Ezekiel 3:6–21

⁶not to many peoples of obscure speech and strange language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you.^{o 7}But the people of Israel are not willing to listen^p 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 forehead^s 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”

¹⁰And he said to me, “Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart^v all the words I speak to you. ¹¹Go^w 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”

¹²Then 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 creatures^a brushing against each other and the sound of the wheels beside them, a loud rumbling sound.^{b 14}The Spirit^c then lifted me up^d and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the Lord^e on me. ¹⁵I 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 days^g—deeply distressed.

Ezekiel’s Task as Watchman

¹⁶At the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me:^{h 17}“Son of man, I have made you a watchmanⁱ for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.^{j 18}When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,^k’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for^b their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood.^{l 19}But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn^m from their wickednessⁿ or from their evil ways, they will die^o for their sin; but you will have saved yourself.^p

²⁰“Again, when a righteous person turns^q from their righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block^r before them, they will die. Since you did not warn them, they will die for their sin. The righteous things that person did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for their blood.^{s 21}But if you do warn the righteous person not to sin and they do not sin, they will surely live because they took warning, and you will have saved yourself.^t”