Ezekiel 3

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

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

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

4Then he said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak my words to them.”

5For you 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, if I had sent you to them, 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; for all the house of Israel are hard of forehead and stubborn of heart.

8Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads.

9Like diamond, harder than flint, I have made your forehead. Do not fear them, and do not be dismayed before them, for they are a rebellious house.

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

11And go, come to the exiles, to the sons of your people, and speak to them and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD,’ whether they hear or whether they refuse.

12Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a sound of a great rumbling: “Blessed be the glory of the LORD from his place.”

13and the sound of the wings of the living creatures touching one another, and the sound of the wheels beside them, and the sound of a great rumbling.

14And the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit, while the hand of Yahweh was strong upon me.

15Then I came to the exiles at Tel-abib, who were living by the Kebar River, where they were living; and I sat there among them for seven days, appalled.

16And at the end of seven days, the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

17Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; and you shall hear a word from my mouth and warn them from me.

18When I say to the wicked man, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you do not warn him, and you do not speak to warn the wicked man from his wicked way so that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood from your hand.

19But if you warn a wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he will die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your life.

20And when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does injustice, and I place a stumbling block before him, he will die. Because you did not warn him, he will die in his sin, and his righteous deeds that he did will not be remembered; and I will require his blood from your hand.

21But if you warn a righteous man not to sin, and he does not sin, he will surely live because he took warning, and you will have delivered your life.

22And there the hand of Yahweh was upon me, and he said to me, “Rise, go out to the valley, and there I will speak with you.”

23So I arose and went out to the valley, and behold, the glory of Yahweh was standing there, like the glory that I had seen by the Kebar River; and I fell on my face.

24Then the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and he spoke to me and said to me, “Go, shut yourself inside your house.”

25But you, son of man, behold, they will put ropes on you and bind you with them, so that you will not go out among them.

26And I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, and you will be mute and will not be for them a man who rebukes, for they are a rebellious house.

27But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: The one who hears, let him hear; and the one who refrains, let him refrain, for they are a rebellious house.’