Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Hope in the Lord’s Forgiving Love.

A Song of ^[a]Ascents.

The Vision of Four Figures

1 Now it came about [when I was] in my ^[a]thirtieth year [of life], on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was among the exiles beside the River Chebar [in Babylonia], the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. ² (On the fifth of the month, which was in the fifth year of ^[b]King Jehoiachin’s captivity,^{(A) 3} the word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the ^[c]Chaldeans by the River ^[d]Chebar; and the hand of the Lord came upon him there.)^(B)

⁸ “As for you, son of man, listen to what I say to you; do not be rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I am giving you.” ⁹ Then I looked, and I saw a hand stretched out toward me; and behold, a scroll of a book was in it. ¹⁰ And He spread it before me, and it was written on the front and on the back, and written on it were [words of] lamentation (funeral songs) and mourning and woe.

Ezekiel’s Commission

3 He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find [in this book]; eat this scroll, then go, speak to the house of Israel.” ² So I opened my mouth, and He fed me the scroll. ³ He said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll that I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.

The Angel and the Little Book

10 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed in a cloud, with a rainbow (halo) over his head; and his face was like the sun, and his feet (legs) were like columns of fire;^{(A) 2} and he had a little book (scroll) open in his hand. He set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land;^{(B) 3} and he shouted with a loud voice, like the roaring of a lion [compelling attention and inspiring awe]; and when he had shouted out, the seven peals of thunder spoke with their own voices [uttering their message in distinct words].^{(C) 4} And when the seven peals of thunder had spoken, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken and do not write them down.”^{(D) 5} Then the angel whom I had seen standing on the sea and the land raised his right hand [to swear an oath] to heaven,^{(E) 6} and swore [an oath] by [the name of] Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it, that there will be delay no longer,^{(F) 7} but ^[a]when it is time for the ^[b]trumpet call of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God [that is, His hidden purpose and plan] is finished, as He announced the gospel to His servants the prophets.^(G)

⁸ Then the voice which I heard from heaven, I heard again speaking to me, and saying, “Go, take the book (scroll) which is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” ⁹ So I went up to the angel and told him to give me the little book. And he said to me, “Take it and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.”^{(H) 10} So I took the little book from the angel’s hand and ate it, and in my mouth it was as sweet as honey; but once I had swallowed it, my stomach was ^[c]bitter.^{(I) 11} Then they said to me, “You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”^(J)