^2:8As for you, son of man, listen to what I am saying to you: Do not rebel like that rebellious house! Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you.”

^2:9Then I looked and realized a hand was stretched out to me, and in it was a written scroll. ^2:10He unrolled it before me, and it had writing on the front¹⁷ and back;¹⁸ written on it were laments, mourning, and woe.

^3:1He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you see in front of you¹—eat this scroll—and then go and speak to the house of Israel.” ^3:2So I opened my mouth and he fed me the scroll.

^3:3He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll I am giving to you.” So I ate it,² and it was sweet like honey in my mouth.

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Footnotes

17 Heb “on the face.”
18 Written on the front and back. While it was common for papyrus scrolls to have writing on both sides the same was not true for leather scrolls.
1 Heb “eat what you find.”
2 Heb “I ate,” a first common singular preterite plus paragogic he (ה). The ancient versions read “I ate it,” which is certainly the meaning in the context, and indicates they read the he as a third feminine singular pronominal suffix. The Masoretes typically wrote a mappiq in the he for the pronominal suffix but apparently missed this one. I ate it. A similar idea of consuming God’s word is found in Jer 15:16 and Rev 10:10, where it is also compared to honey and may be specifically reminiscent of this text.