Old/New Testament
3 Moreover He said to me, Son of man, eat what you find. Eat this scroll and go speak to the house of Israel. 2 So I opened my mouth, and He fed me this scroll.
3 He said to me, Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your inward parts with this scroll that I give you. Then I ate it, and it was as honey for sweetness in my mouth.
4 Then He said to me: Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them. 5 For you are not being sent to a people of foreign speech and hard language, but to the house of Israel, 6 nor to many peoples of foreign speech and hard language, whose words you cannot understand. But I have sent you to them who should listen to you. 7 But the house of Israel will not listen to you, because they will not listen to Me. For all the house of Israel is impudent and obstinate. 8 But I have made your face as hard as their faces and your forehead as hard as their foreheads. 9 As emery harder than flint, I have made your forehead. Do not be afraid of them or be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.
10 Moreover He said to me: Son of man, all My words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart and hear with your ears. 11 Go to the captives, to the sons of your people, and speak to them and tell them, whether they listen or not, “Thus says the Lord God.”
12 Then the Spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a great thundering voice: “Blessed be the glory of the Lord in His place.” 13 I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another and the noise of the wheels beside them, even a great rushing sound. 14 So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit, and the hand of the Lord was strong upon me. 15 Then I came to the captives at Tel Aviv, who lived by the River Kebar, and I sat there where they sat seven days, causing consternation among them.
Ezekiel, a Watchman for Israel
16 At the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 17 Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel. Whenever you hear the word from My mouth, then warn them from Me. 18 When I say to the wicked, “You shall surely die,” and you do not warn him, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. 19 Yet if you warn the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity. But you have delivered your soul.
20 Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered. But his blood I will require at your hand. 21 Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning. And you have delivered your soul.
22 The hand of the Lord was upon me there, and He said to me, Rise, go out into the plain, and I will talk with you there. 23 Then I arose, and went out into the plain. And the glory of the Lord stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river of Kebar, and I fell on my face.
24 Then the Spirit entered me, and set me on my feet, and spoke with me and said to me: Go, shut yourself up within your house. 25 As for you, son of man, they shall put bands on you and shall bind you with them, so that you cannot go out among them. 26 And I will make your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth so that you shall be mute and cannot be one to rebuke them, for they are a rebellious house. 27 But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, “Thus says the Lord God.” He who hears, let him hear. And he who refuses, let him refuse. For they are a rebellious house.
The Siege of Jerusalem Portrayed
4 You also, son of man, take a brick and lay it before you and inscribe a city on it, even Jerusalem. 2 Then lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and build a mound against it; set camps and place battering rams against it all around. 3 Moreover take for yourself an iron plate and set it up for a wall of iron between you and the city. And set your face against it so that it is besieged, and lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.
4 As for you, lie down on your left side and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it. According to the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity. 5 For I have laid upon you the years of their iniquity according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days. So you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
6 When you have accomplished them, lie again on your right side, and you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days. I have appointed you each day for a year. 7 Therefore you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and your arm shall be uncovered, and you shall prophesy against it. 8 I will lay bands upon you, and you shall not turn yourself from one side to another until you have ended the days of your siege.
9 Also take for yourself wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel and make bread. According to the number of the days that you lie on your side, three hundred and ninety days, you shall eat it. 10 Your food which you shall eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels[a] a day. From time to time you shall eat it. 11 You also shall drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin.[b] From time to time you shall drink it. 12 You shall eat it as barley cake, having baked it in their sight with dung that comes out of man. 13 Then the Lord said, “Even so the sons of Israel shall eat their defiled bread among the nations where I drive them.”
14 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! My soul has not been defiled. For from my youth up even until now I have not eaten of that which dies of itself, or is torn in pieces, nor has abominable meat come into my mouth.”
15 Then He said to me, “I have given you cow dung instead of man’s dung over which you shall prepare your bread.”
16 Moreover He said to me, Son of man, I will cut off the supply of bread in Jerusalem. They shall eat bread by weight and with anxiety and drink water by measure and with horror, 17 because bread and water will be scarce, and they will be appalled with one another, and waste away for their iniquity.
20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshipped while leaning on the top of his staff.
22 By faith Joseph, when he was dying, mentioned the exodus of the children of Israel and gave instructions concerning his bones.
23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden by his parents for three months, because they saw he was a beautiful child, and they were not afraid of the king’s command.
24 By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a time. 26 He esteemed the reproach of Christ as greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he looked to the reward. 27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king. He endured by looking to Him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest the one who destroys the firstborn touch them.
29 By faith they passed through the Red Sea as on dry land, which the Egyptians attempted to do, but were drowned.
30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days.
31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, when she received the spies with peace, did not perish with those who did not believe.
32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith subdued kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in fighting, and turned the armies of foreign enemies to flight. 35 Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured and did not accept deliverance, so that they might obtain a better resurrection. 36 Still others had trials of mocking and scourging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered around in sheepskins and goatskins, while destitute, afflicted, and tormented. 38 The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.
39 These all have obtained a good report through faith, but they did not receive the promise. 40 For God provided something better for us, so that with us they would be made perfect.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.