Ezekiel 3–4

3^*God said, “Mortal man, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.”

^2*So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. ^3*He said, “Mortal man, eat this scroll that I give you; fill your stomach with it.” I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey.

⁴Then God said, “Mortal man, go to the people of Israel and say to them whatever I tell you to say. ⁵I am not sending you to a nation that speaks a difficult foreign language, but to the Israelites. ⁶If I sent you to great nations that spoke difficult languages you didn’t understand, they would listen to you. ⁷But none of the people of Israel will be willing to listen; they will not even listen to me. All of them are stubborn and defiant. ⁸Now I will make you as stubborn and as tough as they are. ⁹I will make you as firm as a rock, as hard as a diamond; don’t be afraid of those rebels.”

¹⁰God continued, “Mortal man, pay close attention and remember everything I tell you. ¹¹Then go to your countrymen who are in exile and tell them what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying to them, whether they pay attention to you or not.”

¹²Then God’s spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the loud roar of a voice that said, “Praise the glory of the Lord in heaven above!” ¹³I heard the wings of the creatures beating together in the air, and the noise of the wheels, as loud as an earthquake. ¹⁴The power of the Lord came on me with great force, and as his spirit carried me off, I felt bitter and angry. ¹⁵So I came to Tel Abib beside the River Chebar, where the exiles were living, and for seven days I stayed there, overcome by what I had seen and heard.

The Appoints Ezekiel as a Watchman

¹⁶After the seven days had passed, the Lord spoke to me. ¹⁷“Mortal man,” he said, “I am making you a watchman for the nation of Israel. You will pass on to them the warnings I give you. ¹⁸If I announce that an evil person is going to die but you do not warn him to change his ways so that he can save his life, he will die, still a sinner, and I will hold you responsible for his death. ¹⁹If you do warn an evil man and he doesn’t stop sinning, he will die, still a sinner, but your life will be spared.

²⁰“If a truly good person starts doing evil and I put him in a dangerous situation, he will die if you do not warn him. He will die because of his sins—I will not remember the good he did—and I will hold you responsible for his death. ²¹If you do warn a good man not to sin and he listens to you and doesn’t sin, he will stay alive, and your life will also be spared.”

Ezekiel Will Be Unable to Talk

²²I felt the powerful presence of the Lord and heard him say to me, “Get up and go out into the valley. I will talk to you there.”

²³So I went out into the valley, and there I saw the glory of the Lord, just as I had seen it beside the River Chebar. I fell face downwards on the ground, ²⁴but God’s spirit entered me and raised me to my feet. The Lord said to me, “Go home and shut yourself up in the house. ²⁵You will be tied with ropes, mortal man, and you will not be able to go out in public. ²⁶I will paralyse your tongue so that you won’t be able to warn these rebellious people. ²⁷Then, when I speak to you again and give you back the power of speech, you will tell them what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying. Some of them will listen, but some will ignore you, for they are a nation of rebels.”

Ezekiel Acts Out the Siege of Jerusalem

4God said, “Mortal man, get a brick, put it in front of you, and scratch lines on it to represent the city of Jerusalem. ²Then, to represent a siege, put trenches, earthworks, camps, and battering rams all round it. ³Take an iron pan and set it up like a wall between you and the city. Face the city. It is under siege, and you are the one besieging it. This will be a sign to the nation of Israel. ^4–5“Then lie down on your left side, and I^f will place on you the guilt of the nation of Israel. For 390 days you will stay there and suffer because of their guilt. I have sentenced you to one day for each year their punishment will last. ⁶When you finish that, turn over on your right side and suffer for the guilt of Judah for forty days—one day for each year of their punishment.

⁷“Fix your eyes on the siege of Jerusalem. Shake your fist at the city and prophesy against it. ⁸I will tie you up so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until the siege is over.

⁹“Now take some wheat, barley, beans, peas, millet, and spelt. Mix them all together and make bread. That is what you are to eat during the 390 days you are lying on your left side. ¹⁰You will be allowed 230 grammes of bread a day, and it will have to last until the next day. ¹¹You will also have a limited amount of water to drink, two cups a day. ¹²You are to build a fire out of dried human excrement, bake bread on the fire, and eat it where everyone can see you.”

¹³The Lord said, “This represents the way the Israelites will have to eat food which the Law forbids,^g when I scatter them to foreign countries.”

¹⁴But I replied, “No, Sovereign Lord! I have never defiled myself. From childhood on I have never eaten meat from any animal that died a natural death or was killed by wild animals. I have never eaten any food considered unclean.”

¹⁵So God said, “Very well. I will let you use cow dung instead, and you can bake your bread on that.” ¹⁶And he added, “Mortal man, I am going to cut off the supply of bread for Jerusalem. The people there will be distressed and anxious as they measure out the food they eat and the water they drink. ¹⁷They will run out of bread and water; they will be in despair, and they will waste away because of their sins.”