3
And He says to me, “Son of man, eat that which you find, eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” And I open my mouth, and He causes me to eat this scroll. And He says to me, “Son of man, feed your belly, and fill your bowels with this scroll that I am giving to you”; and I eat it, and it is as honey for sweetness in my mouth. And He says to me, “Son of man, go forth, go to the house of Israel, and you have spoken to them with My words. For you [are] not sent to a people deep of lip and heavy of tongue—to the house of Israel; not to many peoples, deep of lip and heavy of tongue, whose words you do not understand. If I had not sent you to them—they listen to you, but the house of Israel are not willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to Me, for all the house of Israel are brazen-faced and strong-hearted. Behold, I have made your face strong against their face, and your forehead strong against their forehead. As an adamant, harder than a rock, I have made your forehead; do not fear them, nor are you frightened before them, for they [are] a house of rebellion.” 10 And He says to me, “Son of man, all My words that I speak to you, receive with your heart, and hear with your ears; 11 and go forth, go to the expulsion, to the sons of your people, and you have spoken to them, and have said to them: Thus said Lord YHWH; whether they hear, or whether they refrain.” 12 And a spirit lifts me up, and I hear a noise behind me, a great rushing—“Blessed [is] the glory of YHWH from His place!” 13 Even a noise of the wings of the living creatures touching one another, and a noise of the wheels alongside them, even a noise of a great rushing. 14 And [the] Spirit has lifted me up, and takes me away, and I go bitterly, in the heat of my spirit, and the hand of YHWH [is] strong on me. 15 And I come to the expulsion, at Tel-Ahib, who are dwelling at the river Chebar, and where they are dwelling I also dwell [for] seven days, causing astonishment in their midst. 16 And it comes to pass, at the end of seven days, 17 that there is a word of YHWH to me, saying, “Son of man, I have given you [as] a watchman to the house of Israel, and you have heard a word from My mouth, and have warned them from Me. 18 In My saying to the wicked: You surely die; and you have not warned him, nor have spoken to warn the wicked from his wicked way, so that he lives; he—the wicked—dies in his iniquity, and I require his blood from your hand. 19 And you, because you have warned the wicked, and he has not turned back from his wickedness, and from his wicked way, he dies in his iniquity, and you have delivered your soul. 20 And in the turning back of the righteous from his righteousness, and he has done perversity, and I have put a stumbling-block before him, he dies; because you have not warned him, he dies in his sin, and his righteousness that he has done is not remembered, and I require his blood from your hand. 21 And you, because you have warned him—the righteous—that the righteous does not sin, and he has not sinned, he surely lives, because he has been warned; and you have delivered your soul.” 22 And there is a hand of YHWH on me there, and He says to me, “Rise, go forth to the valley, and there I speak with you.” 23 And I rise and go forth to the valley, and behold, there the glory of YHWH is standing as the glory that I had seen by the river Chebar, and I fall on my face. 24 And [the] Spirit comes into me, and causes me to stand on my feet, and He speaks with me, and says to me, “Go in, be shut up in the midst of your house. 25 And you, son of man, behold, they have put thick bands on you, and have bound you with them, and you do not go forth in their midst; 26 and I cause your tongue to cleave to your palate, and you have been mute, and are not for a reprover to them, for they [are] a house of rebellion. 27 And in My speaking with you, I open your mouth, and you have said to them: Thus said Lord YHWH; the hearer hears, and the refrainer refrains; for they [are] a house of rebellion.”