1Then he said to me, "Son of man, eat what you find. Eat this scroll, and go and speak to the house of Israel."
2So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat.
3And he said to me, "Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your body with this scroll that I give you." Then I ate it, and in my mouth it was as sweet as honey.
4And he said to me, "Son of man, go to the house of Israel, and speak my words to them."
5You are not sent to a people whose speech is strange and whose language is hard, but to the house of Israel.
6You are not sent to many peoples whose speech is strange and whose language is hard, 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 not listen to you, for they will not listen to me. All the house of Israel are stubborn and hard-hearted.
8Look, I have made your face as strong as their faces, and your forehead as strong as their foreheads.
9"I have made your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them, and do not be frightened by their looks, though they are a rebellious house."
10And he said to me, "Son of man, take into your heart all my words that I speak to you, and hear them with your ears."
11"Go to the people of the captivity, to the children of your people, and speak to them. Tell them, 'This is what the Lord GOD says,' whether they will listen or whether they will refuse."
12Then the spirit lifted me up, and behind me I heard a voice like a great rushing sound, saying, "Blessed be the glory of the LORD from his place."
13I heard also the sound of the wings of the living creatures as they touched one another, and the sound of the wheels beside them, and a great rushing sound.
14So the spirit lifted me up and took me away. I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit, but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me.
15Then I came to the people of the captivity at Telabib, who lived by the river Chebar. I sat where they sat, and I stayed there among them seven days, stunned.
16At the end of seven days the word of the LORD came to me. He said,
17"Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. So hear the word from my mouth, and give them warning from me."
18When I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' and you do not warn him, and do not speak to warn the wicked man to turn from his wicked way and save his life, that wicked man shall die in his sin. But I will hold you responsible for his blood.
19Yet if you warn the wicked man, and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his sin, but you have saved your own life.
20Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does wrong, and I put a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you did not warn him, he shall die in his sin, and the righteous things he has done shall not be remembered. But I will hold you responsible for his blood.
21"But if you warn the righteous man not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took the warning. And you have saved your own life."
22The hand of the LORD was upon me there, and he said to me, "Get up, go out into the plain, and there I will talk with you."
23So I got up and went out into the plain. And look, the glory of the LORD was standing there, like the glory I had seen by the river Chebar. And I fell on my face.
24Then the spirit entered into me and set me on my feet. He spoke with me and said to me, "Go, shut yourself inside your house."
25As for you, son of man, look, they shall put ropes on you and bind you with them, and you shall not go out among them.
26And I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, so that you will be silent and will not be the one to correct 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, 'This is what the Lord GOD says. Whoever will hear, let him hear; and whoever will refuse, let him refuse; for they are a rebellious house.'"