< Ezekiel 2 >

1 And he said to me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak with thee.
He said to me, “You human, stand up while I speak to you.”
2 And the Spirit entered into me when he spoke to me, and set me upon my feet. And I heard him who spoke to me.
While he spoke to me, [God’s] Spirit entered me and enabled me to stand up. Then I heard him speak to me.
3 And he said to me, Son of man, I send thee to the sons of Israel, to nations that are rebellious, which have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me even to this very day.
He said, “You human, I will send you to the Israeli people. They are people who have turned away from me and rebelled against me. Their ancestors rebelled against me, and they themselves are still rebelling against me.
4 And the sons are impudent and stiff hearted. I send thee to them, and thou shall say to them, Thus says the lord Jehovah.
The people to whom I will send you are very stubborn [DOU]. But say to them, ‘This is what Yahweh the Lord says to you.’
5 And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear (for they are a rebellious house), yet shall know that there has been a prophet among them.
[when you tell them my messages], perhaps those rebellious people will heed those messages and perhaps they will not heed them, but they will know [you are] a prophet who has been among them.
6 And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with thee, and thou dwell among scorpions. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.
And you human, you must not be afraid of them or afraid of what they say. [Living among them will be like] living in the midst of briers or scorpions, but do not be afraid of them. They are rebellious people [MTY], but do not allow them to cause you to become afraid.
7 And thou shall speak my words to them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, for they are most rebellious.
Tell them my message, but do not expect them to pay attention to it, because they [very] rebellious.
8 But thou, son of man, hear what I say to thee. Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house. Open thy mouth, and eat that which I give thee.
But human, you must pay attention to what I say. Do not be rebellious like they are. [Now] open your mouth and eat what I give to you.”
9 And when I looked, behold, a hand was put forth to me, and, lo, a roll of a book was in it,
Then, as I watched, I saw his hand that was stretched toward me. In his hand was a scroll.
10 And he spread it before me, and it was written inside and outside. And there were written in it lamentations and mourning and woe.
He unrolled the scroll. On both sides of it were written words that expressed sorrow and mourning and words about trouble/disaster.

< Ezekiel 2 >