3:1 He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you see in front of you 1 – eat this scroll – and then go and speak to the house of Israel.” 3:2 So I opened my mouth and he fed me the scroll.
3:3 He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll I am giving to you.” So I ate it, 2 and it was sweet like honey in my mouth.
3:4 He said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak my words to them. 3:5 For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech 3 and difficult language, 4 but 5 to the house of Israel – 3:6 not to many peoples of unintelligible speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand 6 – surely if 7 I had sent you to them, they would listen to you! 3:7 But the house of Israel is unwilling to listen to you, 8 because they are not willing to listen to me, 9 for the whole house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted. 10
3:8 “I have made your face adamant 11 to match their faces, and your forehead hard to match their foreheads. 3:9 I have made your forehead harder than flint – like diamond! 12 Do not fear them or be terrified of the looks they give you, 13 for they are a rebellious house.”
3:10 And he said to me, “Son of man, take all my words that I speak to you to heart and listen carefully. 3:11 Go to the exiles, to your fellow countrymen, 14 and speak to them – say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says,’ whether they pay attention or not.”
3:12 Then a wind lifted me up 15 and I heard a great rumbling sound behind me as the glory of the Lord rose from its place, 16 3:13 and the sound of the living beings’ wings brushing against each other, and the sound of the wheels alongside them, a great rumbling sound.