3 And he said to me, “Son of man, eat whatever you find here. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” 2 So I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.” Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth pas sweet as honey.
4 And he said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them. 5 For you are not sent to a people of foreign speech and a hard language, but to the house of Israel— 6 not to many peoples of foreign speech and a hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, qif I sent you to such, they would listen to you. 7 But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me: because all the house of Israel have a rhard forehead and a stubborn heart. 8 Behold, sI have made your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads. 9 tLike emery harder than flint have I made your forehead. uFear them not, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.” 10 Moreover, he said to me, “Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears. 11 And go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ vwhether they hear or refuse to hear.”
12 Then wthe Spirit1 lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice2 of a great earthquake: “Blessed be the xglory of the Lord from its place!” 13 It was the ysound of the wings of the living creatures as they touched one another, and the sound of the zwheels beside them, and the sound of a great earthquake. 14 The Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, athe hand of the Lord being strong upon me. 15 And I came to the exiles at Tel-abib, who were dwelling bby the Chebar canal, and I csat where they were dwelling.3 And I sat there overwhelmed among them dseven days.
A Watchman for Israel
16 And eat the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me: 17 f“Son of man, I have made you a gwatchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. 18 If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall hdie for4 his iniquity, ibut his blood I will jrequire at your hand. 19 But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. 20 Again, kif a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a lstumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand. 21 But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered your soul.”
22 And the hand of the Lord was upon me there. And he said to me, “Arise, go out into the valley,5 and there I will speak with you.” 23 So I arose and went out into the valley, and behold, the glory of the Lord stood there, mlike the glory that I had seen by the Chebar canal, and nI fell on my face. 24 But othe Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and he spoke with me and said to me, “Go, shut yourself within your house. 25 And you, O son of man, behold, pcords will be placed upon you, and you shall be bound with them, so that you cannot go out among the people. 26 And I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be qmute and unable to reprove them, for they are a rebellious house. 27 But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ rHe who will hear, let him hear; and he who will refuse to hear, slet him refuse, for they are a rebellious house.
The Siege of Jerusalem Symbolized
4 “And you, son of man, take a brick and lay it before you, and engrave on it a city, even Jerusalem. 2 And put siegeworks against it, and build a siege wall against it, and cast up a mound against it. Set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it all around. 3 And you, take an iron griddle, and place it as an iron wall between you and the city; and set your face toward it, and let it be in a state of siege, and press the siege against it. This is a tsign for the house of Israel.
4 “Then lie on your left side, and place the punishment1 of the house of Israel upon it. For the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear their punishment. 5 For I assign to you a number of days, 390 days, equal to the number of the years of their punishment. So long shall you bear the punishment of the house of Israel. 6 And when you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the punishment of the house of Judah. Forty days I assign you, ua day for each year. 7 And you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with your arm bared, and you shall prophesy against the city. 8 And behold, I will place vcords upon you, so that you cannot turn from one side to the other, till you have completed the days of your siege.
9 “And you, take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and emmer,2 and put them into a single vessel and make your bread from them. During the number of days that you lie on your side, 390 days, you shall eat it. 10 And your food that you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels3 a day; from day to day4 you shall eat it. 11 And water you shall drink by measure, the sixth part of a hin;5 from day to day you shall drink. 12 And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it win their sight on human dung.” 13 And the Lord said, “Thus shall the people of Israel eat their bread xunclean, among the nations where I will drive them.” 14 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I have never defiled myself.6 From my youth up till now yI have never eaten zwhat died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has atainted meat come into my mouth.” 15 Then he said to me, “See, I assign to you cow’s dung instead of human dung, on which you may prepare your bread.” 16 Moreover, he said to me, “Son of man, behold, I will bbreak the supply7 of bread in Jerusalem. They shall eat bread by weight and cwith anxiety, and they shall drink water by measure and in dismay. 17 I will do this that they may lack bread and water, and look at one another in dismay, and drot away because of their punishment.
Jerusalem Will Be Destroyed
5 “And you, O son of man, take a sharp sword. Use it as a barber’s razor and pass it over your ehead and your beard. Then take balances for weighing and divide the hair. 2 fA third part you shall burn in the fire in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are completed. And a third part you shall take and strike with the sword all around the city. And a third part you shall gscatter to the wind, and I will hunsheathe the sword after them. 3 And you shall take from these a small number and bind them in the skirts of your robe. 4 And of these again you shall take some and cast them into the midst of the fire and burn them in the fire. From there a fire will come out into all the house of Israel.
5 “Thus says the Lord God: This is Jerusalem. I have set her in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. 6 And she has rebelled against my rules by doing wickedness imore than the nations, and against my statutes more than the countries all around her; for they have rejected my rules and have not walked in my statutes. 7 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you are more turbulent than the nations that are all around you, and jhave not walked in my statutes or obeyed my rules, and have not1 even acted according to the rules of the nations that are all around you, 8 therefore thus says the Lord God: kBehold, I, even I, am against you. And I will execute judgments2 in your midst lin the sight of the nations. 9 And because of all your abominations I will do with you mwhat I have never yet done, and the like of which I will never do again. 10 Therefore nfathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers. And I will oexecute judgments on you, and any of you who survive I will pscatter to all the winds. 11 Therefore, as I live, declares the Lord God, surely, because you have qdefiled my sanctuary with all your rdetestable things and with all your abominations, therefore I will withdraw.3 sMy eye will not spare, and I will have no pity. 12 A third part of you shall die of pestilence and be consumed with famine in your midst; a third part shall fall by the sword all around you; and a third part I will scatter to all the winds and will unsheathe the sword after them.
13 “Thus shall my anger tspend itself, and I will uvent my fury upon them and satisfy myself. And they shall know that I am the Lord—that I have spoken in my jealousy—when I spend my fury upon them. 14 Moreover, I will make you a desolation and an object of vreproach among the nations all around you and in the sight of all who pass by. 15 You shall be4 a reproach and a taunt, a warning and a horror, to the nations all around you, when I wexecute judgments on you in anger and fury, and with xfurious rebukes—I am the Lord; I have spoken— 16 when I send against you5 the deadly yarrows of famine, arrows for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, and when I bring more and more famine upon you and break your supply6 of bread. 17 zI will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will rob you of your children. Pestilence and blood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword upon you. I am the Lord; I have spoken.”
Judgment Against Idolatry
6 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face toward the amountains of Israel, and prophesy against them, 3 and say, You mountains of Israel, bhear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and cI will destroy your high places. 4 Your altars shall become desolate, and your incense altars shall be broken, and I will cast down your slain before your idols. 5 dAnd I will lay the dead bodies of the people of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars. 6 Wherever you dwell, the cities shall be waste and the high places ruined, so that your altars will be waste and ruined,1 your idols broken and destroyed, your incense altars cut down, and your works wiped out. 7 And the slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall eknow that I am the Lord.
8 “Yet I will fleave some of you alive. When you have among the nations some who gescape the sword, and when you are scattered through the countries, 9 then those of you who escape will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how I have been broken over their hwhoring heart that has departed from me and over their eyes that go whoring after their idols. And they will be iloathsome in their own sight for the evils that they have committed, for all their abominations. 10 And they shall know that I am the Lord. I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them.”
11 Thus says the Lord God: j“Clap your hands and stamp your foot and say, Alas, because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, for they shall fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. 12 He who is far off shall die of pestilence, and he who is near shall fall by the sword, and he who is left and is preserved shall die of famine. Thus I will kspend my fury upon them. 13 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when their slain lie among their idols around their altars, lon every high hill, on all the mountaintops, under every green tree, and under every leafy oak, wherever they offered pleasing aroma to all their idols. 14 And I will mstretch out my hand against them and make the land desolate and waste, in all their dwelling places, from the wilderness to Riblah.2 Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
The Day of the Wrath of the Lord
7 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “And you, O son of man, thus says the Lord God to the land of Israel: An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land.1 3 Now the end is upon you, and I will send my anger upon you; I will njudge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations. 4 And omy eye will not spare you, nor will I have pity, but I will punish you for your ways, while your abominations are in your midst. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
5 “Thus says the Lord God: Disaster after disaster!2 Behold, it comes. 6 An end has come; the end has come; it has awakened against you. Behold, it comes. 7 Your doom3 has come to you, O inhabitant of the land. The time has come; the day is near, a day of tumult, and not of joyful shouting on the mountains. 8 Now I will soon ppour out my wrath upon you, and spend my anger against you, and judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations. 9 And my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. I will punish you according to your ways, while your abominations are in your midst. Then you will know that I am the Lord, who strikes.
10 “Behold, the day! Behold, it comes! Your doom has come; the rod has blossomed; pride has budded. 11 Violence has grown up into a rod of wickedness. None of them shall remain, nor their abundance, nor their wealth; neither shall there be preeminence among them.4 12 The time has come; the day has arrived. Let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn, for wrath is upon all their multitude.5 13 For the seller shall not qreturn to what he has sold, while they live. For the vision concerns all their multitude; it shall not turn back; and because of his iniquity, none can maintain his life.6
14 “They have blown the trumpet and made everything ready, but none goes to battle, for my wrath is upon all their multitude. 15 rThe sword is without; pestilence and famine are within. He who is in the field dies by the sword, and him who is in the city famine and pestilence devour. 16 And if any survivors sescape, they will be on the mountains, tlike doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, each one over his iniquity. 17 uAll hands are feeble, and all knees turn to water. 18 They put on sackcloth, and horror covers them. Shame is on all faces, and vbaldness on all their heads. 19 They cast their silver into the streets, and their gold is like an unclean thing. wTheir silver and gold are not able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord. They cannot satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs with it. For it was the xstumbling block of their iniquity. 20 His beautiful ornament they used for pride, and they made their yabominable images and their detestable things of it. Therefore I make it an unclean thing to them. 21 And I will give it into the hands of foreigners for prey, and to the wicked of the earth for spoil, and they shall profane it. 22 I will turn my face from them, and they shall profane my treasured7 place. Robbers shall enter and profane it.
23 “Forge a chain!8 For zthe land is full of bloody crimes and the city is full of violence. 24 I will bring the worst of the nations to take possession of their houses. I will put an end to the apride of the strong, and their holy places9 shall be profaned. 25 When anguish comes, they will seek peace, but there shall be bnone. 26 Disaster comes upon disaster; rumor follows rumor. cThey seek a vision from the prophet, while the dlaw10 perishes from the priest and counsel from the elders. 27 The king mourns, the prince is wrapped in despair, and the hands of the people of the land are paralyzed by terror. According to their way I will do to them, and according to their judgments I will judge them, and they shall know that I am the Lord.”
