Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

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.

⁴ Then God said to me, “Son of man, go to the family of Israel. Speak my words to them. ⁵ I am not sending you to some foreigners you cannot understand. You don’t have to learn another language. I am sending you to the family of Israel. ⁶ I am not sending you to many different countries where people speak languages you cannot understand. If you went to those people and spoke to them, they would listen to you. But you will not have to learn those hard languages. ⁷ No, I am sending you to the family of Israel. Only, these people have hard heads—they are very stubborn! And the people of Israel will refuse to listen to you. They don’t want to listen to me. ⁸ But I will make you just as stubborn as they are, and your head just as hard. ⁹ A diamond is harder than flint rock. In the same way you will be more stubborn than they are, and your head will be harder. Then you will not be afraid of them or those who always turn against me.”

¹⁰ Then God said to me, “Son of man, listen to every word I say to you and remember them. ¹¹ Then go to all of your people in exile and tell them, ‘This is what the Lord God says ….’ They will not listen, and they will not stop sinning, but you must still tell them my message.”

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.”