Beginning
Ezekiel’s First Vision
1 In the thirtieth year,[a] in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, when I was among the exiles by the Kebar Canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. 2 On the fifth of that month, in the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin, 3 the word of the Lord came in a dramatic way[b] upon Ezekiel, the son of Buzi, the priest, in the land of the Chaldeans,[c] by the Kebar Canal, and the hand of the Lord was upon him there.
The Glory of the Lord Appears
4 As I watched, I noticed a windstorm coming from the north. There was a large cloud, with fire flashing through it, and there was a bright light all around it. In the middle of it, there was something that looked like glowing metal[d] in the middle of the fire.
5 In the middle of it I saw what looked like four living creatures. This was what they looked like. Each of them had a human appearance, 6 but each one had four faces, and each of them had four wings. 7 Each of their legs was straight,[e] and their feet were like a calf’s hoof, and they gleamed like polished bronze. 8 They had human hands under their wings on all four of their sides. All four of them had faces and wings.
9 Their wings were touching one another. The creatures did not turn from side to side as they moved, but each one faced straight ahead.[f]
10 This is what their faces looked like. Each one had a face like a man’s face. On the right side of their heads, all four of them had a face like a lion. On the left side, all four of them had a face like an ox. All four of them also had a face like an eagle. 11 Those were their faces.
Their wings were stretched upward. Each of them had one pair of wings which touched the wings of each of the cherubs next to it and another pair of wings which covered their bodies.
12 Each one faced straight ahead as it moved. They went in whatever direction the spirit[g] wanted to go. They did not turn as they moved ahead.
13 The appearance of the living creatures was like red-hot coals, like the appearance of blazing torches. Fire was moving back and forth among the living creatures. The fire was bright, and lightning was coming out of the fire. 14 The creatures darted back and forth. They looked like jagged bolts of lightning.
15 As I looked at the living creatures, I noticed one wheel on the ground beside each one of the living creatures that had four faces. 16 The appearance of the wheels and their design were like the sparkle of topaz,[h] and the four of them looked alike. Their appearance and their design were like a wheel within a wheel.[i] 17 They could go in any of the four directions when they moved, but the wheels did not turn from side to side when they moved.[j] 18 As for their rims, they were high and intimidating, and their rims were full of eyes all the way around—all four of them. 19 Whenever the living creatures moved, the wheels moved beside them, and whenever the living creatures would rise from the ground, the wheels rose too.
20 Wherever the spirit wanted to go, they would go. Wherever the spirit wanted to go,[k] the wheels would rise together with them, because the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. 21 Whenever the living creatures moved, the wheels would move. Whenever the living creatures stood still, the wheels would stand still. Whenever the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels would rise together with them, because the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
22 There was something above the heads of the living creatures like the dome of a vaulted ceiling.[l] It looked like ice. It was spectacular. It stretched out above their heads. 23 Under the dome, two of their wings were stretched out to touch the wing of another one of the creatures. Each of the creatures also had two wings covering themselves, each had two wings covering themselves—covering their bodies.[m] 24 I heard the sound of their wings, like the sound of rushing water. It was like the voice of the Almighty when they moved—a sound of commotion, like the noise in an army camp. When they stood still, they lowered their wings. 25 A voice came from above the dome that was over their heads. When they stood still, they lowered their wings.
26 Above the dome that was over their heads, there was something that appeared to be a sapphire that was shaped like a throne. Seated on that throne-like form there was a figure that looked like a man. 27 I saw something like the gleam of glowing metal[n] with fire in it and all around it. It extended upward from what appeared to be the man’s waist. Below what appeared to be his waist, I saw what appeared to be fire, and a bright light surrounded him. 28 The bright light that surrounded him looked like the rainbow that is in the clouds on a rainy day.
This was the appearance of the likeness of the Glory of the Lord. When I saw this, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice speaking.
Ezekiel’s Call
2 He said to me, “Son of man, stand up on your feet, and I will speak with you.” 2 The Spirit entered into me as he spoke to me and brought me up to my feet. Then I heard him speaking to me.
3 He said to me, “Son of man, I am sending you to the people of Israel,[o] to disloyal nations, who have been disloyal to me. They and their fathers have rebelled against me to this very day. 4 These children of mine are brazen-faced and hard-hearted. I am sending you to them, and you are to tell them that this is what the Lord God says. 5 Then, whether they listen or do not listen—for they are a rebellious house—then they will know that a prophet has been among them. 6 But you, son of man, do not be afraid of them, and do not be afraid of their words. Even though briers and thorns surround you and you are living with scorpions, do not be afraid of their words, and do not be intimidated by the look on their faces, for they are a rebellious house. 7 You are to speak my words to them whether they listen or they do not, for they are rebellious. 8 But you, son of man, listen to what I am telling you. Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you.”
9 Then I looked, and I saw a hand stretched out toward me, and in it there was a rolled-up scroll. 10 He unrolled it in front of me, and there was writing on both sides. Written on it was: Laments, Groaning, and Woe.
3 Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat what you have received. Eat this scroll, and then go, speak to the house of Israel.” 2 I opened my mouth, and he fed me the scroll.
3 Then he said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll that I am giving you.” I ate, and in my mouth it was sweet like honey.
4 He then said to me, “Son of man, go now to the house of Israel and speak my words to them. 5 For you are not being sent to a people who have incomprehensible speech or a difficult language, but you are being sent to the house of Israel. 6 Nor are you being sent to many peoples who have incomprehensible speech and difficult languages, whose words you cannot understand. Certainly, if I were to send you to such people, they would listen to you. 7 But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to me, because the whole house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted. 8 Look, I have made your face just as hard as their faces and your forehead just as hard as their foreheads. 9 I have made your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not fear them, and do not be intimidated by their looks, for they are a rebellious house.”
10 Then he said to me, “Son of man, receive into your heart all my words that I will speak to you, and hear them with your ears. 11 Go now to the exiles, to your own people.[p] You shall speak to them and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says,’ whether they listen or they do not.”
12 Then the Spirit[q] lifted me up, and I heard a loud rushing sound behind me—Blessed be the Glory of the Lord in its dwelling place!— 13 It was the sound of the wings of the living creatures beating against each other and the sound of the wheels beside them, a loud rumbling sound. 14 The Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and so I went, bitter and heated in my spirit, and the hand of the Lord was upon me with power. 15 I came to the exiles at Tel Aviv, who were living by the Kebar Canal—there where they were living.[r] I sat among them for seven days—stunned.
16 At the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me and said:
17 Son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman for the house of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, you must give them a warning from me. 18 When I announce to a wicked man, “You shall surely die,” if you do not warn him, and you do not speak up to warn the wicked man against his wicked way so that he can live, then that wicked man will die because of his guilt, and I will hold you responsible for his blood. 19 But you, if you warn the wicked man, and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die because of his guilt, but you will have saved your own life. 20 Or when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and becomes unrighteous, and I place a stumbling block in front of him, he shall die. If you have not warned him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he had done will not be remembered, and I will hold you responsible for his blood. 21 But you, if you do warn that righteous man not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall certainly live because he heeded the warning, and you will have saved your own life.
22 Then the hand of the Lord was upon me there, and he said to me, “Get up, go out to the center of the river valley, and there I will speak with you.” 23 So I got up and went out to the center of the valley, and suddenly there it was! The Glory of the Lord was standing there, just like the Glory that I had seen by the Kebar Canal, and I fell on my face. 24 But the Spirit entered into me and brought me to my feet.
Then he spoke to me and said to me, “Go, shut yourself up inside your house. 25 And this is what will happen to you, son of man. They will certainly place ropes upon you and tie you up with them, so that you will not be able to go out among them. 26 I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, so that you will be speechless, and you will not be able to rebuke[s] them, for they are a rebellious house. 27 But whenever I speak to you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says.’ Whoever listens, let him listen. Whoever refuses to listen, let him refuse, for they are a rebellious house.”
Action Prophecies About the Siege and the Exile
4 Now you, son of man, take a brick for yourself, place it in front of you, and sketch on it a city, which is Jerusalem. 2 Lay siege against it, build a siege wall against it, heap up a ramp against it, set up camps against it, and station battering rams against it, all the way around it.
3 And you, take an iron griddle and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city. Direct your face toward[t] it, so that it will be under siege as you besiege it. This will be a sign for the house of Israel.
4 And you, lie down on your left side, and place the guilt of the house of Israel on it. For as many days as you lie on your side, you shall bear their guilt. 5 I will assign to you the number of days you are to lie on your side on the basis of the number of years of their guilt: three hundred ninety days. So you shall bear the guilt of the house of Israel. 6 When you have finished these days, you shall lie down a second time on your right side, and you shall bear the guilt of the house of Judah for forty days. I have assigned to you one day for each year. 7 You shall direct your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with your arm bared, and you shall prophesy against it. 8 See, I have placed ropes upon you, so that you will not turn from your one side to your other side until you finish the days of your siege.
9 And you, take some wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and emmer wheat for yourself. You shall put them in a single dish and make bread for yourself with them. During the whole number of days that you are lying on your side—three hundred ninety days—you shall eat it. 10 You shall weigh out the food you eat—half a pound[u] a day. You are to eat it at set times each day. 11 You shall measure the water you drink—a pint and a half[v] a day. You are to drink it at set times each day. 12 You are to eat it as you would eat flat bread made of barley, and you are to bake it over balls of human excrement in their sight.
13 Then the Lord said, “This is how the people of Israel will eat their food: They will be ceremonially unclean among the nations where I will banish them.”
14 Then I said, “Oh no, Lord God, I have never made myself unclean. I have never eaten a carcass or something torn by wild animals, from my youth until now. Neither has any meat which is ceremonially unclean ever entered my mouth.”
15 Then he answered me, “Very well, I will let you use droppings of cattle instead of balls of human excrement, and you shall bake your bread over them.”
16 He also said this to me: “Son of man, watch for this! I am about to take away the bread supply from[w] Jerusalem, and they will measure out their bread by weight and eat it with anxiety, and they will measure out their water and drink it with horror. 17 So they will lack food and water, and they will be horrified, each man and his brother, and they will waste away because of their guilt.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.