Ezekiel 2

1 He said to me, “You human, stand up while I speak to you.”

This was the vision of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And I saw, and I fell upon my face, and I heard the voice of one that spoke. And he said to me: Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak to thee.

2 While he spoke to me, [God’s] Spirit entered me and enabled me to stand up. Then I heard him speak to me.

And the spirit entered into me after that he spoke to me, and he set me upon my feet: and I heard him speaking to me,

3 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.

And saying: Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious people, that hath revolted from me, they, and their fathers, have transgressed my covenant even unto this day.

4 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.’

And they to whom I send thee are children of a hard face, and of an obstinate heart: and thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord God:

5 [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.

If so be they at least will hear, and if so be they will forbear, for they are a provoking house: and they shall know that there hath been a prophet in the midst of them.

6 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.

And thou, O son of man, fear not, neither be thou afraid of their words: for thou art among unbelievers and destroyers, and thou dwellest with scorpions. Fear not their words, neither be thou dismayed at their looks: for they are a provoking house.

7 Tell them my message, but do not expect them to pay attention to it, because they [very] rebellious.

And thou shalt speak my words to them, if perhaps they will hear, and forbear: for they provoke me to anger.

8 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.”

But thou, O son of man, hear all that I say to thee: and do not thou provoke me, as that house provoketh me: open thy mouth, and eat what I give thee.

9 Then, as I watched, I saw his hand that was stretched toward me. In his hand was a scroll.

And I looked, and behold, a hand was sent to me, wherein was a book rolled up:

10 He unrolled the scroll. On both sides of it were written words that expressed sorrow and mourning and words about trouble/disaster.

and he spread it before me, and it was written within and without: and there were written in it lamentations, and canticles, and woe.