Ezekiel Acts Out Israel's Captivity
1 The Lord said:
2 Ezekiel, son of man, you are living among rebellious people. They have eyes, but refuse to see; they have ears, but refuse to listen. 3 So before it gets dark, here is what I want you to do. Pack a few things as though you were going to be taken away as a prisoner. Then go outside where everyone can see you and walk around from place to place. Maybe as they watch, they will realize what rebels they are. 4 After you have done this, return to your house.
Later that evening leave your house as if you were going into exile. 5 Dig through the wall of your house and crawl out, carrying the bag with you. Make sure everyone is watching. 6 Lift the bag to your shoulders, and with your face covered, take it into the darkness, so that you cannot see the land you are leaving. All this will be a warning for the people of Israel.
7 I did everything the Lord had said. I packed a few things. Then as the sun was going down, and while everyone was watching, I dug a hole through one of the walls of my house. I pulled out my bag, then lifted it to my shoulders and left in the darkness.
8 The next morning, the Lord 9 reminded me that those rebellious people didn't even ask what I was doing. 10 So he sent me back to tell them:
The Lord God has a message for the leader of Jerusalem and everyone living there!
11 I have done these things to show them what will happen when they are taken away as prisoners.
12 The leader of Jerusalem will lift his own bag to his shoulders at sunset and leave through a hole that the others have dug in the wall of his house. He will cover his face, so he can't see the land he is leaving. 13 The Lord will spread out a net and trap him as he leaves Jerusalem. He will then be led away to the city of Babylon, but will never see that place, even though he will die there. 14 His own officials and troops will scatter in every direction, and the Lord will track them down and put them to death.
15 The Lord will force the rest of the people in Jerusalem to live in foreign nations, where they will realize that he has done all these things. 16 Some of them will survive the war, the starvation, and the deadly diseases. That way, they will be able to tell foreigners how disgusting their sins were, and that it was the Lord who punished them in this way.
A Sign of Fear
17 The Lord said:
18 Ezekiel, son of man, shake with fear when you eat, and tremble when you drink. 19 Tell the people of Israel that I, the Lord, say that someday everyone in Jerusalem will shake when they eat and tremble when they drink. Their country will be destroyed and left empty, because they have been cruel and violent. 20 Every town will lie in ruins, and the land will be a barren desert. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
The Words of the Lord Will Come True
21 The Lord said:
22 Ezekiel, son of man, you've heard people in Israel use the saying, “Time passes, and prophets are proved wrong.” 23 Now tell the people that I, the Lord, am going to prove that saying wrong. No one will ever be able to use it again in Israel, because very soon everything I have said will come true! 24 The people will hear no more useless warnings and false messages. 25 I will give them my message, and what I say will certainly happen. Warn those rebels that the time has come for them to be punished. I, the Lord, make this promise.
26-27 Ezekiel, the people of Israel are also saying that your visions and messages are only about things in the future. 28 So tell them that my words will soon come true, just as I have warned. I, the Lord, have spoken.
1 The worde of the Lord also came vnto me, saying, 2 Sonne of man, thou dwellest in the middes of a rebellious house, which haue eyes to see, and see not: they haue eares to heare, and heare not: for they are a rebellious house. 3 Therefore thou sonne of man, prepare thy stuffe to goe into captiuitie, and goe foorth by day in their sight: and thou shalt passe from thy place to another place in their sight, if it be possible that they may consider it: for they are a rebellious house. 4 Then shalt thou bring foorth thy stuffe by day in their sight as the stuffe of him that goeth into captiuitie: and thou shalt go forth at euen in their sight, as they that go foorth into captiuitie. 5 Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and cary out thereby. 6 In their sight shalt thou beare it vpon thy shoulders, and carie it foorth in the darke: thou shalt couer thy face that thou see not the earth: for I haue set thee as a signe vnto the house of Israel. 7 And as I was commanded, so I brought forth my stuffe by day, as ye stuffe of one that goeth into captiuitie: and by night I digged through the wall with mine hand, and brought it forth in ye darke, and I bare it vpon my shoulder in their sight. 8 And in the morning came the word of the Lord vnto me, saying, 9 Sonne of man, hath not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, sayde vnto thee, What doest thou? 10 But say thou vnto them, Thus saith the Lord God, This burden concerneth the chiefe in Ierusalem, and all the house of Israel that are among them. 11 Say, I am your signe: like as I haue done, so shall it be done vnto them: they shall goe into bondage and captiuitie. 12 And the chiefest that is among them, shall beare vpon his shoulder in the darke, and shall goe forth: they shall digge through the wall, to cary out thereby: he shall couer his face, that he see not the ground with his eies. 13 My net also will I spread vpon him, and he shall be taken in my net, and I will bring him to Babel to the lande of the Caldeans, yet shall he not see it, though he shall dye there. 14 And I will scatter toward euerie winde all that are about him to helpe him, and all his garisons, and I will drawe out the sworde after them. 15 And they shall knowe that I am the Lord, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countreis. 16 But I will leaue a litle nomber of them from the sworde, from the famine, and from the pestilence, that they may declare all these abominations among the heathen, where they come, and they shall knowe, that I am the Lord. 17 Moreouer, the worde of the Lord came vnto me, saying, 18 Sonne of man, eate thy bread with trembling and drinke thy water with trouble, and with carefulnesse, 19 And say vnto the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord God of the inhabitants of Ierusalem, and of the lande of Israel, They shall eate their bread with carefulnes, and drinke their water with desolation: for the lande shall bee desolate from her abundance because of the crueltie of them that dwell therein. 20 And the cities that are inhabited, shall be left voyde, and the land shall be desolate, and yee shall knowe that I am the Lord. 21 And the worde of the Lord came vnto me, saying, 22 Sonne of man, what is that prouerbe that you haue in the land of Israel, saying, The dayes are prolonged and all visions faile? 23 Tell them therefore, Thus sayeth the Lord God, I wil make this prouerbe to cease, and they shall no more vse it as a prouerbe in Israel: but say vnto them, The daies are at hand and the effect of euery vision. 24 For no vision shall be any more in vaine, neither shall there bee any flattering diuination within the house of Israel. 25 For I am the Lord: I wil speake, and that thing that I shall speake, shall come to passe: it shall be no more prolonged: for in your dayes, O rebellious house, will I saye the thing, and will performe it, sayeth the Lord God. 26 Againe the word of the Lord came vnto me, saying, 27 Sonne of man, beholde, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that hee seeth, is for many dayes to come, and he prophecieth of the times that are farre off. 28 Therefore say vnto them, Thus sayth the Lord God, All my wordes shall no longer be delayed, but that thing which I haue spoken, shall be done, saith the Lord God.