Ezekiel 2:8-3:11

Christian Standard Bible

⁸ “And you, son of man, listen to what I tell you: Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you.”^{(A) 9} So I looked and saw a hand reaching out to me,^(B) and there was a written scroll in it.^{(C) 10} When he unrolled it before me, it was written on the front and back; words of lamentation, mourning, and woe were written on it.

3 He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find here. Eat this scroll,^(D) then go and speak to the house of Israel.” ² So I opened my mouth, and he fed me the scroll. ³ “Son of man,” he said to me, “feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll I am giving you.” So I ate it,^(E) and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.^(F)

⁴ Then he said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak my words to them. ⁵ For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech or a difficult language but to the house of Israel— ⁶ not to the many peoples of unintelligible speech or a difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. No doubt, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you.^{(G) 7} But the house of Israel will not want to listen to you because they do not want to listen to me.^(H) For the whole house of Israel is hardheaded and hardhearted. ⁸ Look, I have made your face as hard as their faces and your forehead as hard as their foreheads.^{(I) 9} I have made your forehead like a diamond, harder than flint. Don’t be afraid of them or discouraged by the look on their faces, though they are a rebellious house.”

¹⁰ Next he said to me, “Son of man, listen carefully to all my words that I speak to you and take them to heart. ¹¹ Go to your people, the exiles, and speak to them. Tell them, ‘This is what the Lord God says,’ whether they listen or refuse to listen.”^(J)