Ezekiel 3-4

American Standard Version

3 ¹ And he said unto me, Son of man, eat that which thou findest; eat this roll, and go, speak unto the house of Israel. ² So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat the roll. ³ And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.

⁴ And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them. ⁵ For thou art not sent to a people ^[a]of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel; ⁶ not to many peoples ^[b]of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, if I sent thee to them, they would hearken unto thee. ⁷ But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are of a hard forehead and of a stiff heart. ⁸ Behold, I have made thy face hard against their faces, and thy forehead hard against their foreheads. ⁹ As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house. ¹⁰ Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thy heart, and hear with thine ears. ¹¹ And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.

¹² Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of Jehovah from his place. ¹³ And I heard the noise of the wings of the living creatures as they touched one another, and the noise of the wheels ^[c]beside them, even the noise 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; and the hand of Jehovah was strong upon me. ¹⁵ Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel-abib, that ^[d]dwelt by the river Chebar, ^[e]and to where they ^[f]dwelt; and I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days.

¹⁶ And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, ¹⁷ Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. ¹⁸ When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thy hand. ¹⁹ Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. ²⁰ Again, when a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thy hand. ²¹ Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning; and thou hast delivered thy soul.

²² And the hand of Jehovah was there upon me; and he said unto me, Arise, go forth into the ^[g]plain, and I will there talk with thee. ²³ Then I arose, and went forth into the ^[h]plain: and, behold, the glory of Jehovah stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face. ²⁴ Then the Spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet; and he spake with me, and said unto me, Go, shut thyself within thy house. ²⁵ But thou, son of man, behold, they shall lay bands upon thee, and shall bind thee with them, and thou shalt not go out among them: ²⁶ and I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them a reprover; for they are a rebellious house. ²⁷ But when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: He that heareth, let him hear; and he that forbeareth, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.

4 Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and portray upon it a city, even Jerusalem: ² and lay siege against it, and build forts against it, and cast up a mound against it; set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it round about. ³ And take thou unto thee an iron ^[i]pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face toward it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.

⁴ Moreover lie thou upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it; according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it, thou shalt bear their iniquity. ⁵ For I have appointed the years of their iniquity to be unto thee a number of days, even three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. ⁶ And again, when thou hast accomplished these, thou shalt lie on thy right side, and shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah: forty days, each day for a year, have I appointed it unto thee. ⁷ And thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with thine arm uncovered; and thou shalt prophesy against it. ⁸ And, behold, I lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to the other, till thou hast accomplished the days of thy siege.

⁹ Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof; according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, even three hundred and ninety days, shalt thou eat thereof. ¹⁰ And thy food which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it. ¹¹ And thou shalt drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin: from time to time shalt thou drink. ¹² And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it in their sight with dung that cometh out of man. ¹³ And Jehovah said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations whither I will drive them. ¹⁴ Then said I, Ah Lord Jehovah! behold, my soul hath not been polluted; for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn of beasts; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth. ¹⁵ Then he said unto me, See, I have given thee cow’s dung for man’s dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread thereon. ¹⁶ Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with fearfulness; and they shall drink water by measure, and in dismay: ¹⁷ that they may want bread and water, and be dismayed one with another, and pine away in their iniquity.