27From what seemed to be His waist up, I saw a gleam like amber, with what looked like fire within it all around. And from what seemed to be His waist down, I saw what looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded Him.28The appearance of the brilliant light all around Him was like that of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell facedown and heard a voice speaking.

Ezekiel’s Call

1“Son of man,” He said to me, “stand up on your feet and I will speak to you.”2And as He spoke to me, the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet, and I heard Him speaking to me.

3“Son of man,” He said to me, “I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against Me. To this very day they and their fathers have rebelled against Me.4They are obstinate and stubborn children. I am sending you to them, and you are to say to them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says.’5And whether they listen or refuse to listen—for they are a rebellious house—they will know that a prophet has been among them.6But you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns surround you, and you dwell among scorpions. Do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their presence, though they are a rebellious house.7But speak My words to them, whether they listen or refuse to listen, for they are rebellious.8And you, son of man, listen to what I tell you. Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth and eat what I give you.”

9Then I looked and saw a hand reaching out to me, and in it was a scroll,10which He unrolled before me. And written on the front and back of it were words of lamentation, mourning, and woe.

Ezekiel Eats the Scroll

1“Son of man,” He said to me, “eat what you find here. Eat this scroll, then go and speak to the house of Israel.”

2So I opened my mouth, and He fed me the scroll.

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

4Then He said to me, “Son of man, go now to the house of Israel and speak My words to them.5For you are not being sent to a people of unfamiliar speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel—6not to the many peoples of unfamiliar speech and difficult language whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you.7But the house of Israel will be unwilling to listen to you, since they are unwilling to listen to Me. For the whole house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted.8Behold, I will make your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads.9I will make your forehead like a diamond, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or dismayed at their presence, even though they are a rebellious house.”

10“Son of man,” He added, “listen carefully to all the words I speak to you, and take them to heart.11Go to your people, the exiles; speak to them and tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says,’ whether they listen or refuse to listen.”

12Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard a great rumbling sound behind me: ‘Blessed be the glory of the LORD in His dwelling place!’13It was the sound of the wings of the living creatures brushing against one another and the sound of the wheels beside them, a great rumbling sound.14So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the LORD upon me.15I came to the exiles at Tel-abib who dwelt by the River Kebar. And for seven days I sat where they sat and remained there among them, overwhelmed.

A Watchman for Israel

16At the end of seven days the word of the LORD came to me, saying,17“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from My mouth, give them a warning from Me.18If I say to the wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ but you do not warn him or speak out to warn him from his wicked way to save his life, that wicked man will die in his iniquity, and I will hold you responsible for his blood.19But if you warn a wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness and his wicked way, he will die in his iniquity, but you will have saved yourself.

20Now if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. If you did not warn him, he will die in his sin, and the righteous acts he did will not be remembered. And I will hold you responsible for his blood.21But if you warn the righteous man not to sin, and he does not sin, he will indeed live because he heeded your warning, and you will have saved yourself.”

22And there the hand of the LORD was upon me, and He said to me, “Get up, go out to the plain, and there I will speak with you.”

23So I got up and went out to the plain, and behold, the glory of the LORD was present there, like the glory I had seen by the River Kebar, and I fell facedown.

24Then the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet. He spoke with me and said, “Go, shut yourself inside your house.25And you, son of man, they will tie with ropes, and you will be bound so that you cannot go out among the people.26I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, and you will be silent and unable to rebuke them, though they are a rebellious house.27But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you are to tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says.’ Whoever listens, let him listen; and whoever refuses, let him refuse, for they are a rebellious house.

A Sign of Jerusalem’s Siege

1“Now you, son of man, take a brick, place it before you, and draw on it the city of Jerusalem.2Then lay siege against it: Construct a siege wall, build a ramp to it, set up camps against it, and place battering rams around it on all sides.3Then take an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between yourself and the city. Turn your face toward it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.

4Then lie down on your left side and place the iniquity of the house of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their iniquity for the number of days you lie on your side.5For I have assigned to you 390 days, according to the number of years of their iniquity. So you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

6When you have completed these days, lie down again, but on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. I have assigned to you 40 days, a day for each year.7You must turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared, and prophesy against it.8Now behold, I will tie you up with ropes so you cannot turn from side to side until you have finished the days of your siege.

The Defiled Bread

9But take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt; put them in a single container and make them into bread for yourself. This is what you are to eat during the 390 days you lie on your side.10You are to weigh out twenty shekels of food to eat each day, and you are to eat it at set times.11You are also to measure out a sixth of a hin of water to drink, and you are to drink it at set times.12And you shall eat the food as you would a barley cake, after you bake it over dried human excrement in the sight of the people.”13Then the LORD said, “This is how the Israelites will eat their defiled bread among the nations to which I will banish them.”

14“Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have not eaten anything found dead or mauled by wild beasts. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth.”

15“Look,” He replied, “I will let you use cow dung instead of human excrement, and you may bake your bread over that.”

16Then He told me, “Son of man, I am going to cut off the supply of food in Jerusalem. They will anxiously eat bread rationed by weight, and in despair they will drink water by measure.17So they will lack food and water; they will be appalled at the sight of one another wasting away in their iniquity.

The Razor of Judgment

1“As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword, use it as a barber’s razor, and shave your head and beard. Then take a set of scales and divide the hair.2When the days of the siege have ended, you are to burn up a third of the hair inside the city; you are also to take a third and slash it with the sword all around the city; and you are to scatter a third to the wind. For I will unleash a sword behind them.3But you are to take a few strands of hair and secure them in the folds of your garment.4Again, take a few of these, throw them into the fire, and burn them. From there a fire will spread to the whole house of Israel.

5This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her.6But she has rebelled against My ordinances more wickedly than the nations, and against My statutes worse than the countries around her. For her people have rejected My ordinances and have not walked in My statutes.’

7Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You have been more insubordinate than the nations around you; you have not walked in My statutes or kept My ordinances, nor have you even conformed to the ordinances of the nations around you.’8Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I Myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations.9Because of all your abominations, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again.10As a result, fathers among you will eat their sons, and sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments against you and scatter all your remnant to every wind.’

Famine, Sword, and Dispersion

11Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and abominations, I Myself will withdraw My favor; I will not look upon you with pity, nor will I spare you.12A third of your people will die by plague or be consumed by famine within you, a third will fall by the sword outside your walls, and a third I will scatter to every wind and unleash a sword behind them.

13And when My anger is spent and I have vented My wrath against them, I will be appeased. And when I have spent My wrath on them, they will know that I, the LORD, in My zeal have spoken.

14I will make you a ruin and a disgrace among the nations around you, in the sight of all who pass by.15So you will be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and a horror to the nations around you, when I execute judgments against you in anger, wrath, and raging fury. I, the LORD, have spoken.