¹ And he said unto me, Son of man, eat what thou findest; eat this roll, and go, speak unto the house of Israel.

² So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll.

³ And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll which I give thee. And I ate, and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.

⁴ And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.

⁵ For thou art not sent to a people of strange language, and of difficult speech, [but] to the house of Israel;

⁶ not to many peoples of strange language and of difficult speech, whose words thou canst not understand: had I sent thee to them, would they not hearken unto thee?

⁷ But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee, for none of them will hearken unto me. For all the house of Israel are hard of forehead and stiff of heart.

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

⁹ As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead. Fear them not, neither be dismayed at them, for they are a rebellious house.

¹⁰ And he said unto me, Son of man, all my words which I shall speak unto thee, receive in thy heart, and hear with thine ears;

¹¹ and go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, -- whether they will hear or whether they will forbear.

¹² And the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the sound of a great rushing, [saying,] Blessed be the glory of Jehovah from his place!

¹³ -- and the sound of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the sound of the wheels beside them, and the sound of a great rushing.

¹⁴ And the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away; and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit, and the hand of Jehovah was strong upon me.

¹⁵ And I came to them of the captivity at Tel-abib, that dwelt by the river Chebar, and I sat where they sat; and I sat there astonied among them seven days.

¹⁶ And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

¹⁷ Son of man, I have appointed thee a watchman unto the house of Israel, and thou shalt hear the word from my mouth, and give them warning from me.

¹⁸ When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt certainly die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, that he may live: the same wicked [man] shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thy hand.

¹⁹ But if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.

²⁰ And when a righteous [man] doth turn from his righteousness, and do what is wrong, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die; because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous acts which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thy hand.

²¹ And if thou warn the righteous [man], that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall certainly live, for he hath taken warning; and thou hast delivered thy soul.

²² And the hand of Jehovah was there upon me; and he said unto me, Arise, go forth into the valley, and there I will talk with thee.

²³ And I arose, and went forth into the valley, and behold, the glory of Jehovah stood there, like the glory which I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face.

²⁴ And the Spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet; and he spoke with me, and said unto me, Go, shut thyself within thy house.

²⁵ And thou, son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon thee, and shall bind thee therewith, and thou shalt not go out among them.

²⁶ And I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them a reprover; for they are a rebellious house.

²⁷ And when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: He that heareth, let him hear; and he that forbeareth, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.

¹ And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

² Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not, which have ears to hear, and hear not; for they are a rebellious house.

³ And thou, son of man, prepare thee a captive's baggage, and go captive by day in their sight; and thou shalt go captive from thy place to another place in their sight. It may be they will consider, though they are a rebellious house.

⁴ And bring forth thy baggage by day in their sight, as a captive's baggage, and thou thyself, go forth at even in their sight as they that go forth into captivity.

⁵ Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and carry out thereby.

⁶ In their sight shalt thou bear [it] upon [thy] shoulder, and carry it forth in the dark; thou shalt cover thy face, and thou shalt not see the ground: for I have appointed thee for a sign unto the house of Israel.

⁷ And I did so as I was commanded: I brought forth my baggage by day, as a captive's baggage, and in the even I digged through the wall with my hand; I brought it forth in the dark, [and] bore it upon [my] shoulder, in their sight.

⁸ And in the morning the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

⁹ Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said unto thee, What doest thou?

¹⁰ Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: This burden [concerneth] the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are among them.

¹¹ Say, I am your sign: as I have done, so shall it be done unto them: they shall go into exile, into captivity.

¹² And the prince that is among them shall bear upon [his] shoulder in the dark, and shall go forth; they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby; he shall cover his face, that he see not the land with [his] eyes.

¹³ And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare; and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; but he shall not see it, and there shall he die.

¹⁴ And I will scatter toward every wind all that are about him to help him, and all his troops; and I will draw out the sword after them.

¹⁵ And they shall know that I [am] Jehovah when I shall scatter them among the nations and disperse them through the countries.

¹⁶ But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the nations whither they shall come; and they shall know that I [am] Jehovah.

¹⁷ And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,

¹⁸ Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and with anxiety;

¹⁹ and say unto the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem, in the land of Israel: They shall eat their bread with anxiety, and drink their water with astonishment, because her land shall be left desolate of all that is in it, for the violence of all them that dwell therein.

²⁰ And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be a desolation; and ye shall know that I [am] Jehovah.

²¹ And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

²² Son of man, what is that proverb which ye have in the land of Israel, saying, The days shall be prolonged, and every vision faileth?

²³ Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the accomplishment of every vision.

²⁴ For there shall be no more any vain vision nor flattering divination in the midst of the house of Israel.

²⁵ For I [am] Jehovah; I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall be performed, it shall be no more deferred. For in your days, O rebellious house, will I speak the word and will perform it, saith the Lord Jehovah.

²⁶ And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

²⁷ Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days, and he prophesieth of times that are far off.

²⁸ Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: There shall none of my words be deferred any more, but the word that I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord Jehovah.