3 He said to me, “Human being, eat what you see in front of you; eat this scroll. Then go and speak to the house of Isra’el.” ² So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat, ³ as he said, “Human being, eat this scroll I am giving you; fill your insides with it.” When I ate it, it tasted as sweet as honey.

⁴ “Human being,” he said to me, “go to the house of Isra’el, and speak my words to them. ⁵ For you are not being sent to a people with a difficult language and unintelligible speech, but to the house of Isra’el — ⁶ not to many peoples with difficult languages and unintelligible speech, whose words you can’t understand when you hear them. Without doubt, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you. ⁷ But the house of Isra’el will not be willing to listen to you, because they aren’t willing to listen to me; since all the house of Isra’el are obstinate and hardhearted. ⁸ However, I am making you as defiant and obstinate as they are. ⁹ Yes, I am making your resoluteness harder than flint, as hard as a diamond. So don’t be afraid of them or depressed by how they look at you, because they are a rebellious house.”

¹⁰ Then he said to me, “Human being, receive in your heart and hear with your ears all my words that I speak to you. ¹¹ Then go to the exiles, to your countrymen; and speak to them. Tell them, ‘Here is what Adonai Elohim, says,’ whether they listen or not.”

¹² A spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a very loud sound — blessed be the glory of Adonai from his place! ¹³ It was the sound of the wings of the living creatures as they beat against each other, and the sound of the wheels next to them, a very loud sound. ¹⁴ So a spirit lifted me up and took me away. I went in bitterness and the heat of my spirit, with the hand of Adonai strong on me.

¹⁵ I went to the exiles who were living in Tel-Aviv, by the K’var River and stayed with them there in a stupefied state for seven days. ¹⁶ After seven days the word of Adonai came to me: ¹⁷ “Human being, I have appointed you to be a watchman for the house of Isra’el. When you hear a word from my mouth, you are to warn them for me. ¹⁸ If I say to a wicked person, ‘You will certainly die’; and you fail to warn him, to speak and warn the wicked person to leave his wicked way and save his life; then that wicked person will die guilty; and I will hold you responsible for his death. ¹⁹ On the other hand, if you warn the wicked person, and he doesn’t turn from his wickedness or his wicked way, then he will still die guilty; but you will have saved your own life. ²⁰ Similarly, when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and commits wickedness, I will place a stumblingblock before him — he will die; because you failed to warn him, he will die in his sin; his righteous acts which he did will not be remembered; and I will hold you responsible for his death. ²¹ But if you warn the righteous person that a righteous person should not sin, and he doesn’t sin; then he will certainly live, because he took the warning; and you too will have saved your life.”

²² The hand of Adonai came on me there, and he said to me, “Get up, go out to the valley, and I will speak with you there.” ²³ So I got up and went out to the valley. The glory of Adonai was there, like the glory I had seen by the K’var River; and I fell on my face. ²⁴ A spirit entered me and put me on my feet. Then he spoke with me and said to me, “Go, shut yourself inside your house. ²⁵ Human being, you are going to be bound with ropes, unable to go out among the people. ²⁶ I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, so that you will be mute, unable to reprove them; for they are a rebellious house. ²⁷ But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth; and you will say to them, ‘This is what Adonai Elohim says.’ Whoever is inclined to listen will listen, and whoever is inclined to refuse will refuse, because they are a rebellious house.

4 “As for you, human being, take a clay slab, lay it down in front of you, and draw on it the city of Yerushalayim. ² Show it under siege — build towers against it, raise earthworks against it, set up camps against it, and surround it with battering rams. ³ Then take an iron griddle and put it in place as a wall of iron between yourself and the city, and fix your gaze on it — the city is under siege, and you are the one besieging it. This will be a sign for the house of Isra’el.

⁴ “Next, you are to lie on your left side, and have it bear the guilt of the house of Isra’el — for as many days as you lie on your side, you will bear their guilt. ⁵ For I am assigning you one day for each year of their guilt; thus you are to bear the guilt of the house of Isra’el for 390 days. ⁶ Then, when you have finished that, you are to lie on your right side and bear the guilt of the house of Y’hudah for forty days, each day corresponding to a year; this is what I am assigning you. ⁷ You are to fix your gaze on the siege of Yerushalayim, and, with your arm bared, prophesy against it. ⁸ I am tying you down with ropes, and you are not to turn from one side to the other until you have completed the days of your siege.

⁹ “Take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet and buckwheat; put them together in one bowl; and make bread from it. For as long as you lie on your side, 390 days, this is what you are to eat. ¹⁰ Each day the food you eat must weigh only three-quarters of a pound; you may eat it from time to time [during the day]. ¹¹ You are also to drink a limited amount of water, two-thirds of a quart; you may drink it from time to time [during the day]. ¹² [The bread] you eat is to be baked like barley cakes; you are to bake it before their eyes, using human dung as fuel.” ¹³ Adonai said, “This is how the people of Isra’el will eat their food — unclean — in the nations where I am driving them.” ¹⁴ I objected: “No, Adonai Elohim! I have never defiled myself — from my youth until now I have never eaten anything that died by itself or was killed by wild animals; no such disgusting food has ever entered my mouth.” ¹⁵ He answered, “All right, I will give you cow dung to use instead of human dung, and you can prepare your bread on it.”

¹⁶ He then said to me, “Human being, I am going to cut off the supply of bread in Yerushalayim, so that they will anxiously weigh out bread to eat, and, horrified, ration water to drink. ¹⁷ Finally, due to lack of bread and water, they will stare at each other in shock, wasting away because of their guilt.”