Chapter
3
She said to me, Daughter of woman, eat that which you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.
So I opened my mouth, and she caused me to eat the scroll.
She said to me, Daughter of woman, cause your belly to eat, and fill your bowels with this scroll that I give you. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.
She said to me, Daughter of woman, go, get you to the house of Israel, and speak with my words to them.
For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel;
not to many peoples of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words you can not understand. Surely, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you.
But the house of Israel will not listen to you; for they will not listen to me: for all the house of Israel are of hard forehead and of a stiff heart.
Behold, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads.
As an adamant harder than flint have I made your forehead: don't be afraid of them, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.
Moreover she said to me, Daughter of woman, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears.
Go, get you to them of the captivity, to the children of your people, and speak to them, and tell them, Thus says the Domina Yahweh; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.
Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of Yahweh from her place.
I heard the noise of the wings of the living creatures as they touched one another, and the noise of the wheels beside them, even the noise of a great rushing.
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 Yahweh was strong on me.
Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel Aviv, that lived by the river Chebar, and to where they lived; and I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days.
It happened at the end of seven days, that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
Daughter of woman, I have made you a watchwoman to the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.
When I tell the wicked, You shall surely die; and you give her no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from her wicked way, to save her life; the same wicked woman shall die in her iniquity; but her blood will I require at your hand.
Yet if you warn the wicked, and she doesn't turn from her wickedness, nor from her wicked way, she shall die in her iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.
Again, when a righteous woman does turn from her righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before her, she shall die: because you have not given her warning, she shall die in her sin, and her righteous deeds which she has done shall not be remembered; but her blood will I require at your hand.
Nevertheless if you warn the righteous woman, that the righteous not sin, and she does not sin, she shall surely live, because she took warning; and you have delivered your soul.
The hand of Yahweh was there on me; and she said to me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with you.
Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and behold, the glory of Yahweh stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face.
Then the Spirit entered into me, and set me on my feet; and she spoke with me, and said to me, Go, shut yourself within your house.
But you, daughter of woman, behold, they shall lay bands on you, and shall bind you with them, and you shall not go out among them:
and I will make your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth, that you shall be mute, and shall not be to them a reprover; for they are a rebellious house.
But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall tell them, Thus says the Domina Yahweh: She who hears, let her hear; and she who forbears, let her forbear: for they are a rebellious house.