Yehezkiel 3:1-7

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 

[3:1]  ¹ tn Heb “eat what you find.”

[3:3]  ² tc Heb “I ate,” a first common singular preterite plus paragogic he (ה). The ancient versions read “I ate it,” which is certainly the meaning in the context, and indicates they read the he as a third feminine singular pronominal suffix. The Masoretes typically wrote a mappiq in the he for the pronominal suffix but apparently missed this one.

[3:3]  sn I ate it. A similar idea of consuming God’s word is found in Jer 15:16 and Rev 10:10, where it is also compared to honey and may be specifically reminiscent of this text.

[3:5]  ³ tn Heb “deep of lip” (in the sense of incomprehensible).

[3:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “heavy of tongue.” Similar language occurs in Exod 4:10; Isa 33:19.

[3:5]  ⁵ tn The conjunction “but” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied from the context.

[3:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “hear.”

[3:6]  ⁷ tc The MT reads “if not” but most ancient versions translate only “if.” The expression occurs with this sense in Isa 5:9; 14:24. See also Ezek 34:8; 36:5; 38:19.

[3:7]  ⁸ sn Moses (Exod 3:19) and Isaiah (Isa 6:9-10) were also told that their messages would not be received.

[3:7]  ⁹ sn A similar description of Israel’s disobedience is given in 1 Sam 8:7.

[3:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “hard of forehead and stiff of heart.”