Ezekiel 3

Ezekiel's Commissioning as a Watchman and the Symbolic Eating of the Scroll

4 min read

1 Moreover he said to me, Son of man, eat that you find; eat this roll, and go speak to the house of Israel.
2 So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll.
3 And he said to me, Son of man, cause your belly to eat, and fill your bowels with this roll that I give you. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. ¶
4 And he said to me, Son of man, go, get you to the house of Israel, and speak with my words to them.
5 For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel;
6 Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words you can not understand. Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have listened to you.
7 But the house of Israel will not listen to you; for they will not listen to me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.
8 Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads.
9 As an adamant harder than flint have I made your forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.
10 Moreover he said to me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears.
11 And go, get you to them of the captivity, to the children of your people, and speak to them, and tell them, Thus says the Lord GOD; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.
12 Then the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the LORD from his place.
13 I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels over against them, and a noise of a great rushing.
14 So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong on me. ¶
15 Then I came to them of the captivity at Telabib, that dwelled by the river of Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.
16 And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
17 Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.
18 When I say to the wicked, You shall surely die; and you give him not warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at your hand.
19 Yet if you warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.
20 Again, When a righteous man does turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die: because you have not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at your hand.
21 Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also you have delivered your soul. ¶
22 And the hand of the LORD was there on me; and he said to me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with you.
23 Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and, behold, the glory of the LORD stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar: and I fell on my face.
24 Then the spirit entered into me, and set me on my feet, and spoke with me, and said to me, Go, shut yourself within your house.
25 But you, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands on you, and shall bind you with them, and you shall not go out among them:
26 And I will make your tongue sticks to the roof of your mouth, that you shall be dumb, and shall not be to them a reprover: 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; He that hears, let him hear; and he that declines, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.
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