Ezekiel 3

¹ He said to me, "Son of man, eat what you find. Eat this scroll, then go speak to the house of Israel."

² So I opened my mouth, and he fed me the scroll.

³ He said to me, "Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll that I am giving you." So I ate it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth.

⁴ He said to me, "Son of man, go—come to the house of Israel and speak my words to them.

⁵ For you are not being sent to a people deep of lip and heavy of tongue, but to the house of Israel—

⁶ not to many peoples deep of lip and heavy of tongue whose words you cannot understand. If I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you!

⁷ But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, because they are not willing to listen to me—for the entire house of Israel is hard of forehead and stubborn of heart.

⁸ Look—I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads.

⁹ Like diamond, harder than flint, I have made your forehead. Do not fear them, and do not be dismayed at their faces, for they are a rebellious house."

¹⁰ He said to me, "Son of man, all my words that I speak to you—receive them in your heart and hear them with your ears.

¹¹ Go—come to the exiles, to the sons of your people. Speak to them and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD,' whether they listen or refuse."

¹² Then a spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the sound of a great rushing: "Blessed be the glory of the LORD from his place!"

¹³ It was the sound of the wings of the living beings touching one another, and the sound of the wheels beside them—the sound of a great rushing.

¹⁴ The spirit lifted me and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit, while the hand of the LORD was strong upon me.

¹⁵ I came to the exiles at Tel-abib, who were living by the Kebar canal, and I sat where they were sitting. I sat there among them, stunned, for seven days.

¹⁶ At the end of seven days, the word of the LORD came to me:

¹⁷ "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, you shall warn them from me.

¹⁸ When I say to a wicked person, 'You will certainly die,' and you do not warn him—you do not speak to warn the wicked person from his wicked way to save his life—that wicked person will die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand.

¹⁹ But if you warn the wicked person and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he will die in his iniquity, but you will have saved your life.

²⁰ And when a righteous person turns from his righteousness and does injustice, and I place a stumbling block before him—he will die. Because you did not warn him, he will die in his sin, and his righteous deeds that he did will not be remembered. But his blood I will require from your hand.

²¹ But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and the righteous person does not sin, he will certainly live because he was warned, and you will have saved your life."

²² The hand of the LORD was upon me there, and he said to me, "Get up, go out to the valley, and there I will speak with you."

²³ So I got up and went out to the valley, and there—the glory of the LORD was standing there, like the glory I had seen by the Kebar canal, and I fell on my face.

²⁴ A spirit entered me and set me on my feet. He spoke with me and said, "Go, shut yourself inside your house.

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

²⁶ I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, and you will be mute and unable to be a reprover to them, for they are a rebellious house.

²⁷ But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD.' Whoever listens, let him listen; whoever refuses, let him refuse—for they are a rebellious house."