Ezechiel Chapter 3

The prophet eats the book, and receives further instructions: the office of a watchman.

3:1. 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.

Eat this book, and go speak to the children of Israel. . .By this eating of the book was signified the diligent attention and affection with which we are to receive, and embrace the word of God; and to let it, as it were, sink into our interior by devout meditation.

3:2. And I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that book:

3:3. 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.

3:4. And he said to me: Son of man, go to the house of Israel, and thou shalt speak my words to them.

3:5. For thou art not sent to a people of a profound speech, and of an unknown tongue, but to the house of Israel:

3:6. 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.

3:7. 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.

3:8. Behold I have made thy face stronger than their faces: and thy forehead harder than their foreheads.

3:9. 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.

3:10. 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:

3:11. 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.

3:12. 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.

3:13. 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.

3:14. 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.

3:15. 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.

The heap of new corn. . .It was the name of a place: in Hebrew, tel abib.

3:16. And at the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

3:17. 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.

3:18. 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.

3:19. 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.

3:20. 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.

3:21. 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.

3:22. 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.

3:23. 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.

3:24. 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.

3:25. 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.

3:26. 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.

3:27. 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.