Ezekiel 3:1-17

3:1 He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you see in front of you ¹  – eat this scroll – and then go and speak to the house of Israel.” 3:2 So I opened my mouth and he fed me the scroll.

3:3 He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll I am giving to you.” So I ate it, ²  and it was sweet like honey in my mouth.

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 ³  and difficult language, ⁴  but ⁵  to the house of Israel – 3:6 not to many peoples of unintelligible speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand ⁶  – surely if ⁷  I had sent you to them, they would listen to you! 3:7 But the house of Israel is unwilling to listen to you, ⁸  because they are not willing to listen to me, ⁹  for the whole house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted. ¹⁰ 

3:8 “I have made your face adamant ¹¹  to match their faces, and your forehead hard to match their foreheads. 3:9 I have made your forehead harder than flint – like diamond! ¹²  Do not fear them or be terrified of the looks they give you, ¹³  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, ¹⁴  and speak to them – say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says,’ whether they pay attention or not.”

Ezekiel Before the Exiles

3:12 Then a wind lifted me up ¹⁵  and I heard a great rumbling sound behind me as the glory of the Lord rose from its place, ¹⁶  3:13 and the sound of the living beings’ wings brushing against each other, and the sound of the wheels alongside them, a great rumbling sound. 3:14 A wind lifted me up and carried me away. I went bitterly, ¹⁷  my spirit full of fury, and the hand of the Lord rested powerfully ¹⁸  on me. 3:15 I came to the exiles at Tel Abib, ¹⁹  who lived by the Kebar River. ²⁰  I sat dumbfounded among them there, where they were living, for seven days. ²¹ 

3:16 At the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me: ²²  3:17 “Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman ²³  for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must give them a warning from me.

[3:1]  ¹ tn Heb “eat what you find.”

[3:3]  ² tc Heb “I ate,” a first common singular preterite plus paragogic he (ה). The ancient versions read “I ate it,” which is certainly the meaning in the context, and indicates they read the he as a third feminine singular pronominal suffix. The Masoretes typically wrote a mappiq in the he for the pronominal suffix but apparently missed this one.

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

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

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

[3:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “hear.”

[3:6]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ sn Moses (Exod 3:19) and Isaiah (Isa 6:9-10) were also told that their messages would not be received.

[3:7]  ⁹ sn A similar description of Israel’s disobedience is given in 1 Sam 8:7.

[3:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “hard of forehead and stiff of heart.”

[3:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “strong, resolute.”

[3:9]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Heb “of their faces.”

[3:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to the sons of your people.”

[3:12]  ¹⁵ sn See note on “wind” in 2:2.

[3:12]  ¹⁶ tc This translation accepts the emendation suggested in BHS of בְּרוּם (bÿrum) for בָּרוּךְ (barukh). The letters mem (מ) and kaph (כ) were easily confused in the old script while בָּרוּךְ (“blessed be”) both implies a quotation which is out of place here and also does not fit the later phrase, “from its place,” which requires a verb of motion.

[3:14]  ¹⁷ tn The traditional interpretation is that Ezekiel embarked on his mission with bitterness and anger, either reflecting God’s attitude toward the sinful people or his own feelings about having to carry out such an unpleasant task. L. C. Allen (Ezekiel [WBC], 1:13) takes “bitterly” as a misplaced marginal note and understands the following word, normally translated “anger,” in the sense of fervor or passion. He translates, “I was passionately moved” (p. 4). Another option is to take the word translated “bitterly” as a verb meaning “strengthened” (attested in Ugaritic). See G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 152.

[3:14]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the hand of the Lord was on me heavily.” The “hand of the Lord” is a metaphor for his power or influence; the modifier conveys intensity.

[3:15]  ¹⁹ sn The name “Tel Abib” is a transliteration of an Akkadian term meaning “mound of the flood,” i.e., an ancient mound. It is not to be confused with the modern city of Tel Aviv in Israel.

[3:15]  ²⁰ tn Or “canal.”

[3:15]  ²¹ sn A similar response to a divine encounter is found in Acts 9:8-9.

[3:16]  ²² sn This phrase occurs about fifty times in the book of Ezekiel.

[3:17]  ²³ tn The literal role of a watchman is described in 2 Sam 18:24; 2 Kgs 9:17.