Old/New Testament

Ezekiel Sent to the House of Israel

3 Then 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 ^(B)opened my mouth, and He ^[a]fed me this scroll. ³ And He said to me, “Son of man, ^[b]feed your stomach and ^(C)fill your ^[c]body with this scroll which I am giving you.” Then I ^(D)ate it, and it was sweet as ^(E)honey in my mouth.

⁴ Then He said to me, “Son of man, go now, come to the house of Israel, and you shall speak with My words to them. ⁵ For ^(F)you are not being sent to a people of ^[d](G)unintelligible lips or a difficult tongue, but to the house of Israel, ⁶ nor to many peoples of ^[e]unintelligible lips or a difficult tongue, whose words you cannot ^[f]understand. ^[g]But I have sent you to them ^[h]who should listen to you; ⁷ yet the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, since they are ^(H)not willing to listen to Me. Surely the whole house of Israel is ^[i]stubborn with a strong forehead and stiff heart. ⁸ Behold, I have made your face as strong as their faces and your forehead as strong as their foreheads. ⁹ Like ^[j]diamond stronger than flint I have made your forehead. Do not be afraid of them or be dismayed before them, though they are a rebellious house.” ¹⁰ Moreover, He said to me, “Son of man, take into your heart all My ^(I)words which I will speak to you and listen with your ears. ¹¹ And go now, come to the exiles, to the sons of your people, and you shall speak to them and say to them, whether they listen or whether they refuse, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh.’”

¹² Then the ^(J)Spirit lifted me up, and I heard a great ^(K)rumbling sound behind me, “Blessed be the glory of Yahweh ^[k]in His place.” ¹³ And I heard the sound of the wings of the living creatures touching one another and the sound of the ^(L)wheels beside them, even a great rumbling sound. ¹⁴ So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away; and I went embittered in the wrath of my spirit, and ^(M)the hand of Yahweh was strong on me. ¹⁵ Then I came to the exiles who lived beside the river Chebar at Tel-abib, and I sat there ^(N)seven days where they were living, causing ^[l]consternation among them.

^16 (O)Now it happened at the end of seven days, that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, ¹⁷ “Son of man, I have given you as a ^(P)watchman to the house of Israel; so you will hear a word from My mouth, and you shall ^(Q)warn them from Me. ¹⁸ When I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his ^(R)blood I will require at your hand. ¹⁹ Yet if you have ^(S)warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have ^(T)delivered yourself. ²⁰ Again, ^(U)when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and does evil, and I put a ^(V)stumbling block before him, he will die; since you have not warned him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. ²¹ However, if you have ^(W)warned ^[m]the righteous man that the righteous should not sin and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; and you have delivered yourself.”

²² And the hand of Yahweh was on me there, and He said to me, “Get up, go out to the plain, and there I will ^(X)speak to you.” ²³ So I got up and went out to the plain; and behold, the ^(Y)glory of Yahweh was standing there, like the glory which ^(Z)I saw by the river Chebar, and I fell on my face. ²⁴ The ^(AA)Spirit then entered me and caused me to stand on my feet, and He spoke with me and said to me, “Go, shut yourself up in your house. ²⁵ Now as for you, son of man, they will ^(AB)put ropes on you and bind you with them so that you cannot go out among them. ²⁶ Moreover, ^(AC)I will make your tongue cling to ^[n]the roof of your mouth so that you will be mute and cannot be a man who reproves them, for they are a rebellious house. ²⁷ But ^(AD)when I speak to you, I will open your mouth, and you will say to them, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh.’ He who hears, let him hear; and he who refuses, let him refuse; ^(AE)for they are a rebellious house.

Ezekiel Bears Israel’s Iniquity

4 “Now as for you, son of man, ^(AF)get yourself a brick, set it before you, and inscribe a city on it, Jerusalem. ² Then ^(AG)set a siege against it, build a siege wall against it, ^[o]raise up a ramp against it, set up camps against it, and place battering rams against it all around. ³ Now as for you, get yourself an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city, and establish your face toward it so that ^(AH)it is under siege, and besiege it. This is a ^(AI)sign to the house of Israel.

⁴ “Now as for you, lie down on your left side and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it; you shall ^(AJ)bear their iniquity for the number of days that you lie on it. ⁵ Now I have set a number of days for you corresponding to the years of their iniquity, 390 days; thus ^(AK)you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. ⁶ And you shall complete these, and you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah; I have set it for you for forty days, a day for ^(AL)each year. ⁷ Then you shall establish your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared and ^(AM)prophesy against it. ⁸ Now behold, I will ^(AN)set ropes upon you so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have completed the days of your siege.

Making Unclean Bread

⁹ “Now as for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and ^(AO)spelt; set them in one vessel and make them into bread for yourself; you shall eat it according to the number of the days that you lie on your side, 390 days. ¹⁰ And your food which you eat shall be ^[p](AP)twenty shekels a day by weight; you shall eat it from time to time. ¹¹ The water you drink shall be the sixth part of a ^[q]hin by measure; you shall drink it from time to time. ¹² You shall eat it as a barley cake, having baked it in their sight over human ^(AQ)dung.” ¹³ Then Yahweh said, “Thus will the sons of Israel eat their bread ^(AR)unclean among the nations where I will banish them.” ¹⁴ But I said, “^(AS)Ah, Lord Yahweh! Behold, I have ^(AT)never been defiled; for from my youth until now I have never eaten what ^(AU)died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has any ^(AV)offensive meat ever entered my mouth.” ¹⁵ Then He said to me, “See, I will set for you cow’s dung in place of human dung over which you will prepare your bread.” ¹⁶ Moreover, He said to me, “Son of man, behold, I am going to ^(AW)break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they will eat bread by ^(AX)weight and with anxiety, and they will drink water by ^(AY)measure and in desolation ¹⁷ because bread and water will be lacking; and they will be in desolation with one another and ^(AZ)rot away in their iniquity.

²⁰ By faith ^(A)Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to come. ²¹ By faith ^(B)Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and ^(C)worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff. ²² By faith ^(D)Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the exodus of the sons of Israel, and gave commands concerning his bones.

²³ By faith ^(E)Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child, and they were not afraid of the ^(F)king’s edict. ²⁴ By faith Moses, ^(G)when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, ²⁵ choosing rather to ^(H)be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, ^26 (I)regarding the reproach of ^[a]Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the ^(J)reward. ²⁷ By faith he ^(K)left Egypt, not ^(L)fearing the rage of the king; for he endured, as ^(M)seeing Him who is unseen. ²⁸ By faith he ^[b](N)kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that ^(O)he who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them. ²⁹ By faith they ^(P)passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land, and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were ^[c]drowned.

³⁰ By faith ^(Q)the walls of Jericho fell down ^(R)after they had been encircled for seven days. ³¹ By faith ^(S)Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after welcoming the spies ^[d]in peace.

³² And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I recount ^(T)Gideon, ^(U)Barak, ^(V)Samson, ^(W)Jephthah, as well as ^(X)David and ^(Y)Samuel and the prophets, ³³ who through faith ^(Z)conquered kingdoms, ^(AA)performed righteousness, ^(AB)obtained promises, ^(AC)shut the mouths of lions, ^34 (AD)quenched the power of fire, ^(AE)escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong from weakness, ^(AF)became mighty in war, ^(AG)put foreign armies to flight. ^35 (AH)Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their ^[e]release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; ³⁶ and others ^[f]experienced mockings and floggings, yes, also ^(AI)chains and imprisonment. ³⁷ They were ^(AJ)stoned, they were ^(AK)sawn in two, ^[g]they were tempted, they were ^(AL)put to death with the sword. They went about ^(AM)in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ^(AN)mistreated ³⁸ (of whom the world was not worthy), ^(AO)wandering in desolate places and mountains and caves and holes ^[h]in the ground.

³⁹ And all these, having ^[i](AP)gained approval through their faith, ^(AQ)did not receive ^[j]what was promised, ⁴⁰ because God had ^[k]provided ^(AR)something better for us, so that ^(AS)apart from us they would not be made perfect.