Ezekiel 3:1-27
3 And he said to me “Man, eat what you find, eat this book, and go speak to the house of Israel.”
2 * And I opened my mouth and he fed the book to me, and I ate it;
3 * and he said to me “Man, let your stomach feed, and fill your maw with this book I am giving you”; and I ate it, and it tasted like honey.
4 * And he said to me “Go on, man, come to the house of Israel and speak my words to them.
5 * For it is not to a people of strange and awkward language that you are sent in being sent to the house of Israel,
6 not to many people whose talk you cannot understand; in case I had sent you to them they would listen to you.
7 But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me, because all the house of Israel are hard-browed and stiff-minded.
8 Here, I have made your face hard to match their faces and your brow hard to match their brows.
9 Like adamant harder than flint I have made your brow; do not be afraid of them nor dismayed before them because they are a disobedient house.”
10 And he said to me “Man, apprehend with your mind and hear with your ears all the words I say to you,
11 and come to the exiles, the sons of your people, and tell them ‘Says the Lord Jehovah,’ whether they obey or do not.”
12 ** And a spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the sound of a great earthquake at the ascending of Jehovah’s glory from its place,
13 and the sound of the creatures’ wings brushing against each other and the sound of the wheels accompanying them, and the sound of an earthquake.
14 * And a spirit lifted me up and took me, and I went moodily with my spirit hot and Jehovah’s hand bearing hard on me,
15 ** and came to the exiles at Tel-Abib, those who lived by the river Kebar, where they were living, and I stayed there among them aghast seven days.
16 And at the end of seven days Jehovah’s word came to me
17 “Man, I post you as lookout for the house of Israel, and you are to hear a word from my mouth and warn them from me.
18 ** When I say to the wrong-doer ‘You shall die’ and you do not warn him nor speak to the wrong-doer to turn back from his course to save his life, he is a wrong-doer, he shall die for his guilt, but I will hold you to account for his blood.
19 But when you do warn a wrong-doer and he does not turn back from his wickedness nor from his course, that wrong-doer shall die for his guilt, but you have cleared yourself.
20 And when an honest man turns back from his honesty and acts dishonestly, and I give him something to trip over, he shall die; because you did not warn him, he shall die for his sin, and his record of honesty that he has made shall not be remembered; but I will hold you to account for his blood.
21 But when you have warned an honest man not to sin and he has not sinned, he shall live because he took warning, and you have cleared yourself.“
22 ** And Jehovah’s hand came upon me there, and he said to me “Stand up, go out into the bottom-lands and there I will speak with you.”
23 And I stood up and went out into the bottom-lands, and there I found Jehovah’s glory standing, like the glory I had seen by the river Kebar; and I threw myself down on my face.
24 And a spirit came into me and set me on my feet; and he spoke with me and said to me “Go in and shut yourself up in your house;
25 and on you, man, they will put ropes and tie you up with them, and you shall not go out among them;
26 and your tongue I will make stick to the roof of your mouth, and you shall be dumb and not be a reprover for them, because they are a disobedient house.
27 And when I speak with you I will open your mouth and you shall say to them ‘Says the Lord Jehovah’; he who obeys will obey and he who does not will not—because they are a disobedient house.
Footnotes
^ 3:2 Var. he opened my mouth and had me eat the book, and said
^ 3:3 Lit. it was in my mouth like honey for sweetness
^ 3:4 Var. speak to them with my words
^ 3:5 Lit. not to a deep-lipped and heavy-tongued people are you being sent to the house of Israel Conj. that to the house of Israel does not belong in the text
^ 3:12 Or great commotion
^ 3:12 Codd. earthquake—blessed be Jehovah’s glory out of its place
^ 3:14 Or went bitter at the heat of my spirit, with Jehovah’s Var. went raised aloft, with my spirit hot and
^ 3:15 Conj. Til-Abub
^ 3:15 Conj. that those who lived by the river Kebar does not belong in the text
^ 3:18 Var. speak to warn the wrongdoer out of his wrong course
^ 3:18 Var. life, that wrong-doer shall die
^ 3:22 Var. upon me, and
^ 3:22 Conj. I have put ropes and tied
