Old/New Testament

3 Then He said to me, “Son of man, eat what is in front of you. Eat this book, then go and speak to the people of Israel.” ² So I opened my mouth, and He fed me this book. ³ And He said to me, “Son of man, eat this book that I give you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.

⁴ Then He said to me, “Son of man, go to the people of Israel, and speak My words to them. ⁵ For you are not being sent to people of strange speech and a hard language, but to the people of Israel. ⁶ You are not being sent to many people of strange speech and a hard language whom you cannot understand. If I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you. ⁷ But the people of Israel will not listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to Me. All the people of Israel are strong-willed and show no respect. ⁸ See, I have made you as strong-willed and as hard as they are. ⁹ I have made your forehead harder than the hardest stone. Do not be afraid of them. Do not be afraid of how they look, even if they do not obey Me.” ¹⁰ He said to me, “Son of man, take all My words that I say to you into your heart, and hear with your ears. ¹¹ Then go to the Jews who have been taken away from their land. Go to the sons of your people. And if they listen or not, tell them, ‘This is what the Lord God says.’”

¹² Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard a loud sounding voice behind me say, “Great is the shining-greatness of the Lord from His place.” ¹³ I heard the sound of the wings of the living beings touching one another, and the sound of the wheels beside them. It was a loud rushing sound. ¹⁴ The Spirit lifted me up and took me away. And I went with a bitter and angry spirit. The hand of the Lord was strong upon me. ¹⁵ Then I came to the Jews who had been taken from their land and who lived by the Chebar River at Tel-abib. I sat among them seven days where they were living, and I was filled with fear.

Ezekiel to Watch Over Israel

¹⁶ At the end of seven days the Word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁷ “Son of man, I have chosen you to be a watchman over the people of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from My mouth, tell them of the danger. ¹⁸ If I say to the sinful man, ‘You will die for sure,’ and you do not tell him of the danger, and try to turn him from his sinful way so that he may live, that sinful man will die in his sin. But you will be guilty for his blood. ¹⁹ But if you tell a sinful man of the danger he is in, and he does not turn from his sins or from his sinful way, then he will die in his sin. But you will have saved yourself. ²⁰ Again, if a right and good man turns away from his right and good way and sins, and I put a cause of falling in his way, he will die. Because you have not told him of the danger, he will die in his sin, and the right and good things he has done will not be remembered. But you will be guilty for his blood. ²¹ Yet if you have told the right and good man of the danger of his sinning, and he does not sin, he will live for sure because he listened to you. And you will have saved yourself.”

Ezekiel Is Not Able to Speak

²² The hand of the Lord was upon me there, and He said to me, “Get up, go out to the plain, and I will speak to you there.” ²³ So I got up and went out to the plain, and saw the shining-greatness of the Lord standing there. It was like the shining-greatness which I saw by the Chebar River, and I fell on my face. ²⁴ Then the Spirit came into me and made me stand on my feet. And He spoke and said to me, “Go, shut yourself up in your house. ²⁵ As for you, son of man, they will put ropes on you and tie you up with them, so that you cannot go out among the people. ²⁶ And I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you cannot speak. You will not be able to speak sharp words to them, for they will not obey Me. ²⁷ But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth, and you will tell them, ‘This is what the Lord God says.’ He who hears, let him hear. And he who is not willing to hear, let him not be willing. For they are a sinful people.

Ezekiel Shows How Jerusalem Will Be Taken

4 “Now, son of man, get a hard clay block. Set it down in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. ² Then build a battle-wall around it to shut it in, and build a hill of dirt against the wall. Cut down trees and lay them on wheels all around the city, to use for breaking down the walls. ³ Then get an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city, and turn your face toward it. It will be shut in, and you will fight a battle against it. This will be something special for the people of Israel to see.

⁴ “Then lie on your left side, and I will lay the sin of the people of Israel upon you. You will be under the weight of their sin for the number of days that you lie on your side. ⁵ I have set a number of days for you which is the same as the number of years of their sin, 390 days. This is how long you must be under the weight of the sin of the people of Israel. ⁶ When you have completed these, you must lie down a second time, but on your right side. And you must be under the weight of the sin of the people of Judah. I have set a time of forty days for you to do this, one day for each year. ⁷ Then you must turn your face toward the battle against Jerusalem with no covering on your arm, and tell what will happen against the city. ⁸ I will tie you up with ropes so that you cannot turn from one side to the other, until you have completed the days of your battle.

⁹ “Take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet and spelt and put them in one pot, and make them into bread for yourself. Eat it during the 390 days that you lie on your side. ¹⁰ The food you eat each day will weigh as much as twenty pieces of silver, and will have to last until the next day. ¹¹ And the water you drink each day will be enough to fill a bottle. You will drink it from time to time. ¹² Eat your food as you would barley cakes, making it ready in front of their eyes over a fire burning human waste.” ¹³ The Lord said, “In this way the people of Israel will eat unclean food among the nations where I will drive them.” ¹⁴ But I said, “O Lord God! See, I have never been unclean. Since I was young until now, I have never eaten what died of itself or what was torn by wild animals. No unclean meat has ever come into my mouth.” ¹⁵ So He said to me, “Then I will let you make your bread over cow’s waste instead of human waste.” ¹⁶ And He said to me, “Son of man, I am going to take away the bread that is needed in Jerusalem. They will weigh the bread they eat and they will drink water from small cups, and be afraid ¹⁷ because there will not be enough bread and water. They will look at one another in fear, and waste away in their sin.

²⁰ Because Isaac had faith, he said that good would come to Jacob and Esau in the future. ²¹ Because Jacob had faith, he said that good would come to each of Joseph’s sons as he was dying. He used his walking stick to hold him up as he prayed to God.

²² Because Joseph had faith, he spoke of the Jews leaving the country of Egypt. He was going to die soon, and he told them to bury his body in the country where they were going.

²³ Because of faith, Moses, after he was born, was hidden by his parents for three months. They saw that he was a beautiful child. They were not afraid of the king when he said that all baby boys should be killed.

²⁴ Because Moses had faith, he would not be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter when he grew up. ²⁵ He chose to suffer with God’s people instead of having fun doing sinful things for awhile. ²⁶ Any shame that he suffered for Christ was worth more than all the riches in Egypt. He kept his eyes on the reward God was going to give him.

²⁷ Because Moses had faith, he left Egypt. He was not afraid of the king’s anger. Moses did not turn from the right way but kept seeing God in front of him. ²⁸ Because Moses had faith, he told all the Jews to put blood over their doors. Then the angel of death would pass over their houses and not kill their oldest sons.

²⁹ Because the Jews had faith, they went through the Red Sea as if they were on dry ground. But when the people of Egypt tried to go through, they were all killed by the water.

³⁰ Because the Jews had faith, the walls of the city of Jericho fell down after the Jews had walked around the city for seven days. ³¹ Because Rahab had faith, she was kept from being killed along with those who did not obey God. She was a woman who sold the use of her body. But she helped the men who had come in secret to look over the country.

There Were Many More Who Had Faith in God

³² What more should I say? There is not enough time to tell of Gideon and of Barak and of Samson and of Jephthah and of David and of Samuel and of the early preachers. ³³ It was because these people had faith that they won wars over other countries. They were good leaders. They received what God promised to them. They closed the mouths of lions ³⁴ and stopped fire that was burning. They got away from being killed with swords. They were made strong again after they had been weak and sick. They were strong in war. They made fighting men from other countries run home. ³⁵ It was because some women had faith that they received their dead back to life. Others chose to be beaten instead of being set free, because they would not turn against God. In this way, they would be raised to a better life. ³⁶ Others were talked against. Some were beaten. Some were put in chains and in prison. ³⁷ They were killed by stones being thrown at them. People were cut in pieces. They were tested. They were killed with swords. They wore skins of sheep and goats and had nothing they could call their own. They were hungry and sick. Everyone was bad to them. ³⁸ They walked around in deserts and in mountains. They looked for caves and holes in the earth to live in. They were too good for this world. ³⁹ It was because of their faith that God was pleased with them. But they did not receive what God had promised. ⁴⁰ God had planned something better for us. These men could not be made perfect without us.