Ezekiel 3

1 He said to me, 1 “Son of man, eat this scroll, then go and speak to the people of Israel.” 2 So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. 3 He told me, 3 “Son of man, your mouth will eat this scroll that I give you, and your stomach will be filled with it.” 3 So I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. 4 He told me, 4 “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak my words to them.” 5 “You are not being sent to a people with obscure speech or a difficult language, but to the house of Israel.” 6 “Nor are you being sent to many peoples with strange speech or difficult languages whose words you cannot understand. If I had sent you to such people, they would have listened to you.” 7 “But the house of Israel will refuse to listen to you, because they refuse to listen to me. The whole house of Israel is contentious and hard-hearted.” 8 “Look, I have made your face strong against their faces, and I will make your defiance stronger than their defiance.” 9 “It will remain stronger than rock. Do not fear them or be dismayed by their faces, because they are a rebellious house.” 10 He told me, 10 “Son of man, take into your heart all the words I have spoken to you and listen closely.” 11 “Go to the exiles, to your own people, and speak to them. Whether they listen or refuse, tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says.’” 12 Then the Spirit lifted me up, and behind me I heard the sound of a great earthquake: “Blessed is the Lord’s glory from his place.” 13 I heard the sound of the living creatures’ wings striking one another and the sound of the wheels beside them. It was the sound of an earthquake. 14 The Spirit lifted me and carried me away. I went under the impulse of my spirit, while the Lord’s hand rested powerfully on me. 15 I passed through the air and came to the exiles living by the Chebar River. I went around among them and sat there for seven days, staying in their company. 16 After seven days, the Lord’s word came to me. 17 “Son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman for the house of Israel. Listen to the word from my mouth and warn them for me.” 18 “When I tell a lawless person, ‘You will certainly die,’ if you do not warn him or speak to turn him from his ways so that he may live, that lawless person will die for his wrongdoing, and I will require his blood from you.” 19 “But if you warn the lawless person and he does not turn from his lawlessness or his way, he will die for his wrongdoing, but you will have saved your own life.” 20 “When a righteous person turns away from righteousness and does wrong, I will bring punishment before him. He will die in his sins because you did not warn him. His righteous acts will not be remembered, and I will require his blood from you.” 21 “But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he will certainly live because you warned him, and you will have saved your own life.” 22 The Lord’s hand came on me there, and he told me, 22 “Get up and go out into the plain, and I will speak with you there.” 23 I got up and went into the plain. The Lord’s glory stood there, like the glory I had seen by the Chebar River, and I fell facedown. 24 Then the Spirit came into me, set me on my feet, and spoke with me. He told me, 24 “Go inside your house and shut yourself in.” 25 “Son of man, look, they will put restraints on you and bind you with them, so you cannot go out among them.” 26 “I will bind your tongue. You will be silent and unable to rebuke them, because they are a rebellious house.” 27 “But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth. You will say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says.’ Whoever hears, let that person hear; whoever disobeys, let that person disobey, because they are a rebellious house.”