에스겔 3

Ezekiel eats the scroll

¹He said to me, “Son of man, eat what is in front of you. Eat this scroll, and then go and speak to the house of Israel.” ²So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. ³He said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and in my mouth it tasted as sweet as honey.

⁴He said to me, “Son of man, set out now for the house of Israel and speak my words to them. ⁵You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and difficult language, but to the house of Israel, ⁶not to many peoples of obscure speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have listened to you. ⁷But the house of Israel will refuse to listen to you, because they refuse to listen to me. The whole house of Israel is hard-headed and stubborn. ⁸But I have made your face as hard as theirs, and your forehead as firm as their foreheads. ⁹I have made your forehead like diamond, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or terrified by their looks, for they are a rebellious house.”

Sent to the exiles

¹⁰He said to me, “Son of man, take to heart all my words that I speak to you, and listen closely. ¹¹Go now to the exiles, to your own people, and speak to them. Say to them, The Lord GOD says this, whether they listen or refuse.” ¹²Then the Spirit lifted me up, and behind me I heard a great rumbling sound: “Blessed be the glory of the LORD from its place!”^{a 13}It was the sound of the living creatures’ wings brushing against one another, and of the wheels beside them: a great rumbling sound. ¹⁴The Spirit lifted me up and carried me off, and I went in bitterness and in the heat of my spirit, with the hand of the LORD pressing hard on me.^{b 15}I came to the exiles at Tel-abib, who lived by the Kebar Canal. I sat where they were living, and for seven days I sat among them, stunned. ¹⁶After the seven days were over, the word of the LORD came to me: ¹⁷Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, you must warn them for me.^{c 18}If I say to a wicked person, “You will surely die,” and you do not warn them or speak out to turn them from their wicked way and save their life, that wicked person will die for their sin, but I will hold you responsible for their death. ¹⁹But if you warn the wicked and they do not turn from their wickedness or their wicked way, they will die for their sin, but you will have saved yourself.

²⁰Again, if a righteous person turns away from their righteousness and does wrong, and I lay a stumbling block before them, they will die. Since you did not warn them, they will die for their sin, and the righteous things they did will not be remembered. But I will hold you responsible for their death.^{d 21}But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and they do not sin, they will certainly live, because they took the warning, and you will have saved yourself.

Shut in and silenced

²²There the hand of the LORD came on me, and he said to me, “Get up and go out into the valley, and there I will speak with you.” ²³So I got up and went out into the valley, and there stood the glory of the LORD, like the glory I had seen by the Kebar Canal, and I fell face down. ²⁴Then the Spirit came into me and set me on my feet, and he spoke with me and said, “Go and shut yourself inside your house. ²⁵As for you, son of man, ropes will be put on you, and you will be tied up with them, so that you cannot go out among the people.^{e 26}I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that you will be silent and unable to rebuke them, for they are a rebellious house.^{f 27}Whenever I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you will say to them, The Lord GOD says this. Whoever will listen, let them listen, and whoever refuses, let them refuse, for they are a rebellious house.”