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Chapter 3
1And he said to me, “Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the house of Israel.”
2So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat.
3Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.
4He then said to me: “Son of man, go now to the house of Israel and speak my words to them.
5You 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 have listened to you.
7But the house of Israel is not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to me, for the whole house of Israel is hardened and obstinate.
8But I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are.
9I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious house.”
10And he said to me, “Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart all the words I speak to you.
11Go now to your countrymen in exile and speak to them. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says,’ whether they listen or fail to listen.”
12Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a loud rumbling sound—May the glory of the LORD be praised in his dwelling place!—
13the sound of the wings of the living creatures brushing against each other and the sound of the wheels beside them, a loud rumbling sound.
14The Spirit then lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the LORD upon me.
15I came to the exiles who lived at Tel Abib near the Kebar River. And there, where they were living, I sat among them for seven days—overwhelmed.
Warning to Israel
16At the end of seven days the word of the LORD came to me:
17“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.
18When I say to a wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die forOr in; also in verses 19 and 20 his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.
19But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself.
20“Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. Since you did not warn him, he will die for his sin. The righteous things he did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.
21But if you do warn the righteous man not to sin and he does not sin, he will surely live because he took warning, and you will have saved yourself.”
22The hand of the LORD was upon me there, and he said to me, “Get up and go out to the plain, and there I will speak to you.”
23So 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, and I fell facedown.
24Then the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet. He spoke to me and said: “Go, shut yourself inside your house.
25And you, son of man, they will tie with ropes; you will be bound so that you cannot go out among the people.
26I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to rebuke them, though they are a rebellious house.
27But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says.’ Whoever will listen let him listen, and whoever will refuse let him refuse; for they are a rebellious house.
Chapter 4
Siege of Jerusalem Symbolized
1“Now, son of man, take a clay tablet, put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it.
2Then lay siege to it: Erect siege works against it, build a ramp up to it, set up camps against it and put battering rams around it.
3Then take an iron pan, place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.
4“Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the house of Israel upon yourself.Or your side You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side.
5I 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 house of Israel.
6“After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the house of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year.
7Turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem and with bared arm prophesy against her.
8I 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.
9“Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; 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.
10Weigh out twenty shekelsThat is, about 8 ounces (about 0.2 kilogram) of food to eat each day and eat it at set times.
11Also measure out a sixth of a hinThat is, about 2/3 quart (about 0.6 liter) of water and drink it at set times.
12Eat the food as you would a barley cake; bake it in the sight of the people, using human excrement for fuel.”
13The LORD said, “In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them.”
14Then I said, “Not so, Sovereign LORD! I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have never eaten anything found dead or torn by wild animals. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth.”
15“Very well,” he said, “I will let you bake your bread over cow manure instead of human excrement.”
16He then said to me: “Son of man, I will cut off the supply of food in Jerusalem. The people will eat rationed food in anxiety and drink rationed water in despair,
17for food and water will be scarce. They will be appalled at the sight of each other and will waste away because ofOr away in their sin.
Chapter 5
1“Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber's razor to shave your head and your beard. Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair.
2When the days of your siege come to an end, burn a third of the hair with fire inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind. For I will pursue them with drawn sword.
3But take a few strands of hair and tuck them away in the folds of your garment.
4Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to the whole house of 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.
6Yet 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.
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 evenMost Hebrew manuscripts; some Hebrew manuscripts and Syriac You have conformed to the standards of the nations around you.
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.
9Because of all your detestable idols, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again.
10Therefore in your midst fathers will eat their children, and children will eat their fathers. I will inflict punishment on you and will scatter all your survivors to the winds.
11Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your vile images and detestable practices, I myself will withdraw my favor; I will not look on you with pity or spare you.
12A 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 and pursue with drawn sword.
13“Then my anger will cease and my wrath against them will subside, and I will be avenged. And when I have spent my wrath upon them, they will know that I the LORD have spoken in my zeal.
14“I will make you a ruin and a reproach among the nations around you, in the sight of all who pass by.
15You will be a reproach and a taunt, a warning 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. I the LORD have spoken.
16When 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.
17I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I the LORD have spoken.”
 
 

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