Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A song for going up to the Temple.

Introduction

1 I am the priest, Ezekiel son of Buzi. I was in exile by the Kebar Canal in Babylonia when the skies opened up, and I saw visions of God. This was on the fifth day of the fourth month of the thirtieth year.^[a] (This was the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s exile. The word of the Lord came to Ezekiel. The power of the Lord came over him at that place.)

⁸ “Son of man, listen to what I am telling you. Don’t turn against me like those people who refuse to obey. Now open your mouth to receive the words I will give you to speak.”

⁹ Then I saw an arm reach out toward me. It was holding a scroll with words written on it. ¹⁰ It rolled the scroll open in front of me. Words were on the front and on the back of the scroll. There were all kinds of sad songs, sad stories, and warnings.

3 God said to me, “Son of man,^[a] eat what you see. Eat this scroll, and then go tell these things to the family of Israel.”

² So I opened my mouth and he put the scroll into my mouth. ³ Then God said, “Son of man, I am giving you this scroll. Swallow it! Let that scroll fill your body.”

So I ate the scroll. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth.

The Angel and the Little Scroll

10 Then I saw another powerful angel coming down from heaven. The angel was dressed in a cloud. He had a rainbow around his head. The angel’s face was like the sun, and his legs were like poles of fire. ² The angel was holding a small scroll. The scroll was open in his hand. He put his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. ³ He shouted loudly like the roaring of a lion. After he shouted, the voices of seven thunders spoke.

⁴ The seven thunders spoke, and I started to write. But then I heard a voice from heaven that said, “Don’t write what the seven thunders said. Keep those things secret.”

⁵ Then the angel I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. ⁶ The angel made a promise by the power of the one who lives forever and ever. He is the one who made the skies and all that is in them. He made the earth and all that is in it, and he made the sea and all that is in it. The angel said, “There will be no more waiting! ⁷ In the days when the seventh angel is ready to blow his trumpet, God’s secret plan will be completed—the Good News that God told to his servants, the prophets.”

⁸ Then I heard the same voice from heaven again. It said to me, “Go and take the open scroll that is in the angel’s hand. This is the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.”

⁹ So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take the scroll and eat it. It will be sour in your stomach, but in your mouth it will be sweet like honey.” ¹⁰ So I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. In my mouth it tasted sweet like honey, but after I ate it, it was sour in my stomach. ¹¹ Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many races of people, many nations, languages, and rulers.”