Ezekiel 3:4-11

3:4 He said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak my words to them. 3:5 For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech ¹  and difficult language, ²  but ³  to the house of Israel – 3:6 not to many peoples of unintelligible speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand ⁴  – surely if ⁵  I had sent you to them, they would listen to you! 3:7 But the house of Israel is unwilling to listen to you, ⁶  because they are not willing to listen to me, ⁷  for the whole house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted. ⁸ 

3:8 “I have made your face adamant ⁹  to match their faces, and your forehead hard to match their foreheads. 3:9 I have made your forehead harder than flint – like diamond! ¹⁰  Do not fear them or be terrified of the looks they give you, ¹¹  for they are a rebellious house.”

3:10 And he said to me, “Son of man, take all my words that I speak to you to heart and listen carefully. 3:11 Go to the exiles, to your fellow countrymen, ¹²  and speak to them – say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says,’ whether they pay attention or not.”

[3:5]  ¹ tn Heb “deep of lip” (in the sense of incomprehensible).

[3:5]  ² tn Heb “heavy of tongue.” Similar language occurs in Exod 4:10; Isa 33:19.

[3:5]  ³ tn The conjunction “but” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied from the context.

[3:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “hear.”

[3:6]  ⁵ tc The MT reads “if not” but most ancient versions translate only “if.” The expression occurs with this sense in Isa 5:9; 14:24. See also Ezek 34:8; 36:5; 38:19.

[3:7]  ⁶ sn Moses (Exod 3:19) and Isaiah (Isa 6:9-10) were also told that their messages would not be received.

[3:7]  ⁷ sn A similar description of Israel’s disobedience is given in 1 Sam 8:7.

[3:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “hard of forehead and stiff of heart.”

[3:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “strong, resolute.”

[3:9]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew term translated “diamond” is parallel to “iron” in Jer 17:1. The Hebrew uses two terms which are both translated at times as “flint,” but here one is clearly harder than the other. The translation “diamond” attempts to reflect this distinction in English.

[3:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “of their faces.”

[3:11]  ¹² tn Heb “to the sons of your people.”