.

He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll I am giving to you.” So I ate it,[d] and it was sweet like honey in my mouth.

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 2:10 tn Heb “on the face.”
  2. Ezekiel 2:10 sn Written on the front and back. While it was common for papyrus scrolls to have writing on both sides, the same was not true for leather scrolls.
  3. Ezekiel 3:1 tn Heb “eat what you find.”
  4. Ezekiel 3:3 tc Heb “I ate,” a first common singular preterite plus paragogic he (ה). The ancient versions read “I ate it,” which is certainly the meaning in the context, and indicates they read the he as a third feminine singular pronominal suffix. The Masoretes typically wrote a mappiq in the he for the pronominal suffix but apparently missed this one.sn I ate it. A similar idea of consuming God’s word is found in Jer 15:16 and Rev 10:10, where it is also compared to honey and may be specifically reminiscent of this text.

And when I looked, behold, (A)a hand was stretched out to me, and behold, (B)a scroll of a book was in it. 10 And he spread it before me. And it had writing (C)on the front and on the back, and there were written on it words of lamentation and mourning and woe.

And he said to me, (D)“Son of man, eat whatever you find here. (E)Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat. And he said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.” (F)Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth (G)as sweet as honey.