Ezekiel 2:8-3:11

Contemporary English Version

⁸ Ezekiel, don't rebel against me, as they have done. Instead, listen to everything I tell you.

And now, Ezekiel, open your mouth and eat what I am going to give you.

^9 (A) Just then, I saw a hand stretched out toward me. And in it was a scroll.^{[a] 10} The hand opened the scroll, and both sides of it were filled with words of sadness, mourning, and grief.

3 ^(B) The Lord said, “Ezekiel, son of man, after you eat this scroll, go speak to the people of Israel.”

^2-3 He handed me the scroll and said, “Eat this and fill up on it.” So I ate the scroll, and it tasted sweet as honey.

⁴ The Lord said:

Ezekiel, I am sending you to your own people. ^5-6 They are Israelites, not some strangers who speak a foreign language you can't understand. If I were to send you to foreign nations, they would listen to you. ⁷ But the people of Israel will refuse to listen, because they have refused to listen to me. All of them are stubborn and hardheaded, ⁸ so I will make you as stubborn as they are. ⁹ You will be so determined to speak my message that nothing will stop you. I will make you hard like a diamond, and you'll have no reason to be afraid of those arrogant rebels.

¹⁰ Listen carefully to everything I say and then think about it. ¹¹ Then go to the people who were brought here to Babylonia with you and tell them you have a message from me, the Lord God. Do this, whether they listen to you or not.