Ezekiel 3:14

14 The Spirit lifted me and took me away. I went bitterly and angrily. I didn't want to go. But God had me in his grip.

Ezekiel 3:14 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 3:14

So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away
Lifted him up from the earth, and carried him through the air: and I went in bitterness;
full of trouble and sorrow, that the Lord was departing from the temple; that his people had been guilty, of such crimes they had, and were such an impudent, and hardhearted people they were; and that such judgments were coming upon them he had seers written in the roll, full of lamentations, mourning, and woe: in the heat of my spirit;
the Targum and Vulgate Latin render it, "in the indignation of my spirit"; his spirit was hot and angry, he was froward and unwilling to go on the errand, to prophesy sad and dismal things to his people: but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me;
the Spirit of the Lord powerfully wrought upon him, and obliged him to go; and the hand of the Lord strengthened him, and removed his frowardness and perverseness of spirit. The Targum is,

``and prophecy from before the Lord was strong upon me;''
so Kimchi interprets it of the hand of prophecy; the Spirit of the Lord, as a spirit of prophecy, came upon him, with great impulse upon his spirit, and he could not refuse going to his people, to declare it to them.

Ezekiel 3:14 In-Context

12 Then the Spirit picked me up. Behind me I heard a great commotion - "Blessed be the Glory of God in his Sanctuary!"
13 - the wings of the living creatures beating against each other, the whirling wheels, the rumble of a great earthquake.
14 The Spirit lifted me and took me away. I went bitterly and angrily. I didn't want to go. But God had me in his grip.
15 I arrived among the exiles who lived near the Kebar River at Tel Aviv. I came to where they were living and sat there for seven days, appalled.
16 At the end of the seven days, I received this Message from God:
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.