BOOK 26 OF 66 · MAJOR PROPHETS · KING JAMES BIBLE

Ezekiel 3

Ezekiel book home•Chapter 3 of 48•27 verses

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Ezekiel 3 Overview

Ezekiel eats the scroll and finds it sweet, is sent to Israel rather than a foreign-language people, sits overwhelmed among the exiles for seven days, and is appointed a watchman responsible to deliver God’s warnings. The LORD also restricts when Ezekiel may speak.

EzekielBook

3Chapter

27Verses

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Before you read Ezekiel 3

Coming from

The LORD addresses Ezekiel as “son of man,” strengthens him by the Spirit, and sends him to a rebellious house of Israel. Ezekiel must speak God’s words whether they hear or refuse, and he is shown a scroll filled with lamentation, mourning, and woe.

In this chapter

Leads into

Ezekiel performs sign-acts portraying Jerusalem’s coming siege: he draws the city on a tile, lies on his sides for assigned periods connected with Israel and Judah’s iniquity, measures scarce food and water, and cooks bread in a way that symbolizes defilement among the nations.

Key understandingExplore deeper

Eating the scroll symbolizes receiving God’s message so fully that it becomes part of the prophet before he speaks it. Its sweetness does not mean the announced judgments are pleasant; it reflects the goodness and authority of God’s word even when its contents are severe.

The watchman passage concerns Ezekiel’s prophetic responsibility to warn people of impending judgment. The language of life and death is rooted in this historical covenant setting and should not be flattened into a formula for earning or losing eternal life.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

God’s word must first be received by the messenger

Ezekiel eats the scroll before he is sent to speak its contents.

Warning creates real responsibility for the watchman

The prophet must not withhold a message simply because it is difficult.

God controls both the prophet’s speech and silence

Ezekiel is not a self-appointed commentator; he speaks when the LORD opens his mouth.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Acts 20:26-27

Paul uses watchman-like responsibility language when he says he did not shun declaring the whole counsel of God.

Revelation 10:8-11

John also eats a scroll in a prophetic commission, showing a deliberate echo of Ezekiel’s experience.

Ezekiel 33

After Jerusalem falls, the watchman commission is renewed and becomes a major hinge in the book.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Do not use the watchman warning to teach salvation by successful evangelism.

Ezekiel is accountable for delivering prophetic warnings; another person’s eternal destiny is not earned by the messenger’s performance.

Do not assume “sweet as honey” means judgment preaching should feel emotionally enjoyable.

The sweetness belongs to receiving God’s true word, while Ezekiel himself goes in bitterness and astonishment.

Read Ezekiel 3 watching for…

Ezekiel eating the scroll

the contrast between Israel and foreign-language peoples

the seven days among the captives

the watchman responsibility

the LORD controlling when Ezekiel may speak

Chapter outline3 sections

1-15Ezekiel eats the scroll and is sent to speak God’s words to Israel 16-21The LORD appoints Ezekiel as a watchman responsible to warn the wicked and the righteous 22-27Ezekiel is shut in, restrained, and made silent except when the LORD opens his mouth

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

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

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

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

For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel;

Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee.

But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.

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

As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.

Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears.

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 GOD; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.

Then the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the LORD from his place.

I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels over against them, and a noise of a great rushing.

So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me.

Then I came to them of the captivity at Telabib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.

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

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

When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest 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 thine hand.

Yet 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.

Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.

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

Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and, behold, the glory of the LORD stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar: and I fell on my face.

Then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spake with me, and said unto me, Go, shut thyself within thine house.

But thou, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon thee, and shall bind thee with them, and thou shalt not go out among them:

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.

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

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Ezekiel 3:6

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