Ezekiel 3; Ezekiel 4; Hebrews 11:20-40

1 And he said to me, "Son of man, eat what is offered to you; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel."

2 So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat.

3 And he said to me, "Son of man, eat this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it." Then I ate it; and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey.

4 And he said to me, "Son of man, go, get you 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, if I sent you to such, they would listen to you.

7 But the house of Israel will not listen to you; for they are not willing to listen to me; because all the house of Israel are of a hard forehead and of a stubborn heart.

8 Behold, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads.

9 Like adamant harder than flint have I made your forehead; fear 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, get you to the exiles, to your people, and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD'; whether they hear or refuse to hear."

12 Then the Spirit lifted me up, and as the glory of the LORD arose from its place, I heard behind me the sound of a great earthquake;

13 it was the sound of the wings of the living creatures as they touched one another, and the sound of the wheels beside them, that sounded like a great earthquake.

14 The Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, the hand of the LORD being strong upon me;

15 and I came to the exiles at Tel-abib, who dwelt by the river Chebar. And I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days.

16 And at the end of seven days, the word of the LORD came to me:

17 "Son of man, I have made you a watchman 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 man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require 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 in his iniquity; but you will have saved your life.

20 Again, if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand.

21 Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning; and you will have saved your life."

22 And the hand of the LORD was there upon me; and he said to me, "Arise, go forth into the plain, and there I will speak with you."

23 So I arose and went forth into the plain; and, lo, the glory of the LORD stood there, like the glory which I had seen by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face.

24 But the Spirit entered into me, and set me upon 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, cords 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 cleave to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be dumb 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'; he that will hear, let him hear; and he that will refuse to hear, let him refuse; for they are a rebellious house.

1 "And you, O son of man, take a brick and lay it before you, and portray upon 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 round about.

3 And take an iron plate, 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 sign for the house of Israel.

4 "Then lie upon your left side, and I will lay the punishment of the house of Israel upon you; for the number of the days that you lie upon it, you shall bear their punishment.

5 For I assign to you a number of days, three hundred and ninety 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, a 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 put cords 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 spelt, and put them into a single vessel, and make bread of them. During the number of days that you lie upon your side, three hundred and ninety days, you shall eat it.

10 And the food which you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day; once a day you shall eat it.

11 And water you shall drink by measure, the sixth part of a hin; once a day you shall drink.

12 And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it in their sight on human dung."

13 And the LORD said, "Thus shall the people of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations whither I will drive them."

14 Then I said, "Ah Lord GOD! behold, I have never defiled myself; from my youth up till now I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has foul flesh come into my mouth."

15 Then he said to me, "See, I will let you have 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 break the staff of bread in Jerusalem; they shall eat bread by weight and with fearfulness; 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 waste away under their punishment.

20 By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau.

21 By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff.

22 By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his burial.

23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful; and they were not afraid of the king's edict.

24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,

25 choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

26 He considered abuse suffered for the Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he looked to the reward.

27 By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king; for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.

28 By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the first-born might not touch them.

29 By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as if on dry land; but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.

30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.

31 By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given friendly welcome to the spies.

32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets--

33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

34 quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

35 Women received their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, that they might rise again to a better life.

36 Others suffered mocking and scourging, and even chains and imprisonment.

37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, ill-treated--

38 of whom the world was not worthy--wandering over deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

39 And all these, though well attested by their faith, did not receive what was promised,

40 since God had foreseen something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.