7 But the people of Israel are not willing to listenp to you because they are not willing to listen to me, for all the Israelites are hardened and obstinate.q 8 But I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are.r 9 I will make your foreheads like the hardest stone, harder than flint.t Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people.u”

10 And he said to me, “Son of man, listen carefully and take to heartv all the words I speak to you. 11 Gow now to your people in exile and speak to them. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says,’x whether they listen or fail to listen.y”

12 Then the Spirit lifted me up,z and I heard behind me a loud rumbling sound as the glory of the Lord rose from the place where it was standing.a 13 It was the sound of the wings of the living creaturesa brushing against each other and the sound of the wheels beside them, a loud rumbling sound.b 14 The Spiritc then lifted me upd and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the Lorde on me. 15 I came to the exiles who lived at Tel Aviv near the Kebar River.f And there, where they were living, I sat among them for seven daysg—deeply distressed.