⁴ Then he said: “Son of dust, I am sending you to the people of Israel with my messages. ⁵ I am not sending you to some far-off foreign land where you can’t understand the language— ⁶ no, not to tribes with strange, difficult tongues. (If I did, they would listen!) ⁷ I am sending you to the people of Israel, and they won’t listen to you any more than they listen to me! For the whole lot of them are hard, impudent, and stubborn. ⁸ But see, I have made you hard and stubborn too—as tough as they are. ⁹ I have made your forehead as hard as rock. So don’t be afraid of them, or fear their sullen, angry looks, even though they are such rebels.”

¹⁰ Then he added: “Son of dust, let all my words sink deep into your own heart first; listen to them carefully for yourself. ¹¹ Then, afterward, go to your people in exile, and whether or not they will listen, tell them: ‘This is what the Lord God says!’”