Ezekiel 3:1-11

1 And he said to me, Son of man, eat thou whatever thing thou findest (before thee), eat thou this volume; and go thou, and speak to the sons of Israel. (And he said to me, Son of man, eat thou whatever thing thou findest before thee, yea, eat thou this book/yea, eat thou this scroll; and then go thou, and speak to the Israelites.)
2 And I opened my mouth, and he fed me with that volume. (And I opened my mouth, and he fed me with that book/and he fed me with that scroll.)
3 And he said to me, Son of man, thy womb shall eat, and thine entrails shall be filled with this volume, which I give to thee. And I ate it, and it was made as sweet honey in my mouth. (And he said to me, Son of man, make thy womb to eat, and thy bowels to be filled with this book/with this scroll, which I give thee. And I ate it, and it was made as sweet as honey in my mouth.)
4 And he said to me, Son of man, go thou to the house of Israel, and thou shalt speak my words to them.
5 For thou shalt not be sent to a people of high word, and of unknown language; thou shalt be sent to the house of Israel,
6 neither to many peoples of high word, and of unknown language, of which thou mayest not hear the words. And if thou were sent to them, they should hear thee. (nor to great peoples of difficult and unknown languages, of which thou cannot understand the words. Though if thou had been sent to them, they would have listened to thee.)
7 But the house of Israel will not hear thee, for they will not hear me. For all the house of Israel is of defouled, either of unshamefast, forehead, and of hard heart. (But the house of Israel will not listen to thee, for they will not listen to me. For all the house of Israel is of defiled, or of defiant, face, and of hard, or stubborn, heart.)
8 Lo! I gave thy face stronger than the faces of them, and thy forehead harder than the foreheads of them. (Lo! I made thy face stronger than their faces, and thy head harder than their heads, or thy stubbornness stronger than their stubbornness.)
9 And I gave thy face as an adamant, and as a flint; dread thou not them, neither dread thou of the face of them, for it is an house stirring to wrath. (And I made thy face like adamant, yea, harder than flint; do not thou fear them, nor fear thou their faces, though it is a house stirring me to anger.)
10 And he said to me, Son of man, take in thine heart, and hear with thine ears all these my words, which I speak to thee.
11 And go thou, and enter to the passing over, to the sons of thy people. And thou shalt speak to them, and thou shalt say to them, The Lord God saith these things, if peradventure they hear, and rest. (And go thou, and enter in to the exiles, or to the captives, to the nation of thy people. And thou shalt speak to them, and thou shalt say to them, whether they listen to you or not, The Lord God saith these things.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.