Ezekiel 1-4

Ezekiel 1

¹Now it happened in the thirtieth year, in the fourth [month], in the fifth [day] of the month, as I was among the captives by the river Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.

²In the fifth [day] of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity,

³the word of Yahweh came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of Yahweh was there on him.

⁴I looked, and behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, a great cloud, with flashing lightning, and a brightness around it, and out of its midst as it were glowing metal, out of the midst of the fire.

⁵Out of its midst came the likeness of four living creatures. This was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man.

⁶Everyone had four faces, and each one of them had four wings.

⁷Their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot; and they sparkled like burnished brass.

⁸They had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and the four of them had their faces and their wings [thus]:

⁹their wings were joined one to another; they didn't turn when they went; each one went straight forward.

¹⁰As for the likeness of their faces, they had the face of a man; and the four of them had the face of a lion on the right side; and the four of them had the face of an ox on the left side; the four of them also had the face of an eagle.

¹¹Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above. Two wings of each one touched another, and two covered their bodies.

¹²Each one went straight forward: where the spirit was to go, they went; they didn't turn when they went.

¹³As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches: [the fire] went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.

¹⁴The living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.

¹⁵Now as I saw the living creatures, behold, one wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, for each of the four faces of it.

¹⁶The appearance of the wheels and their work was like a beryl: and the four of them had one likeness; and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel within a wheel.

¹⁷When they went, they went in their four directions: they didn't turn when they went.

¹⁸As for their rims, they were high and dreadful; and the four of them had their rims full of eyes all around.

¹⁹When the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.

²⁰Wherever the spirit was to go, they went; there was the spirit to go: and the wheels were lifted up beside them; for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

²¹When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up beside them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

²²Over the head of the living creature there was the likeness of an expanse, like the awesome crystal to look on, stretched forth over their heads above.

²³Under the expanse were their wings straight, the one toward the other: each one had two which covered on this side, and every one had two which covered on that side, their bodies.

²⁴When they went, I heard the noise of their wings like the noise of great waters, like the voice of the Almighty, a noise of tumult like the noise of an army: when they stood, they let down their wings.

²⁵There was a voice above the expanse that was over their heads: when they stood, they let down their wings.

²⁶Above the expanse that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and on the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man on it above.

²⁷I saw as it were glowing metal, as the appearance of fire within it all around, from the appearance of his waist and upward; and from the appearance of his waist and downward I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him.

²⁸As the appearance of the rainbow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Yahweh. When I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of one that spoke.

Ezekiel 2

¹He said to me, Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.

²The Spirit entered into me when he spoke to me, and set me on my feet; and I heard him who spoke to me.

³He said to me, Son of man, I send you to the children of Israel, to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me even to this very day.

⁴The children are impudent and stiff-hearted: I am sending you to them; and you shall tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh.

⁵They, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house), yet shall know that there has been a prophet among them.

⁶You, son of man, don't be afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you, and you do dwell among scorpions: don't be afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.

⁷You shall speak my words to them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear; for they are most rebellious.

⁸But you, son of man, hear what I tell you; don't be rebellious like that rebellious house: open your mouth, and eat that which I give you.

⁹When I looked, behold, a hand was put forth to me; and, behold, a scroll of a book was therein;

¹⁰He spread it before me: and it was written within and without; and there were written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.

Ezekiel 3

¹He said to me, Son of man, eat that which you find. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.

²So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat the scroll.

³He said to me, Son of man, cause your belly to eat, and fill your bowels with this scroll that I give you. Then I ate it; and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.

⁴He said to me, Son of man, go to the house of Israel, and speak my words to them.

⁵For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel;

⁶not 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.

⁷But the house of Israel will not listen to you; for they will not listen to me: for all the house of Israel are obstinate and hard-hearted.

⁸Behold, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads.

⁹As 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.

¹⁰Moreover he said to me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears.

¹¹Go to them of the captivity, to the children of your people, and speak to them, and tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.

¹²Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great rushing, [saying], Blessed be the glory of Yahweh from his place.

¹³[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.

¹⁴So 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.

¹⁵Then 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.

¹⁶It happened at the end of seven days, that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

¹⁷Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel: therefore hear the word from my mouth, and give them warning from me.

¹⁸When I tell the wicked, You shall surely die; and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at your hand.

¹⁹Yet if you warn the wicked, and he doesn't turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.

²⁰Again, when a righteous man does turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die: because you have not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at your hand.

²¹Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man, that the righteous not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning; and you have delivered your soul.

²²The hand of Yahweh was there on me; and he said to me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with you.

²³Then 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.

²⁴Then the Spirit entered into me, and set me on my feet; and he spoke with me, and said to me, Go, shut yourself inside your house.

²⁵But you, son of man, behold, they shall lay bands on you, and shall 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, that you shall be mute, and shall not be to them a reprover; for they are a rebellious house.

²⁷But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: He who hears, let him hear; and he who forbears, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.

Ezekiel 4

¹You also, son of man, take a tile, and lay it before yourself, and portray on it a city, even Jerusalem:

²and lay siege against it, and build forts against it, and cast up a mound against it; set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it all around.

³Take for yourself an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between you and the city: and set your face toward it, and it shall be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.

⁴Moreover lie on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it; [according to] the number of the days that you shall lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity.

⁵For I have appointed the years of their iniquity to be to you a number of days, even three hundred ninety days: so you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

⁶Again, when you have accomplished these, you shall lie on your right side, and shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah: forty days, each day for a year, have I appointed it to you.

⁷You shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with your arm uncovered; and you shall prophesy against it.

⁸Behold, I lay bands on you, and you shall not turn you from one side to the other, until you have accomplished the days of your siege.

⁹Take for yourself also wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make bread of it; [according to] the number of the days that you shall lie on your side, even three hundred ninety days, you shall eat of it.

¹⁰Your food which you shall eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time you shall eat it.

¹¹You shall drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin: from time to time you shall drink.

¹²You shall eat it as barley cakes, and you shall bake it in their sight with dung that comes out of man.

¹³Yahweh said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them.

¹⁴Then I said, Ah Lord Yahweh! behold, my soul has not been polluted; for from my youth up even until now have I not eaten of that which dies of itself, or is torn of animals; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.

¹⁵Then he said to me, Behold, I have given you cow's dung for man's dung, and you shall prepare your bread thereon.

¹⁶Moreover he said to me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with fearfulness; and they shall drink water by measure, and in dismay:

¹⁷that they may want bread and water, and be dismayed one with another, and pine away in their iniquity.