26Above the expanse over their heads was the semblance of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and on top, upon this semblance of a throne, there was the semblance of a human form. 27From what appeared as his loins up, I saw a gleam as of amber—d-what looked like a fire encased in a frame;-d and from what appeared as his loins down, I saw what looked like fire. There was a radiance all about him. 28Like the appearance of the bow which shines in the clouds on a day of rain, such was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. That was the appearance of the semblance of the Presence of the LORD. When I beheld it, I flung myself down on my face. And I heard the voice of someone speaking.
2 And He said to me, “O mortal, stand up on your feet that I may speak to you.” 2As He spoke to me, a spirit entered into me and set me upon my feet; and I heard what was being spoken to me. 3He said to me, “O mortal, I am sending you to the people of Israel, that nation of rebels, who have rebelled against Me.—They as well as their fathers have defied Me to this very day; 4for the sons are brazen of face and stubborn of heart. I send you to them, and you shall say to them: ‘Thus said the Lord GOD’—5whether they listen or not, for they are a rebellious breed—that they may know that there was a prophet among them.
6“And you, mortal, do not fear them and do not fear their words, though thistles and thorns a-press against-a you, and you sit upon scorpions. Do not be afraid of their words and do not be dismayed by them, though they are a rebellious breed; 7but speak My words to them, whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious.
8“And you, mortal, heed what I say to you: Do not be rebellious like that rebellious breed. Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you.” 9As I looked, there was a hand stretched out to me, holding a written scroll. 10He unrolled it before me, and it was inscribed on both the front and the back; on it were written lamentations, dirges, and woes.
3 He said to me, “Mortal, eat what is offered you; eat this scroll, and go speak to the House of Israel.” 2So I opened my mouth, and He gave me this scroll to eat, 3as He said to me, “Mortal, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll that I give you.” I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey to me.
4Then He said to me, “Mortal, go to the House of Israel and repeat My very words to them. 5For you are sent, not to a people of unintelligible speech and difficult language, but to the House of Israel—6not to the many peoples of unintelligible speech and difficult language, whose talk you cannot understand. If I sent you to them, they would listen to you. 7But the House of Israel will refuse to listen to you, for they refuse to listen to Me; for the whole House of Israel are brazen of forehead and stubborn of heart. 8But I will make your face as hard as theirs, and your forehead as brazen as theirs. 9I will make your forehead like adamant, harder than flint. Do not fear them, and do not be dismayed by them, though they are a rebellious breed.”
10Then He said to me: “Mortal, listen with your ears and receive into your mind all the words that I speak to you. 11Go to your people, the exile community, and speak to them. Say to them: Thus says the Lord GOD—whether they listen or not.” 12Then a spirit carried me away, and behind me I heard a great roaring sound: a-“Blessed is the Presence of the LORD, in His place,”-a 13with the sound of the wings of the creatures beating against one another, and the sound of the wheels beside them— a great roaring sound. 14A spirit seized me and carried me away. I went in bitterness, in the fury of my spirit, while the hand of the LORD was strong upon me. 15And I came to the exile community that dwelt in Tel Abib by the Chebar Canal, and I remained where they dwelt. And for seven days I sat there stunned among them.
16After those seven days, the word of the LORD came to me: 17“O mortal, I appoint you watchman for the House of Israel; and when you hear a word from My mouth, you must warn them for Me. 18If I say to a wicked man, ‘You shall die,’ and you do not warn him—you do not speak to warn the wicked man of his wicked course in order to save his life—he, the wicked man, shall die for his iniquity, but I will require a reckoning for his blood from you. 19But if you do warn the wicked man, and he does not turn back from his wickedness and his wicked course, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have saved your own life. 20Again, if a righteous man abandons his righteousness and does wrong, when I put a stumbling block before him, he shall die. He shall die for his sins; the righteous deeds that he did shall not be remembered; but because you did not warn him, I will require a reckoning for his blood from you. 21If, however, you warn the righteous man not to sin, and he, the righteous, does not sin, he shall live because he took warning, and you will have saved your own life.”
22Then the hand of the LORD came upon me there, and He said to me, “Arise, go out to the valley, and there I will speak with you.” 23I arose and went out to the valley, and there stood the Presence of the LORD, like the Presence that I had seen at the Chebar Canal; and I flung myself down on my face. 24And a spirit entered into me and set me upon my feet. And He spoke to me, and said to me: “Go, shut yourself up in your house. 25As for you, O mortal, cords have been placed upon you, and you have been bound with them, and you shall not go out among them.b 26And I will make your tongue cleave to your palate, and you shall be dumb; you shall not be a reprover to them, for they are a rebellious breed. 27But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD!’ He who listens will listen, and he who does not will not—for they are a rebellious breed.”
4 “And you, O mortal, take a brick and put it in front of you, and incise on it a city, Jerusalem. 2Set up a siege against it, and build towers against it, and cast a mound against it; pitch camps against it, and bring up battering rams roundabout it. 3Then take an iron plate and place it as an iron wall between yourself and the city, and set your face against it. aThus it shall be under siege, you shall besiege it. This shall be an omen for the House of Israel.
4“Then lie on your left side, and let it bear the punishment of the House of Israel;b for as many days as you lie on it you shall bear their punishment. 5For I impose upon you three hundred and ninety days, corresponding to the number of the years of their punishment; and so you shall bear the punishment for the House of Israel. 6When you have completed these, you shall lie another forty days on your right side, and bear the punishment of the House of Judah.b I impose on you one day for each year.
7“Then, with bared arm, set your face toward besieged Jerusalem and prophesy against it. 8Now I put cords upon you, so that you cannot turn from side to side until you complete your days of siege.
9“Further, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and emmer. Put them into one vessel and bake them into bread. Eat it as many days as you lie on your side: three hundred and ninety. 10The food that you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day; this you shall eat in the space of a day. 11And you shall drink water by measure; drink a sixth of a hin in the space of a day.
12“Eat it as a barleyc cake; you shall bake it on human excrement before their eyes. 13So,” said the LORD, “shall the people of Israel eat their bread, unclean, among the nations to which I will banish them.” 14Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD, my person was never defiled; nor have I eaten anything that died of itself or was torn by beasts from my youth until now, nor has foul flesh entered my mouth.” 15He answered me, “See, I allow you cow’s dung instead of human excrement; prepare your bread on that.”
16dAnd He said to me, “O mortal, I am going to break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they shall eat bread by weight, in anxiety, and drink water by measure, in horror, 17so that, lacking bread and water, 5they shall stare at each other, heartsick