Chapter 3

Ezekiel’s Commission

1 Then He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find; aeat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.”

2 So I aopened my mouth, and He fed me this scroll.

3 He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and afill your 1body with this scroll which I am giving you.” Then I bate it, and it was sweet as choney in my mouth.

4 Then He said to me, “Son of man, 1go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them.

5 “For ayou are not being sent to a people of 1bunintelligible speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel,

6 nor to many peoples of 1unintelligible speech or difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. 2But I have sent you to them 3who should listen to you;

7 yet the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, since they are anot willing to listen to Me. Surely the whole house of Israel is 1stubborn and obstinate.

8 “Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces and your forehead as hard as their foreheads.

9 “Like 1emery harder than flint I have made your forehead. Do not be afraid of them or be dismayed before them, though they are a rebellious house.”

10 Moreover, He said to me, “Son of man, take into your heart all My awords which I will speak to you and listen 1closely.

11 “1Go to the exiles, to the sons of your people, and speak to them and tell them, whether they listen or 2not, ‘Thus says the Lord 3God.’ ”

12 Then the aSpirit lifted me up, and I heard a great brumbling sound behind me, “Blessed be the glory of the Lord 1in His place.”

13 And I heard the sound of the wings of the living beings touching one another and the sound of the awheels beside them, even a great rumbling sound.

14 So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away; and I went embittered in the rage of my spirit, and athe hand of the Lord was strong on me.

15 Then I came to the exiles who lived beside the river Chebar at Tel-abib, and I sat there aseven days where they were living, causing consternation among them.

16 aAt the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

17 “Son of man, I have appointed you a awatchman to the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, bwarn them from Me.

18 “When I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his ablood I will require at your hand.

19 “Yet if you have awarned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have bdelivered yourself.

20 “Again, awhen a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I place an bobstacle before him, he will die; since you have not warned him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand.

21 “However, if you have awarned 1the righteous man that the righteous should not sin and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; and you have delivered yourself.”

22 The hand of the Lord was on me there, and He said to me, “Get up, go out to the plain, and there I will aspeak to you.”

23 So I got up and went out to the plain; and behold, the aglory of the Lord was standing there, like the glory which bI saw by the river Chebar, and I fell on my face.

24 The aSpirit then entered me and made me stand on my feet, and He spoke with me and said to me, “Go, shut yourself up in your house.

25 “As for you, son of man, they will aput ropes on you and bind you with them so that you cannot go out among them.

26 “Moreover, aI will make your tongue stick to 1the roof of your mouth so that you will be mute and cannot be a man who rebukes them, for they are a rebellious house.

27 “But awhen I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you will say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord 1God.’ He who hears, let him hear; and he who refuses, let him refuse; bfor they are a rebellious house.