Ezekiel · 27 verses
Ezekiel 3
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
A man is fed a scroll, tastes it as sweet as honey, and is sent to people who speak his language precisely so that they may refuse him.
A scroll for breakfast, a difficult audiencevv. 1–11
The command begins with an astonishingly practical meal: the scroll is to be eaten, the stomach filled, and the message tasted. It is sweet as honey, which is rather more agreeable than the assignment that follows. The man is sent to Israel, not to some distant people whose speech would be baffling; foreigners might have listened, but his own familiar-speaking people will not. His face and forehead are therefore made harder than theirs, even diamond-hard, for the work is to speak whether they listen or refuse.
The watchman sits among the exilesvv. 12–21
The Spirit lifts him away amid wings, wheels, and a great rumbling—an unusually elaborate departure for a man who has just swallowed a book. He arrives at Tel-abib beside the River Kebar, sits where the exiles sit, and remains there for seven days, overwhelmed. Then comes the office of watchman: warning is required, but the result belongs to the hearer. The wicked may die unwarned or warned; the righteous may turn or heed. In either case, the warning itself is the solemn business.
The watchman is shut indoorsvv. 22–27
The hand of the LORD sends him out to the plain, where the glory appears again and he falls facedown. The Spirit sets him on his feet and gives the next instruction: go indoors. There he may be tied with ropes, unable to go among the people, and even his tongue will be fixed in place. Speech is reserved for the moment when the voice opens his mouth; then the message is brief and wonderfully final in its lack of fuss: whoever listens may listen, and whoever refuses may refuse.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Ezek 3:1“Son of man,” He said to me, “eat what you find here. Eat this scroll, then go and speak to the house of Israel.”
Ezek 3:2So I opened my mouth, and He fed me the scroll.
Ezek 3:3“Son of man,” He said to me, “eat and fill your stomach with this scroll I am giving you.” So I ate, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.
Ezek 3:4Then He said to me, “Son of man, go now to the house of Israel and speak My words to them.
Ezek 3:5For you are not being sent to a people of unfamiliar speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel—
Ezek 3:6not to the many peoples of unfamiliar speech and difficult language whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you.
Ezek 3:7But the house of Israel will be unwilling to listen to you, since they are unwilling to listen to Me. For the whole house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted.
Ezek 3:8Behold, I will make your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads.
Ezek 3:9I will make your forehead like a diamond, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or dismayed at their presence, even though they are a rebellious house.”
Ezek 3:10“Son of man,” He added, “listen carefully to all the words I speak to you, and take them to heart.
Ezek 3:11Go to your people, the exiles; speak to them and tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says,’ whether they listen or refuse to listen.”
Ezek 3:12Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard a great rumbling sound behind me: “Blessed be the glory of the LORD in His dwelling place!”
Ezek 3:13It was the sound of the wings of the living creatures brushing against one another and the sound of the wheels beside them, a great rumbling sound.
Ezek 3:14So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the LORD upon me.
Ezek 3:15I came to the exiles at Tel-abib who dwelt by the River Kebar. And for seven days I sat where they sat and remained there among them, overwhelmed.
Ezek 3:16At the end of seven days the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Ezek 3:17“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from My mouth, give them a warning from Me.
Ezek 3:18If I say to the wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ but you do not warn him or speak out to warn him from his wicked way to save his life, that wicked man will die in his iniquity, and I will hold you responsible for his blood.
Ezek 3:19But if you warn a wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness and his wicked way, he will die in his iniquity, but you will have saved yourself.
Ezek 3:20Now if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. If you did not warn him, he will die in his sin, and the righteous acts he did will not be remembered. And I will hold you responsible for his blood.
Ezek 3:21But if you warn the righteous man not to sin, and he does not sin, he will indeed live because he heeded your warning, and you will have saved yourself.”
Ezek 3:22And there the hand of the LORD was upon me, and He said to me, “Get up, go out to the plain, and there I will speak with you.”
Ezek 3:23So I got up and went out to the plain, and behold, the glory of the LORD was present there, like the glory I had seen by the River Kebar, and I fell facedown.
Ezek 3:24Then the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet. He spoke with me and said, “Go, shut yourself inside your house.
Ezek 3:25And you, son of man, they will tie with ropes, and you will be bound so that you cannot go out among the people.
Ezek 3:26I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, and you will be silent and unable to rebuke them, though they are a rebellious house.
Ezek 3:27But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you are to tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says.’ Whoever listens, let him listen; and whoever refuses, let him refuse, for they are a rebellious house.’’
01 — Also here
Who else the chapter reaches
Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.
Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.
Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 351 passages were voted onto 27 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 18Ezekiel 33:6But if the watchman sees the sword coming and fails to blow the horn to warn the people, and the sword comes and takes away a life, then that one will be taken away in his iniquity, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.’
- 18James 5:19–20My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back,
- 18Ezekiel 3:20Now if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. If you did not warn him, he will die in his sin, and the righteous acts he did will not be remembered. And I will hold you responsible for his blood.
- 18Acts 20:26–27Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men.
- 18Luke 13:5No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
- 181 Timothy 4:16Pay close attention to your life and to your teaching. Persevere in these things, for by so doing you will save both yourself and those who hear you.
- 3Jeremiah 15:16Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words became my joy and my heart’s delight. For I bear Your name, O LORD God of Hosts.
- 18John 8:21Again He said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for Me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.”
- 18Ephesians 5:5–6For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure, or greedy person (that is, an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
- 1Revelation 10:9–10And I went to the angel and said, “Give me the small scroll.” “Take it and eat it,” he said. “It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.”
- 18Proverbs 14:32The wicked man is thrown down by his own sin, but the righteous man has a refuge even in death.
- 182 Kings 1:4Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘You will not get up from the bed on which you are lying. You will surely die.’” So Elijah departed.
- 18Genesis 2:17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”
- 9Ezekiel 2:6But you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns surround you, and you dwell among scorpions. Do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their presence, though they are a rebellious house.
- 182 Samuel 4:11How much more, when wicked men kill a righteous man in his own house and on his own bed, shall I not now require his blood from your hands and remove you from the earth!”
- 23Ezekiel 1:28The appearance of the brilliant light all around Him was like that of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell facedown and heard a voice speaking.
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