Eze 3 | NASB2020 | STEP | Then He said to me, “ Son of man , eat what you find ; eat this scroll , and go , speak to the house of Israel .”

Ezekiel 3

Ezekiel’s Commission

1 Then He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find; ^aeat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” 2 So I ^bopened my mouth, and He fed me this scroll. 3 And He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and ^cfill your ^{▼▼Lit inward parts}body with this scroll which I am giving you.” Then I ^eate it, and it was as sweet as ^fhoney in my mouth.

4 Then He said to me, “Son of man, ^{▼▼Lit go, come}go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them. 5 For ^hyou are not being sent to a people of ^{▼▼Lit deep lip and heavy tongue
,} ^junintelligible speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel, 6 nor to many peoples of ^{▼▼Lit deep lip and heavy tongue}unintelligible speech or difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. ^{▼▼Or I certainly have sent}But I have sent you to ^{▼▼Lit them, they understand}the people who understand you; 7 yet the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, since they are ⁿnot willing to listen to Me. The entire house of Israel certainly is ^{▼▼Lit of a hard forehead and hard of heart}stubborn and obstinate. 8 Behold, I have made your face just as hard as their faces, and your forehead just as hard as their foreheads. 9 Like emery harder than flint I have made your forehead. Do not be afraid of them or be dismayed before them, since they are a rebellious house.” 10 Moreover, He said to me, “Son of man, take into your heart all My ^pwords which I will speak to you and listen ^{▼▼Lit with your ears}closely. 11 ^{▼▼Lit Go, come}Go to the exiles, to the sons of your people, and speak to them and tell them, whether they listen or ^{▼▼Lit refrain}not, ‘This is what the Lord ^{▼▼Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord}God says.’”

12 Then the ^uSpirit lifted me up, and I heard a great ^vrumbling sound behind me: “Blessed be the glory of the Lord from His place!” 13 And I heard the sound of the wings of the living beings touching one another and the sound of the ^wwheels beside them, even a great rumbling sound. 14 So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away; and I went embittered in the rage of my spirit, and ^xthe hand of the Lord was strong on me. 15 Then I came to the exiles who lived beside the river Chebar at Tel-abib, and I sat there for ^yseven days where they were living, causing consternation among them.

16 Now ^zat the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 17 “Son of man, I have appointed you as a ^aawatchman for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, ^abwarn them from Me. 18 When I say to the wicked, ‘You will certainly die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way so that he may live, that wicked person shall die for wrongdoing, but his ^acblood I will require from your hand. 19 However if you have ^adwarned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die for wrongdoing, but you have ^aesaved yourself. 20 Again, ^afwhen a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and commits sin, and I place an ^agobstacle before him, he will die; since you have not warned him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require from your hand. 21 However, if you have ^ahwarned ^{▼▼Lit him, the righteous}the righteous person that the righteous is not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall certainly live because he took warning; and you have saved yourself.”

22 Now the hand of the Lord was on me there, and He said to me, “Get up, go out to the plain, and there I will ^ajspeak to you.” 23 So I got up and went out to the plain; and behold, the ^akglory of the Lord was standing there, like the glory that ^alI saw by the river Chebar, and I fell on my face. 24 But the ^amSpirit entered me and set me up on my feet; and He spoke with me and said to me, “Go, shut yourself inside your house. 25 And as for you, son of man, they will ^anput ropes ^{▼▼Lit on}around you and bind you with them so that you do not go out among them. 26 Moreover, ^apI will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be unable to speak and will not be a man who reprimands them, since they are a rebellious house. 27 But ^aqwhen I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you will say to them, ‘This is what the Lord ^{▼▼Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord}God says:’ The one who hears, let him hear; and the one who refuses, let him refuse; ^asfor they are a rebellious house.