Old/New Testament
Chapter 3
1 He said to me: Son of man, eat what you find here: eat this scroll, then go, speak to the house of Israel. 2 So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. 3 (A)Son of man, he said to me, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll I am giving you. I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey[a] in my mouth. 4 Then he said to me, Son of man, go now to the house of Israel, and speak my words to them.
5 Not to a people with obscure speech and difficult language am I sending you, but to the house of Israel.(B) 6 Nor to many nations of obscure speech and difficult language whose words you cannot understand. For if I were to send you to these, they would listen to you.(C) 7 But the house of Israel will refuse to listen to you, since they refuse to listen to me. For the whole house of Israel is stubborn of brow and hard of heart.(D) 8 [b]Look! I make your face as hard as theirs, and your brow as stubborn as theirs.(E) 9 Like diamond, harder than flint, I make your brow. Do not be afraid of them, or be terrified by their looks, for they are a rebellious house.(F)
10 Then he said to me, Son of man, take into your heart all my words that I speak to you; hear them well. 11 Now go to the exiles, to your own people, and speak to them. Say to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear: Thus says the Lord God!
12 Then the spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a loud rumbling noise as the glory of the Lord[c] rose from its place:(G) 13 the noise of the wings of the living creatures beating against one another, and the noise of the wheels alongside them, a loud rumbling.(H) 14 And the spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went off, my spirit angry and bitter, for the hand of the Lord pressed hard on me. 15 Thus I came to the exiles who lived at Tel-abib[d] by the river Chebar; and there where they dwelt, I stayed among them distraught for seven days. 16 (I)At the end of the seven days, the word of the Lord came to me:
The Prophet as Sentinel.[e] 17 Son of man, I have appointed you a sentinel for the house of Israel.(J) When you hear a word from my mouth, you shall warn them for me.
18 If I say to the wicked, You shall surely die—and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade the wicked from their evil conduct in order to save their lives—then they shall die for their sin, but I will hold you responsible for their blood. 19 If, however, you warn the wicked and they still do not turn from their wickedness and evil conduct, they shall die for their sin, but you shall save your life.
20 But if the just turn away from their right conduct and do evil when I place a stumbling block before them, then they shall die. Even if you warned them about their sin, they shall still die, and the just deeds that they performed will not be remembered on their behalf. I will, however, hold you responsible for their blood.(K) 21 If, on the other hand, you warn the just to avoid sin, and they do not sin, they will surely live because of the warning, and you in turn shall save your own life.
Ezekiel Mute. 22 The hand of the Lord came upon me there and he said to me: Get up and go out into the plain, where I will speak with you.(L) 23 (M)So I got up and went out into the plain. There it was! The glory of the Lord was standing there like the glory I had seen by the river Chebar. Then I fell on my face, 24 but the spirit entered into me, set me on my feet; he spoke to me, and said: Go, shut yourself in your house. 25 As for you, son of man, know that they will put ropes on you and bind you with them, so that you cannot go out among them.(N) 26 And I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be mute,[f] no longer one who rebukes them for being a rebellious house.(O) 27 Only when I speak to you and open your mouth, shall you say to them: Thus says the Lord God: Let those who hear, hear! Let those who resist, resist! They are truly a rebellious house.
II. Before the Siege of Jerusalem
Chapter 4
Acts Symbolic of Siege and Exile. 1 [g]You, son of man, take a clay tablet; place it in front of you, and draw on it a city, Jerusalem. 2 Lay siege to it: build up siege works, raise a ramp against it, pitch camps and set up battering rams all around it. 3 Then take an iron pan and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your face toward it and put it under siege. So you must lay siege to it as a sign for the house of Israel.(P) 4 Then lie down on your left side, while I place the guilt of the house of Israel upon you. As many days as you lie like this, you shall bear their guilt. 5 I allot you three hundred and ninety days[h] during which you must bear the guilt of the house of Israel, the same number of years they sinned. 6 When you have completed this, you shall lie down a second time, on your right side to bear the guilt of the house of Judah forty days; I allot you one day for each year.(Q) 7 Turning your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with bared arm[i] you shall prophesy against it. 8 See, I bind you with ropes so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have completed the days of your siege.(R)
9 [j]Then take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; put them into a single pot and make them into bread. Eat it for as many days as you lie upon your side, three hundred and ninety days. 10 The food you eat shall be twenty shekels a day by weight; each day you shall eat it. 11 And the water you drink shall be the sixth of a hin[k] by measure; each day you shall drink it. 12 And the barley cake you eat you must bake on human excrement in the sight of all. 13 The Lord said: Thus the Israelites shall eat their food, unclean, among the nations where I drive them.(S) 14 “Oh no, Lord God,” I protested. “Never have I defiled myself nor have I eaten carrion flesh or flesh torn by wild beasts, nor from my youth till now has any unclean meat entered my mouth.”(T) 15 Very well, he replied, I will let you use cow manure in place of human dung. You can bake your bread on that. 16 Then he said to me: Son of man, I am about to break the staff of bread[l] in Jerusalem so they shall eat bread which they have weighed out anxiously and drink water which they have measured out fearfully.(U) 17 Because they lack bread and water they shall be devastated; each and every one will waste away because of their guilt.(V)
20 By faith regarding things still to come Isaac[a] blessed Jacob and Esau.(A) 21 By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and “bowed in worship, leaning on the top of his staff.”(B) 22 By faith Joseph, near the end of his life, spoke of the Exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions about his bones.(C)
23 (D)By faith Moses was hidden by his parents for three months after his birth, because they saw that he was a beautiful child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. 24 [b]By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter;(E) 25 he chose to be ill-treated along with the people of God rather than enjoy the fleeting pleasure of sin. 26 He considered the reproach of the Anointed greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the recompense. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s fury, for he persevered as if seeing the one who is invisible.(F) 28 By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.(G) 29 By faith they crossed the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted it they were drowned.(H) 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell after being encircled for seven days.(I) 31 By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish with the disobedient, for she had received the spies in peace.(J)
32 What more shall I say? I have not time to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets,(K) 33 who by faith conquered kingdoms, did what was righteous, obtained the promises; they closed the mouths of lions,(L) 34 put out raging fires, escaped the devouring sword; out of weakness they were made powerful, became strong in battle, and turned back foreign invaders.(M) 35 Women received back their dead through resurrection. Some were tortured and would not accept deliverance, in order to obtain a better resurrection.(N) 36 Others endured mockery, scourging, even chains and imprisonment.(O) 37 They were stoned, sawed in two, put to death at sword’s point; they went about in skins of sheep or goats, needy, afflicted, tormented.(P) 38 The world was not worthy of them. They wandered about in deserts and on mountains, in caves and in crevices in the earth.(Q)
39 Yet all these, though approved because of their faith, did not receive what had been promised. 40 God had foreseen something better for us, so that without us they should not be made perfect.[c]
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.