Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Come Praise the Lord

⁸ Ezekiel, don't rebel against me, as they have done. Instead, listen to everything I tell you.

And now, Ezekiel, open your mouth and eat what I am going to give you.

^9 (A) Just then, I saw a hand stretched out toward me. And in it was a scroll.^{[a] 10} The hand opened the scroll, and both sides of it were filled with words of sadness, mourning, and grief.

3 ^(B) The Lord said, “Ezekiel, son of man, after you eat this scroll, go speak to the people of Israel.”

^2-3 He handed me the scroll and said, “Eat this and fill up on it.” So I ate the scroll, and it tasted sweet as honey.

⁴ The Lord said:

Ezekiel, I am sending you to your own people. ^5-6 They are Israelites, not some strangers who speak a foreign language you can't understand. If I were to send you to foreign nations, they would listen to you. ⁷ But the people of Israel will refuse to listen, because they have refused to listen to me. All of them are stubborn and hardheaded, ⁸ so I will make you as stubborn as they are. ⁹ You will be so determined to speak my message that nothing will stop you. I will make you hard like a diamond, and you'll have no reason to be afraid of those arrogant rebels.

¹⁰ Listen carefully to everything I say and then think about it. ¹¹ Then go to the people who were brought here to Babylonia with you and tell them you have a message from me, the Lord God. Do this, whether they listen to you or not.

The Angel and the Little Scroll

10 I saw another powerful angel come down from heaven. This one was covered with a cloud, and a rainbow was over his head. His face was like the sun, his legs were like columns of fire, ² and with his hand he held a little scroll^[a] that had been unrolled. He stood there with his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. ³ Then he shouted with a voice that sounded like a growling lion. Thunder roared seven times.

⁴ After the thunder stopped, I was about to write what it had said. But a voice from heaven shouted, “Keep it secret! Don't write these things.”

^5 (A) The angel I had seen standing on the sea and the land then held his right hand up toward heaven. ⁶ He made a promise in the name of God who lives forever and who created heaven, earth, the sea, and every living creature. The angel said, “You won't have to wait any longer. ⁷ God told his secret plans to his servants the prophets, and it will all happen by the time the seventh angel sounds his trumpet.”

^8 (B) Once again the voice from heaven spoke to me. It said, “Go and take the open scroll from the hand of the angel standing on the sea and the land.”

⁹ When I went over to ask the angel for the little scroll, the angel said, “Take the scroll and eat it! Your stomach will turn sour, but the taste in your mouth will be sweet as honey.” ¹⁰ I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. The taste was sweet as honey, but my stomach turned sour.

¹¹ Then some voices said, “Keep on telling what will happen to the people of many nations, races, and languages, and also to kings.”