יחזקאל ג

[God] said to me, “Mortal, eat what is offered you; eat this scroll, and go speak to the House of Israel.”

So I opened my mouth, and I was given this scroll to eat,

as I was told, “Mortal, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll that I give you.” I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey to me.

Then [God] said to me, “Mortal, go to the House of Israel and repeat My very words to them.

For you are sent, not to a people of unintelligible speech and difficult language, but to the House of Israel—

not to the many peoples of unintelligible speech and difficult language, whose talk you cannot understand. If I sent you to them, they would listen to you.

But the House of Israel will refuse to listen to you, for they refuse to listen to Me; for the whole House of Israel are brazen of forehead and stubborn of heart.

But I will make your face as hard as theirs, and your forehead as brazen as theirs.

I will make your forehead like adamant, harder than flint. Do not fear them, and do not be dismayed by them, though they are a rebellious breed.”

Then [God] said to me: “Mortal, listen with your ears and receive into your mind all the words that I speak to you.

Go to your people, the exile community, and speak to them. Say to them: Thus says the Sovereign GOD—whether they listen or not.”

Then a spirit carried me away, and behind me I heard a great roaring sound: “Blessed is the Presence of GOD, in its place,”

with the sound of the wings of the creatures beating against one another, and the sound of the wheels beside them—a great roaring sound.

A spirit seized me and carried me away. I went in bitterness, in the fury of my spirit, while GOD’s hand was strong upon me.

And I came to the exile community that dwelt in Tel Abib by the Chebar Canal, and I remained where they dwelt. And for seven days I sat there stunned among them.

After those seven days, the word of GOD came to me:

“O mortal, I appoint you lookout for the House of Israel; and when you hear a word from My mouth, you must warn them for Me.

If I say to someone wicked, ‘You shall die,’ and you do not give warning—you do not speak to warn them of their wicked course in order to save their life—then that wicked one shall die for their own iniquity, while from you I will require a reckoning for their blood.

But if you do warn someone wicked, and they do not turn back from their wickedness and their wicked course, they shall die for their iniquity, while you will have saved your own life.

Again, if someone righteous abandons righteousness and does wrong—when I put a stumbling block before them—they shall die. They shall die for their sins; the righteous deeds that they did shall not be remembered; while from you, because you did not warn them, I will require a reckoning for their blood.

If, however, you warn someone righteous not to sin, and that righteous one does not sin, they shall live because they took warning, while you will have saved your own life.”

Then GOD’s hand came upon me there, and I was told, “Arise, go out to the valley, and there I will speak with you.”

I arose and went out to the valley, and there stood the Presence of GOD, like the Presence that I had seen at the Chebar Canal; and I flung myself down on my face.

And a spirit entered into me and set me upon my feet. And [God] spoke to me, and said to me: “Go, shut yourself up in your house.

As for you, O mortal, cords have been placed upon you, and you have been bound with them, and you shall not go out among the people.

And I will make your tongue cleave to your palate, and you shall be dumb; you shall not be a reprover to them, for they are a rebellious breed.

But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Sovereign GOD!’ Whoever listens will listen, and whoever does not will not—for they are a rebellious breed.”