1 Then He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find; AEzek 2:9eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” 2 So I AJer 25:17opened my mouth, and He fed me this scroll. 3 He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and AJer 6:11; 20:9fill your 1Lit inward partsbody with this scroll which I am giving you.” Then I BJer 15:16ate it, and it was sweet as CPs 19:10; 119:103; Rev 10:9, 10honey in my mouth.

4 Then He said to me, “Son of man, 1Lit go, comego to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them. 5  “For AJon 1:2; Acts 14:11; 26:17you are not being sent to a people of 1Lit deepness of lip and heaviness of tongueBIs 28:11; 33:19unintelligible speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel, 6 nor to many peoples of 1Lit deepness of lip and heaviness of tongueunintelligible speech or difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. 2Or If I had sent you to them, they would listen to youBut I have sent you to them 3Lit theywho should listen to you; 7 yet the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, since they are A1 Sam 8:7not willing to listen to Me. Surely the whole house of Israel is 1Lit of a hard forehead and a stiff heartstubborn and obstinate. 8  “Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces and your forehead as hard as their foreheads. 9  “Like 1Lit corundumemery 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 AJob 22:22; Ezek 2:8; 3:1-3words which I will speak to you and listen 1Lit with your earsclosely. 11  “1Lit Go, comeGo to the exiles, to the sons of your people, and speak to them and tell them, whether they listen or 2Lit forbearnot, ‘Thus says the Lord 3Heb YHWH, usually rendered LoʀᴅGoᴅ.’ ”

12 Then the AEzek 3:14; 8:3; Acts 8:39Spirit lifted me up, and I heard a great BActs 2:2rumbling sound behind me, “Blessed be the glory of the Loʀᴅ 1Or fromin His place.” 13 And I heard the sound of the wings of the living beings touching one another and the sound of the AEzek 1:15; 10:16, 17wheels 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 A2 Kin 3:15the hand of the Loʀᴅ was strong on me. 15 Then I came to the exiles who lived beside the river Chebar at Tel-abib, and I sat there AJob 2:13seven days where they were living, causing consternation among them.

16 AJer 42:7At the end of seven days the word of the Loʀᴅ came to me, saying, 17 “Son of man, I have appointed you a AIs 52:8; 56:10; 62:6; Jer 6:17; Ezek 33:7-9watchman to the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, B2 Chr 19:10; Is 58:1; Hab 2:1warn 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 AEzek 3:20; 33:6, 8blood I will require at your hand. 19  “Yet if you have A2 Kin 17:13, 14; Ezek 33:3, 9warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have BEzek 14:14, 20; Acts 18:6; 1 Tim 4:16delivered yourself. 20  “Again, APs 125:5; Ezek 18:24; 33:18; Zeph 1:6when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I place an BIs 8:14; Jer 6:21; Ezek 14:3, 7-9obstacle 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 AActs 20:31warned 1Lit him, the righteousthe 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 Loʀᴅ was on me there, and He said to me, “Get up, go out to the plain, and there I will AActs 9:6speak to you.” 23 So I got up and went out to the plain; and behold, the AEzek 1:28; Acts 7:55glory of the Loʀᴅ was standing there, like the glory which BEzek 1:1I saw by the river Chebar, and I fell on my face. 24 The AEzek 2:2Spirit 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 AEzek 4:8put ropes on you and bind you with them so that you cannot go out among them. 26  “Moreover, ALuke 1:20, 22I will make your tongue stick to 1Lit your palatethe 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 AEzek 24:27; 33:22when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you will say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord 1Heb YHWH, usually rendered LoʀᴅGoᴅ.’ He who hears, let him hear; and he who refuses, let him refuse; BEzek 12:2, 3for they are a rebellious house.