Ezekiel 1; Ezekiel 2; Ezekiel 3; Ezekiel 4 (New Living Translation)

1 On July 31 of my thirtieth year, while I was with the Judean exiles beside the Kebar River in Babylon, the heavens were opened to me, and I saw visions of God. 2 This happened during the fifth year of King Jehoiachin's captivity. 3 The LORD gave a message to me, Ezekiel son of Buzi, a priest, there beside the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians, and I felt the hand of the LORD take hold of me. 4 As I looked, I saw a great storm coming toward me from the north, driving before it a huge cloud that flashed with lightning and shone with brilliant light. The fire inside the cloud glowed like gleaming amber. 5 From the center of the cloud came four living beings that looked human, 6 except that each had four faces and two pairs of wings. 7 Their legs were straight like human legs, but their feet were split like calves' feet and shone like burnished bronze. 8 Beneath each of their wings I could see human hands. 9 The wings of each living being touched the wings of the two beings beside it. The living beings were able to fly in any direction without turning around. 10 Each had a human face in the front, the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side, and the face of an eagle at the back. 11 Each had two pairs of outstretched wings -- one pair stretched out to touch the wings of the living beings on either side of it, and the other pair covered its body. 12 They went in whatever direction the spirit chose, and they moved straight forward in all directions without having to turn around. 13 The living beings looked like bright coals of fire or brilliant torches, and it looked as though lightning was flashing back and forth among them. 14 And the living beings darted to and fro like flashes of lightning. 15 As I looked at these beings, I saw four wheels on the ground beneath them, one wheel belonging to each. 16 The wheels sparkled as if made of chrysolite. All four wheels looked the same; each wheel had a second wheel turning crosswise within it. 17 The beings could move forward in any of the four directions they faced, without turning as they moved. 18 The rims of the four wheels were awesomely tall, and they were covered with eyes all around the edges. 19 When the four living beings moved, the wheels moved with them. When they flew upward, the wheels went up, too. 20 The spirit of the four living beings was in the wheels. So wherever the spirit went, the wheels and the living beings went, too. 21 When the living beings moved, the wheels moved. When the living beings stopped, the wheels stopped. When the living beings flew into the air, the wheels rose up. For the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels. 22 There was a surface spread out above them like the sky. It sparkled like crystal. 23 Beneath this surface the wings of each living being stretched out to touch the others' wings, and each had two wings covering its body. 24 As they flew their wings roared like waves crashing against the shore, or like the voice of the Almighty, or like the shouting of a mighty army. When they stopped, they let down their wings. 25 As they stood with their wings lowered, a voice spoke from beyond the crystal surface above them. 26 Above the surface over their heads was what looked like a throne made of blue sapphire. And high above this throne was a figure whose appearance was like that of a man. 27 From his waist up, he looked like gleaming amber, flickering like a fire. And from his waist down, he looked like a burning flame, shining with splendor. 28 All around him was a glowing halo, like a rainbow shining through the clouds. This was the way the glory of the LORD appeared to me. When I saw it, I fell face down in the dust, and I heard someone's voice speaking to me. 1 "Stand up, son of man," said the voice. "I want to speak with you." 2 The Spirit came into me as he spoke and set me on my feet. I listened carefully to his words. 3 "Son of man," he said, "I am sending you to the nation of Israel, a nation that is rebelling against me. Their ancestors have rebelled against me from the beginning, and they are still in revolt to this very day. 4 They are a hard-hearted and stubborn people. But I am sending you to say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says!' 5 And whether they listen or not -- for remember, they are rebels -- at least they will know they have had a prophet among them. 6 "Son of man, do not fear them. Don't be afraid even though their threats are sharp as thorns and barbed like briers, and they sting like scorpions. Do not be dismayed by their dark scowls. For remember, they are rebels! 7 You must give them my messages whether they listen or not. But they won't listen, for they are completely rebellious! 8 Son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not join them in being a rebel. Open your mouth, and eat what I give you." 9 Then I looked and saw a hand reaching out to me, and it held a scroll. 10 He unrolled it, and I saw that both sides were covered with funeral songs, other words of sorrow, and pronouncements of doom. 1 The voice said to me, "Son of man, eat what I am giving you -- eat this scroll! Then go and give its message to the people of Israel." 2 So I opened my mouth, and he fed me the scroll. 3 "Eat it all," he said. And when I ate it, it tasted as sweet as honey. 4 Then he said, "Son of man, go to the people of Israel with my messages. 5 I am not sending you to some foreign people whose language you cannot understand. 6 No, I am not sending you to people with strange and difficult speech. If I did, they would listen! 7 I am sending you to the people of Israel, but they won't listen to you any more than they listen to me! For the whole lot of them are hard-hearted and stubborn. 8 But look, I have made you as hard and stubborn as they are. 9 I have made you as hard as rock! So don't be afraid of them or fear their angry looks, even though they are such rebels." 10 Then he added, "Son of man, let all my words sink deep into your own heart first. Listen to them carefully for yourself. 11 Then go to your people in exile and say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says!' Do this whether they listen to you or not." 12 Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard a loud rumbling sound behind me. (May the glory of the LORD be praised in his place!) 13 It was the sound of the wings of the living beings as they brushed against each other and the rumbling of their wheels beneath them. 14 The Spirit lifted me up and took me away. I went in bitterness and turmoil, but the LORD's hold on me was strong. 15 Then I came to the colony of Judean exiles in Tel-abib, beside the Kebar River. I sat there among them for seven days, overwhelmed. 16 At the end of the seven days, the LORD gave me a message. He said, 17 "Son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman for Israel. Whenever you receive a message from me, pass it on to the people immediately. 18 If I warn the wicked, saying, 'You are under the penalty of death,' but you fail to deliver the warning, they will die in their sins. And I will hold you responsible, demanding your blood for theirs. 19 If you warn them and they keep on sinning and refuse to repent, they will die in their sins. But you will have saved your life because you did what you were told to do. 20 If good people turn bad and don't listen to my warning, they will die. If you did not warn them of the consequences, then they will die in their sins. Their previous good deeds won't help them, and I will hold you responsible, demanding your blood for theirs. 21 But if you warn them and they repent, they will live, and you will have saved your own life, too." 22 Then the LORD took hold of me, and he said to me, "Go out into the valley, and I will talk to you there." 23 So I got up and went, and there I saw the glory of the LORD, just as I had seen it in my first vision by the Kebar River. And I fell face down in the dust. 24 Then the Spirit came into me and set me on my feet. He talked to me and said, "Go, shut yourself up in your house. 25 There you will be bound with ropes so you cannot go out among the people. 26 And I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so you won't be able to pray for them, for they are rebellious. 27 But whenever I give you a message, I will loosen your tongue and let you speak. Then you will say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says!' Some of them will listen, but some will ignore you, for they are rebels. 1 "And now, son of man, take a large brick and set it down in front of you. Then draw a map of the city of Jerusalem on it. 2 Build siege ramps against the city walls. Surround it with enemy camps and battering rams. 3 Then take an iron griddle and place it between you and the city. Turn toward it and demonstrate how the enemy will attack Jerusalem. This will be a warning to the people of Israel. 4 "Now lie on your left side and place the sins of Israel on yourself. You are to bear their sins for the number of days you lie there on your side. 5 You will bear Israel's sins for 390 days -- one day for each year of their sin. 6 After that, turn over and lie on your right side for 40 days -- one day for each year of Judah's sin. 7 "Meanwhile, continue your demonstration of the siege of Jerusalem. Lie there with your arm bared and prophesy her destruction. 8 I will tie you up with ropes so you won't be able to turn from side to side until the days of your siege have been completed. 9 "Now go and get some wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, and mix them together in a storage jar. Use this food to make bread for yourself during the 390 days you will be lying on your side. 10 Ration this out to yourself, eight ounces of food for each day, and eat it at set times. 11 Then measure out a jar of water for each day, and drink it at set times. 12 Each day prepare your bread as you would barley cakes. While all the people are watching, bake it over a fire using dried human dung as fuel and then eat the bread. 13 For this is what the LORD says: Israel will eat defiled bread in the Gentile lands, where I will banish them!" 14 Then I said, "O Sovereign LORD, must I be defiled by using human dung? For I have never been defiled before. From the time I was a child until now I have never eaten any animal that died of sickness or that I found dead. And I have never eaten any of the animals that our laws forbid." 15 "All right," the LORD said. "You may bake your bread with cow dung instead of human dung." 16 Then he told me, "Son of man, I will cause food to be very scarce in Jerusalem. It will be weighed out with great care and eaten fearfully. The water will be portioned out drop by drop, and the people will drink it with dismay. 17 Food and water will be so scarce that the people will look at one another in terror, and they will waste away under their punishment.