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

1 And he said to me: Son of man, eat all that thou shalt find: eat this book, and go speak to the children of Israel.

2 And I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that book:

3 And he said to me: Son of man, thy belly shall eat, and thy bowels shall be filled with this book, which I give thee, and I did eat it: and it was sweet as honey in my mouth.

4 And he said to me: Son of man, go to the house of Israel, and thou shalt speak my words to them.

5 For thou art not sent to a people of a profound speech, and of an unknown tongue, but to the house of Israel:

6 Nor to many nations of a strange speech, and of an unknown tongue, whose words thou canst not understand: and if thou wert sent to them, they would hearken to thee.

7 But the house of Israel will not hearken to thee: because they will not hearken to me: for all the house of Israel are of a hard forehead and an obstinate heart.

8 Behold I have made thy face stronger than their faces: and thy forehead harder than their foreheads.

9 I have made thy face like an adamant and like flint: fear them not, neither be thou dismayed at their presence: for they are a provoking house.

10 And he said to me: Son of man, receive in thy heart, and hear with thy ears, all the words that I speak to thee:

11 And go get thee in to them of the captivity, to the children of thy people, and thou shalt speak to them, and shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord: If so be they will hear, and will forbear.

12 And the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great commotion, saying: Blessed be the glory of the Lord, from his place.

13 The noise of the wings of the living creatures striking one against another, and the noise of the wheels following the living creatures, and the noise of a great commotion.

14 The spirit also lifted me, and took me up: and I went away in bitterness in the indignation of my spirit: for the hand of the Lord was with me, strengthening me.

15 And I came to them of the captivity, to the heap of new corn, to them that dwelt by the river Chobar, and I sat where they sat: and I remained there seven days mourning in the midst of them.

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

17 Son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel: and thou shalt hear the word out of my mouth, and shalt tell it them from me.

18 If, when I say to the wicked, Thou shalt surely die: thou declare it not to him, nor speak to him, that he may be converted from his wicked way, and live: the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy hand.

19 But if thou give warning to the wicked, and he be not converted from his wickedness, and from his evil way: he indeed shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul.

20 Moreover if the just man shall turn away from his justice, and shall commit iniquity: I will lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die, because thou hast not given him warning: he shall die in his sin, and his justices which he hath done, shall not be remembered: but I will require his blood at thy hand.

21 But if thou warn the just man, that the just may not sin, and he doth not sin: living he shall live, because thou hast warned him, and thou hast delivered thy soul.

22 And the hand of the Lord was upon me, and he said to me: Rise and go forth into the plain, and there I will speak to thee.

23 And I rose up, and went forth into the plain: and behold the glory of the Lord stood there, like the glory which I saw by the river Chobar: and I fell upon my face.

24 And the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet: and he spoke to me, and said to me: Go in; and shut thyself up in the midst of thy house.

25 And thou, O son of man, behold they shall put bands upon thee, and they shall bind thee with them: and thou shalt not go forth from the midst of them.

26 And I will make thy tongue stick fast to the roof of thy mouth, and thou shalt be dumb, and not as a man that reproveth: because they are a provoking house.

27 But when I shall speak to thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: He that heareth, let him hear: and he that forbeareth, let him forbear: for they are a provoking house.

1 And thou, O son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee: and draw upon it the plan of the city of Jerusalem.

2 And lay siege against it, and build forts, and cast up a mount, and set a camp against it, and place battering rams round about it.

3 And take unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face resolutely against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it: it is a sign to the house of Israel.

4 And thou shalt sleep upon thy left side, and shalt lay the iniquities of the house of Israel upon it, according to the number of the days that thou shalt sleep upon it, and thou shalt take upon thee their iniquity.

5 And I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days three hundred and ninety days: and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

6 And when thou hast accomplished this, thou shalt sleep again upon thy right side, and thou shalt take upon thee the iniquity of the house of Juda forty days: a day for a year, yea, a day for a year I have appointed to thee.

7 And thou shalt turn thy face to the siege of Jerusalem and thy arm shall be stretched out: and thou shalt prophesy against it.

8 Behold I have encompassed thee with bands: and thou shalt not turn thyself from one side to the other, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.

9 And take to thee wheat and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side: three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.

10 And thy meat that thou shalt eat, shall be in weight twenty staters a day: from time to time thou shalt eat it.

11 And thou shalt drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin: from time to time thou shalt drink it,

12 And thou shalt eat it as barley bread baked under the ashes: and thou shalt cover it, in their sight, with the dung that cometh out of a man.

13 And the Lord said: So shall the children of Israel eat their bread all filthy among the nations whither I will cast them out.

14 And I said: Ah, ah, ah, O Lord God, behold my soul hath not been defiled, and from my infancy even till now, I have not eaten any thing that died of itself, or was torn by beasts, and no unclean flesh hath entered into my mouth.

15 And he said to me: Behold I have given thee neat’s dung for man’s dung, and thou shalt make thy bread therewith.

16 And he said to me: Son of man: Behold, I will break in pieces the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care: and they shall drink water by measure, and in distress.

17 So that when bread and water fail, every man may fall against his brother, and they may pine away in their iniquities.

20 By faith also of things to come Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau.

21 By faith Jacob, dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and adored the top of his rod.

22 By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the going out of the children of Israel and gave commandment concerning his bones.

23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months by his parents: because they saw he was a comely babe, and they feared not the king’s edict.

24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, denied himself to be the son of Pharao’s daughter:

25 Rather choosing to be afflicted with the people of God than to have the pleasure of sin for a time:

26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasure of the Egyptians. For he looked unto the reward.

27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the fierceness of the king: for he endured, as seeing him that is invisible.

28 By faith he celebrated the pasch and the shedding of the blood: that he who destroyed the firstborn might not touch them.

29 By faith they passed through the Red Sea, as by dry land: which the Egyptians attempting, were swallowed up.

30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, by the going round them seven days.

31 By faith Rahab the harlot perished not with the unbelievers, receiving the spies with peace.

32 And what shall I yet say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, Barac, Samson, Jephthe, David, Samuel, and the prophets:

33 Who by faith conquered kingdoms, wrought justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, recovered strength from weakness, became valiant in battle, put to flight the armies of foreigners.

35 Women received their dead raised to life again. But others were racked, not accepting deliverance, that they might find a better resurrection.

36 And others had trial of mockeries and stripes: moreover also of bands and prisons.

37 They were stoned, they were cut asunder, they were tempted, they were put to death by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being in want, distressed, afflicted:

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

39 And all these, being approved by the testimony of faith, received not the promise:

40 God providing some better thing for us, that they should not be perfected without us.