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Ezekiel 3-5
New International Version
Ezekiel 3-5
New International Version
3 And he said to me, “Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.” 2 So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat.
3 Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate(A) it, and it tasted as sweet as honey(B) in my mouth.
4 He then said to me: “Son of man, go now to the people of Israel and speak my words to them.(C) 5 You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and strange language,(D) but to the people of Israel— 6 not to many peoples of obscure speech and strange language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you.(E) 7 But the people of Israel are not willing to listen(F) to you because they are not willing to listen to me, for all the Israelites are hardened and obstinate.(G) 8 But I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are.(H) 9 I will make your forehead(I) like the hardest stone, harder than flint.(J) Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people.(K)”
10 And he said to me, “Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart(L) all the words I speak to you. 11 Go(M) now to your people in exile and speak to them. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says,’(N) whether they listen or fail to listen.(O)”
12 Then the Spirit lifted me up,(P) and I heard behind me a loud rumbling sound as the glory of the Lord rose from the place where it was standing.[a] 13 It was the sound of the wings of the living creatures(Q) brushing against each other and the sound of the wheels beside them, a loud rumbling sound.(R) 14 The Spirit(S) then lifted me up(T) and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the Lord(U) on me. 15 I came to the exiles who lived at Tel Aviv near the Kebar River.(V) And there, where they were living, I sat among them for seven days(W)—deeply distressed.
Ezekiel’s Task as Watchman
16 At the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me:(X) 17 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman(Y) for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.(Z) 18 When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,(AA)’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for[b] their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood.(AB) 19 But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn(AC) from their wickedness(AD) or from their evil ways, they will die(AE) for their sin; but you will have saved yourself.(AF)
20 “Again, when a righteous person turns(AG) from their righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block(AH) before them, they will die. Since you did not warn them, they will die for their sin. The righteous things that person did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for their blood.(AI) 21 But if you do warn the righteous person not to sin and they do not sin, they will surely live because they took warning, and you will have saved yourself.(AJ)”
22 The hand of the Lord(AK) was on me there, and he said to me, “Get up and go(AL) out to the plain,(AM) and there I will speak to you.” 23 So I got up and went out to the plain. And the glory of the Lord was standing there, like the glory I had seen by the Kebar River,(AN) and I fell facedown.(AO)
24 Then the Spirit came into me and raised me(AP) to my feet. He spoke to me and said: “Go, shut yourself inside your house.(AQ) 25 And you, son of man, they will tie with ropes; you will be bound so that you cannot go out among the people.(AR) 26 I will make your tongue stick to the roof(AS) of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to rebuke them, for they are a rebellious people.(AT) 27 But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’(AU) Whoever will listen let them listen, and whoever will refuse let them refuse; for they are a rebellious people.(AV)
Siege of Jerusalem Symbolized
4 “Now, son of man, take a block of clay, put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. 2 Then lay siege to it: Erect siege works against it, build a ramp(AW) up to it, set up camps against it and put battering rams around it.(AX) 3 Then take an iron pan,(AY) place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward(AZ) it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign(BA) to the people of Israel.(BB)
4 “Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the people of Israel upon yourself.[c] You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side. 5 I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the people of Israel.
6 “After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin(BC) of the people of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year.(BD) 7 Turn your face(BE) toward the siege of Jerusalem and with bared arm prophesy against her. 8 I will tie you up with ropes so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have finished the days of your siege.(BF)
9 “Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt;(BG) put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself. You are to eat it during the 390 days you lie on your side. 10 Weigh out twenty shekels[d](BH) of food to eat each day and eat it at set times. 11 Also measure out a sixth of a hin[e] of water and drink it at set times.(BI) 12 Eat the food as you would a loaf of barley bread; bake it in the sight of the people, using human excrement(BJ) for fuel.” 13 The Lord said, “In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them.”(BK)
14 Then I said, “Not so, Sovereign Lord!(BL) I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have never eaten anything found dead(BM) or torn by wild animals. No impure meat has ever entered my mouth.(BN)”
15 “Very well,” he said, “I will let you bake your bread over cow dung instead of human excrement.”
16 He then said to me: “Son of man, I am about to cut off(BO) the food supply in Jerusalem. The people will eat rationed food in anxiety and drink rationed water in despair,(BP) 17 for food and water will be scarce.(BQ) They will be appalled at the sight of each other and will waste away because of[f] their sin.(BR)
God’s Razor of Judgment
5 “Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor(BS) to shave(BT) your head and your beard.(BU) Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair. 2 When the days of your siege come to an end, burn(BV) a third(BW) of the hair inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind.(BX) For I will pursue them with drawn sword.(BY) 3 But take a few hairs and tuck them away in the folds of your garment.(BZ) 4 Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire(CA) and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to all Israel.
5 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her.(CB) 6 Yet in her wickedness she has rebelled against my laws and decrees more than the nations and countries around her. She has rejected my laws and has not followed my decrees.(CC)
7 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: You have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or kept my laws. You have not even[g] conformed to the standards of the nations around you.(CD)
8 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will inflict punishment on you in the sight of the nations.(CE) 9 Because of all your detestable idols, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again.(CF) 10 Therefore in your midst parents will eat their children, and children will eat their parents.(CG) I will inflict punishment on you and will scatter all your survivors to the winds.(CH) 11 Therefore as surely as I live,(CI) declares the Sovereign(CJ) Lord, because you have defiled my sanctuary(CK) with all your vile images(CL) and detestable practices,(CM) I myself will shave you; I will not look on you with pity or spare you.(CN) 12 A third of your people will die of the plague or perish by famine inside you; a third will fall by the sword outside your walls; and a third I will scatter to the winds(CO) and pursue with drawn sword.(CP)
13 “Then my anger will cease and my wrath(CQ) against them will subside, and I will be avenged.(CR) And when I have spent my wrath on them, they will know that I the Lord have spoken in my zeal.(CS)
14 “I will make you a ruin and a reproach among the nations around you, in the sight of all who pass by.(CT) 15 You will be a reproach(CU) and a taunt, a warning(CV) and an object of horror to the nations around you when I inflict punishment on you in anger and in wrath and with stinging rebuke.(CW) I the Lord have spoken.(CX) 16 When I shoot at you with my deadly and destructive arrows of famine, I will shoot to destroy you. I will bring more and more famine upon you and cut off your supply of food.(CY) 17 I will send famine and wild beasts(CZ) against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed(DA) will sweep through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I the Lord have spoken.(DB)”
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 3:12 Probable reading of the original Hebrew text; Masoretic Text sound—may the glory of the Lord be praised from his place
- Ezekiel 3:18 Or in; also in verses 19 and 20
- Ezekiel 4:4 Or upon your side
- Ezekiel 4:10 That is, about 8 ounces or about 230 grams
- Ezekiel 4:11 That is, about 2/3 quart or about 0.6 liter
- Ezekiel 4:17 Or away in
- Ezekiel 5:7 Most Hebrew manuscripts; some Hebrew manuscripts and Syriac You have
Ezekiel 3-5
King James Version
Ezekiel 3-5
King James Version
3 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that 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 that 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 of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel;
6 Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened 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 impudent and hardhearted.
8 Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong 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 be a rebellious house.
10 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine 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 God; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.
12 Then the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place.
13 I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels over against them, and a 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; but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me.
15 Then I came to them of the captivity at Telabib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.
16 And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the Lord 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 thine 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 stumbling-block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine 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 is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.
22 And the hand of the Lord was there upon me; and he said unto me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with thee.
23 Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and, behold, the glory of the Lord stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar: and I fell on my face.
24 Then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spake with me, and said unto me, Go, shut thyself within thine house.
25 But thou, O son of man, behold, they shall put 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 God; 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 pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:
2 And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.
3 Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.
4 Lie thou also 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 laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
6 And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.
7 Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.
8 And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.
9 Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, 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, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.
10 And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.
11 Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.
12 And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.
13 And the Lord said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them.
14 Then said I, Ah Lord God! 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 in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.
15 Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.
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 care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:
17 That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume away for their iniquity.
5 And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair.
2 Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.
3 Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts.
4 Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.
5 Thus saith the Lord God; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.
6 And she hath changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are round about her: for they have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them.
7 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you;
8 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations.
9 And I will do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like, because of all thine abominations.
10 Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds.
11 Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord God; Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity.
12 A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.
13 Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the Lord have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.
14 Moreover I will make thee waste, and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by.
15 So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment unto the nations that are round about thee, when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I the Lord have spoken it.
16 When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:
17 So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee: and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the Lord have spoken it.
New International Version (NIV) 
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