Ezekiel Chapter 3

1 He said to me, Son of man, eat what 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 He said to me, Son of man, cause your belly to eat, and fill your belly with this roll that I give you. Then I ate it. And in my mouth it was like honey for sweetness.
4 He said to me, Son of man, go. Go up to the house of Israel and speak to them with my words.
5 For you are not sent to a people of a deep lip and of a difficult language, but to the house of Israel;
6 not to many people of a deep lip and of a difficult language, whose words you cannot hear. Surely, if I had 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 strong of forehead and hard of heart.
8 Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces and your forehead strong against their foreheads.
9 I have made your forehead as an adamant harder than flint. Do not be bowed down by their faces, though they are a rebellious house.
10 He said to me, Son of man, receive all my words that I speak to you in your heart, and hear with your ears.
11 Go to those of the captivity, to the children of your people, and speak to them. Tell them, Thus says the Lord God. Speak, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear.
12 The Spirit lifted me up and I heard behind me a sound of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the Lord from His place.
13 I also heard the sound of the wings of the living creatures touching one another, and the sound of the wheels along with them, and a sound 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 the exiles at Telatabib, who lived by the river Chebar. I sat where they sat. I remained there dumbfounded among them for seven days.
16 At the end of seven days, 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 of my mouth, and give them warning from me.
18 When I say to the wicked, You shall surely die. And you do not give him warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life. The same wicked one shall die in his iniquity. But I will require his blood at your hand.
19 Yet if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity. But you have delivered your soul.
20 When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and when 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 I will require at your hand.
21 But if you warn the righteous so that the righteous does not sin, and if he does not sin, he shall surely live because he is warned. Also you have delivered your soul.
22 The hand of the Lord was on me there. And He said to me, Arise, go out into the plain, and I will talk with you there.
23 Then I arose and went out into the plain and saw the glory of the Lord there, like the glory that I saw by the river Chebar. Then I fell on my face.
24 The Spirit entered into me and set me back on my feet and spoke with me. It said, Go. Shut yourself inside your house.
25 But you O son of man, they will put bands on you and bind you with them and you shall not go out among them.
26 I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth so that you will be mute+ and unable to warns them. 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: Those who hear, let them hear and those who stop their ears, let them stop. For they are a rebellious house.