Ezekiel must warn the Lord's people
16 When the seven days were finished, the Lord gave this message to me:
17 ‘Son of man, I have made you a guard to warn Israel's people about danger. You must listen to the messages that I will give to you. Then you must use my messages to warn the Israelites. 18 I may say to a wicked person, “Your punishment will be death.” Then you must warn that person. You must tell him to stop doing wicked things so that he may save his life. If you do not tell the wicked person this, he will die because of his sins. But I will say that you are guilty, as if you had killed him yourself. 19 So you must warn the wicked person. If you warn him, he still may not stop doing wicked things. Then that wicked person will die because of his sins. But you will have saved your own life.
20 A righteous person may stop doing things that are right. He may start to do bad things. Then I will put him in danger. He will die as punishment for his sins. I will not remember the good things that he did. But if you have not warned him of the danger, I will say that you are guilty. It is as if you killed him yourself. 21 But if you do warn that righteous person to stop doing bad things, he may agree. Then he will continue to live, because you warned him. You also will have saved your own life.’
22 The Lord continued to give me strength. He said to me, ‘Stand up now! Go out into the valley and I will speak to you there.’ 23 So I got up and I went out to the valley. I saw the glory of the Lord in that place. It was like the glory that I had seen beside the Kebar river. I bent down low, with my face to the ground.
24 Then a spirit came into me. He lifted me up and he made me stand on my feet. The Lord said to me, ‘Go into your house and shut the door. 25 Son of man, people will tie you with ropes so that you cannot move. You will not be able to go out among the people. 26 I will also stop your tongue from moving so that you cannot speak. You will not be able to warn the Israelites. They are people who refuse to obey me. 27 But sometimes I will speak to you. Then you will be able to open your mouth and give them my message. You must tell them, “This is what the Almighty Lord says.” Some of them will listen to my message. But other people will refuse to listen. They are a nation of people who refuse to obey me.’
3:27God made Ezekiel dumb for 7 years. That time continued until the people of Babylon destroyed Jerusalem. But during that time, Ezekiel had to speak many messages from God.
