Ezekiel 3

¹Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat what you have received. Eat this scroll, and then go, speak to the house of Israel.”

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

³Then he said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll that I am giving you.” I ate, and in my mouth it was sweet like honey.

⁴He then said to me, “Son of man, go now to the house of Israel and speak my words to them.

⁵For you are not being sent to a people who have incomprehensible speech or a difficult language, but you are being sent to the house of Israel.

⁶Nor are you being sent to many peoples who have incomprehensible speech and difficult languages, whose words you cannot understand. Certainly, if I were to send you to such people, they would listen to you.

⁷But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to me, because the whole house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted.

⁸Look, I have made your face just as hard as their faces and your forehead just as hard as their foreheads.

⁹I have made your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not fear them, and do not be intimidated by their looks, for they are a rebellious house.”

¹⁰Then he said to me, “Son of man, receive into your heart all my words that I will speak to you, and hear them with your ears.

¹¹Go now to the exiles, to your own people. You shall speak to them and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says,’ whether they listen or they do not.”[#3:11 Literally the sons of your people]

¹²Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard a loud rushing sound behind me—Blessed be the Glory of the Lord in its dwelling place!—[#3:12 Or the wind . This may be an experience like Elijah's experience with the whirlwind. See also verse 14.]

¹³It was the sound of the wings of the living creatures beating against each other and the sound of the wheels beside them, a loud rumbling sound.

¹⁴The Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and so I went, bitter and heated in my spirit, and the hand of the Lord was upon me with power.

¹⁵I came to the exiles at Tel Aviv, who were living by the Kebar Canal—there where they were living. I sat among them for seven days—stunned.[#3:15 Again the text is repetitious. It is not likely that this is the result of accidental duplication in the text.]

¹⁶At the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me and said:

²²Then the hand of the Lord was upon me there, and he said to me, “Get up, go out to the center of the river valley, and there I will speak with you.”

²³So I got up and went out to the center of the valley, and suddenly there it was! The Glory of the Lord was standing there, just like the Glory that I had seen by the Kebar Canal, and I fell on my face.

²⁴But the Spirit entered into me and brought me to my feet.

Then he spoke to me and said to me, “Go, shut yourself up inside your house.

²⁵And this is what will happen to you, son of man. They will certainly place ropes upon you and tie you up with them, so that you will not be able to go out among them.

²⁶I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, so that you will be speechless, and you will not be able to rebuke them, for they are a rebellious house.[#3:26 Or admonish]

²⁷But whenever I speak to you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says.’ Whoever listens, let him listen. Whoever refuses to listen, let him refuse, for they are a rebellious house.”