Ezekiel 3
1 And he said unto me, Son of man, eat what thou findest: eat this roll, and go, speak unto the house of Israel.
He said to me, “You human, eat this scroll that is in front of you. Then go and speak to the Israeli people [MTY].”
2 So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat this roll.
So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat it.
3 And he said unto me, Son of man, feed thy belly, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I am giving unto thee. And I ate it; and it was in my mouth like honey in sweetness.
Then he said to me, “You human, eat the scroll that I have given to you. Fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and in my mouth it tasted as sweet as honey.
4 And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.
Then he said to me, “You human, go to the Israeli people [MTY] and tell them my message.
5 For not to a people of an obscure speech and of a difficult tongue art thou sent, but to the house of Israel;
The people to whom I am sending you are not people whose language is very [to learn], a language which you do not understand. I am sending you to your Israeli people [MTY].
6 Not to many people of an obscure speech and of a difficult tongue, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would truly have hearkened unto thee.
I am sending you to people whose language you understand very well. If I were sending you to people whose language was difficult for you to understand, they [be surprised and] pay attention to what [say to them].
7 But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me; for all the house of Israel have a bold forehead, and a hard heart.
But the Israeli people do not want to listen to you because they do not want to listen to me. [They do not want to listen because] they are all very stubborn [DOU].
8 Behold, I have made thy face strong against their face, and thy forehead strong against their forehead.
But I will enable you [SYN] to be as stubborn and tough as they are.
9 As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: thou shalt not fear them, nor shalt thou be dismayed at their presence, though they be a rebellious family.
I will cause you to be as firm/unbreakable as [SIM] the hardest stone, like flint. So, [even though] they are very rebellious people, do not be afraid of them; do not allow them to cause you to be afraid.”
10 And he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I will speak unto thee receive in thy heart, and hear [them] with thy ears.
He also said to me, “You human, listen very carefully to what I say, and keep thinking about it [IDM].
11 And go, get thee to those in exile, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus hath said the Lord Eternal: whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.
Go to your fellow Israelis who [here after being] (exiled/forced to leave their country), and speak to them. Say to them, ‘This is what Yahweh the Lord says,’ [and then tell them my message], whether they want to hear it or whether they do not want to hear it.”
12 Then a spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, [saying, ] Blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place.
[in the vision] the [of God] lifted me up, and I heard behind [someone speaking very loudly], like a loud rumbling sound. [I heard someone say, ] “Praise our glorious Yahweh in the place where he [in heaven]!”
13 [I heard] also the sound of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the sound of the wheels at the same time with them, and the sound of a great rushing.
[I heard] the sound of the wings of the four living creatures brushing against each other, [I also heard] the sound of the wheels that were beside them. It was a loud rumbling sound.
14 So a spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I walked in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit, and the inspiration of the Lord was strong upon me.
The Spirit took me away. Within me I was very bitter and angry [DOU], but I felt Yahweh holding me very powerfully.
15 Then came I to the exiles at Tel-abib, who dwelt by the river Kebar, and I remained where they dwelt, and I remained there in a state of confusion among them seven days.
I came to the exiles who lived at Tel [town] near the Kebar River/ [south of Babylon]. Then, where they were living, I sat for seven days. I was [about everything that I had seen].
16 And it came to pass at the end of seven days, That the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
After those seven days had ended, Yahweh gave me this message:
17 Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: and thou shalt hear the word out of my mouth, and give them warning from me.
“You human, I am appointing [to be like] a watchman [MET] for the Israeli people [MTY]. [So] listen to these messages that I will give you, and tell them those messages to warn them.
18 When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou dost not give him warning, and speakest not to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life: the same wicked man shall die through his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thy hand.
When I say about some wicked people, ‘They will surely [because of their sins],’ if you do not warn them or tell them that they must turn from their wicked behavior if they want to (save their lives/remain alive), those wicked people will die because of the sins that they have committed, but I will consider that you are responsible for their deaths [MTY].
19 But thou, —if thou hast warned the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way: he shall indeed die in his iniquity; but thou hast surely delivered thy soul.
But if you warn the wicked people and they do not turn from all their wicked behavior [DOU], they will die because of their sins, but you will have saved [from my punishing you].
20 Again, When a righteous man do turn from his righteousness, and do what is wrong: then will I lay a stumbling-block before him, [so that] he shall die; yet if thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his acts of righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require from thy hand.
Similarly, when righteous people turn from their righteous behavior and do evil deeds, I will cause bad things to happen [IDM] to them. [But you must warn them. If you do not warn them], and if they do not stop their sinful behavior, they will die because of their sins; I will not think about the righteous things that they [previously], but I will consider that you are responsible for their deaths [MTY].
21 But if thou hast truly warned him, —the righteous, that the righteous should not sin, and he doth not sin: he shall surely live, because he attended to the warning, and thou hast surely delivered thy own soul.
But if you warn righteous people not to sin, and they do not sin, they will surely remain alive because they [your] warning, and you will have saved [from my punishing you].”
22 And the inspiration of the Lord came there over me; and he said unto me, Arise, go forth into the valley, and there will I speak with thee.
[I felt] Yahweh take control [MTY] of me, and he said to me, “Get up and go [from the city down] to the plain/valley, and there I will speak to you.”
23 And I arose, and went forth into the valley; and, behold, there was the glory of the Lord standing, like that glory which I had seen by the river Kebar: and I fell down on my face.
So I got up and went down to the valley. And I saw the glory of Yahweh there, like the glory that I had seen along the Kebar River/Canal. And I prostrated myself on the ground.
24 Then entered a spirit into me, and placed me upright on my feet, and spoke with me, and said unto me, Go, shut thyself up within thy house.
Then the [of God] entered me and enabled me to stand up. He said to me, “Go into your house and stay inside it.
25 But thou, O son of man, behold, they put ropes upon thee, and bind thee with them, that thou canst not go out among them:
People will tie you with ropes, with the result that you will be unable to go out among the people.
26 And I will let thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not become to them a man who reproveth; for they are a rebellious family.
[Even though] they are very rebellious people, I will cause your tongue to stick to the roof of your mouth, with the result that you will be unable to talk and to rebuke them.
27 But when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus hath said the Lord Eternal, He that heareth, let him hear; and he that forbeareth, let him forebear; for they are a rebellious family.
[then] when I speak to [again], I will enable you to talk [MTY], and you will say to them, ‘This is what Yahweh the Lord says,’ [and you will tell them my message]. Those who are willing to [to what you say] will listen, [many] will refuse to listen, because they are rebellious people [MTY].”
