Ezekiel 3:26

26 I'll make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so you won't be able to talk and tell the people what they're doing wrong, even though they are a bunch of rebels.

Ezekiel 3:26 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 3:26

And I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth,
that thou shall be dumb
Which is to be understood not literally, as if he was really struck dumb, as Zechariah was; see ( Ezekiel 4:9 Ezekiel 4:14 ) ; but that such silence should be charged upon him by the Lord, that he should be as if his tongue cleaved to the roof of his mouth, as Kimchi interprets it, and as if he was a dumb man: and so the Septuagint version renders it, "I will bind thy tongue"; lay an embargo upon it, that is, it shall be silent; and this sense is confirmed by what follows: and shall not be to them a reprover;
which was in judgment to them, and a giving them up to their own hearts' lusts; for, though reproofs were disagreeable to them, and they chose to be without them, yet they were necessary for them, and might have been useful to them; but they provoking the Lord, he takes away his word from them, and commands his prophet to be silent, and let them alone, to go on in their sins without control; which was a sore judgment upon them: for they [are] a rebellious house; (See Gill on Ezekiel 2:5).

Ezekiel 3:26 In-Context

24 Then the Spirit entered me and put me on my feet. He said, "Go home and shut the door behind you."
25 And then something odd: "Son of man: They'll tie you hand and foot with ropes so you can't leave the house.
26 I'll make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so you won't be able to talk and tell the people what they're doing wrong, even though they are a bunch of rebels.
27 "But then when the time is ripe, I'll free your tongue and you'll say, 'This is what God, the Master, says: . . .' From then on it's up to them. They can listen or not listen, whichever they like. They are a bunch of rebels!
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.