Ezekiel 2

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

“Stand up, son of man, because I want to talk to you,” he said to me.

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

As he spoke to me, the Spirit entered me and had me stand up. I listened to 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.

“Son of man,” he told me, “I'm sending you to the people of Israel, a disobedient nation that has rebelled against me. They and their forefathers have continued to rebel against me, even up to today.

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.’

They are pig-headed; they are hard-hearted children. I am sending you to tell them that this is what the Lord God says.

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.

Whether they listen or not—for they are a rebellious people—they will realize that a prophet has come to 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.

Son of man, don't be afraid of them or what they say. You don't need to be afraid even though you're surrounded by brambles and thorns, even though you live among scorpions. Don't be afraid of what they say or be discouraged by the way they look at you, even though they are a rebellious family.

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

Just tell them what I say, whether they listen or not, because they're rebels.

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.”

As for you, son of man, pay attention to what I tell you. Don't be rebellious like those rebellious people. Open your mouth and eat what I'm about to give you.”

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

I looked up and saw a hand stretched out to me holding a scroll.

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

He spread it out in front of me, and there written on both the front and back were words of grief, mourning, and tragedy.