Ezekiel 3:6–21

⁶I am not sending you to nations whose language is hard to understand, difficult to speak, or whose words you cannot understand. If I send you to those nations, they will certainly listen to you. ⁷But the people of Israel will refuse to listen to you because they refuse to listen to me. All the people of Israel are very stubborn and hardheaded. ⁸Yet, I will make you as stubborn and as hardheaded as they are. ⁹I will make you as hard as a diamond, harder than stone. Don’t be afraid of them. Don’t be terrified in their presence, even though they are rebellious people.” 

¹⁰He also said to me, “Son of man, take to heart everything I have spoken to you, and listen closely. ¹¹Go to the exiles, to your people. Whether they listen or not, tell them, ‘This is what the Almighty Lord says.’ ” 

¹²Then the Spirit lifted me, and behind me I heard a loud thundering voice say, “Blessed is the Lord’s glory, which left this place.” ¹³I also heard the noise of the wings of the living creatures touching one another and the noise of the wheels beside them as well as a loud rumbling. ¹⁴Then the Spirit lifted me and took me away. I went away feeling bitter and angry. The strong power of the Lord came over me. ¹⁵I went to Tel Abib, to the exiles who lived by the Chebar River. I sat there among them for seven days. I was stunned. 

Ezekiel Is Appointed to Be a Watchman

¹⁶After seven days the Lord spoke his word to me. He said, ¹⁷“Son of man, I have made you a watchman over the people of Israel. Listen to what I say, and warn them for me. ¹⁸Suppose I tell you that wicked people will surely die, but you don’t warn them or speak out so that they can change their wicked ways in order to save their lives. Then these wicked people will die because of their sin, but I will hold you responsible for their deaths. ¹⁹But suppose you warn the wicked people, and they don’t turn from their wicked ways. Then they will die because of their sin, but you will save yourself. ²⁰If righteous people turn from living the right way and do wrong, I will make them stumble, and they will die. If you don’t warn them, they will die because of their sin, and the right things they did will not be remembered. I will hold you responsible for their deaths. ²¹But if you warn righteous people not to sin, and they don’t sin, they will certainly live because they listened to the warning. You will save yourself.”