Ezekiel — Chapter 3

¹He said to me, Son of man, eat that which you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.

²So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat the scroll.

³He said to me, Son of man, cause your belly to eat, and fill your bowels with this scroll that I give you. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.

⁴He said to me, Son of man, go, get you to the house of Israel, and speak with my words to them.

⁵For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel;

⁶not to many peoples of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words you can not understand. Surely, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you.

⁷But the house of Israel will not listen to you; for they will not listen to me: for all the house of Israel are of hard forehead and of a stiff heart.

⁸Behold, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads.

⁹As an adamant harder than flint have I made your forehead: don`t be afraid of them, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.

¹⁰Moreover he said to me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears.

¹¹Go, get you to them of the captivity, to the children of your people, and speak to them, and tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.

¹²Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great rushing, [saying], Blessed be the glory of Yahweh from his place.

¹³[I heard] the noise of the wings of the living creatures as they touched one another, and the noise of the wheels beside them, even the noise of a great rushing.

¹⁴So the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away; and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; and the hand of Yahweh was strong on me.

¹⁵Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel-abib, that lived by the river Chebar, and to where they lived; and I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days.

¹⁶It happened at the end of seven days, that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

¹⁷Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.

¹⁸When I tell the wicked, You shall surely die; and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at your hand.

¹⁹Yet if you warn the wicked, and he doesn`t turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.

²⁰Again, when a righteous man does turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die: because you have not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at your hand.

²¹Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man, that the righteous not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning; and you have delivered your soul.

²²The hand of Yahweh was there on me; and he said to me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with you.

²³Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and, behold, the glory of Yahweh stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face.

²⁴Then the Spirit entered into me, and set me on my feet; and he spoke with me, and said to me, Go, shut yourself within your house.

²⁵But you, son of man, behold, they shall lay bands on you, and shall bind you with them, and you shall not go out among them:

²⁶and I will make your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth, that you shall be mute, and shall not be to them a reprover; for they are a rebellious house.

²⁷But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: He who hears, let him hear; and he who forbears, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.