God's Assurance to Israel

¹God says, “Be silent and listen to me, you distant lands! Get ready to present your case in court; you will have your chance to speak. Let us come together to decide who is right.

²“Who was it that brought the conqueror from the east and makes him triumphant wherever he goes? Who gives him victory over kings and nations? His sword strikes them down as if they were dust. His arrows scatter them like straw before the wind.

³He follows in pursuit and marches safely on, so fast that he hardly touches the ground!

⁴Who was it that made this happen? Who has determined the course of history? I, the Lord, was there at the beginning, and I, the Lord, will be there at the end.

⁵“The people of distant lands have seen what I have done; they are frightened and tremble with fear. So they all assemble and come.

⁶The skilled workers help and encourage each other.

⁷The carpenter says to the goldsmith, ‘Well done!’ The one who beats the idol smooth encourages the one who nails it together. They say, ‘The soldering is good’— and they fasten the idol in place with nails.

⁸“But you, Israel my servant, you are the people that I have chosen, the descendants of Abraham, my friend.

⁹I brought you from the ends of the earth; I called you from its farthest corners and said to you, ‘You are my servant.’ I did not reject you, but chose you.

¹⁰Do not be afraid—I am with you! I am your God—let nothing terrify you! I will make you strong and help you; I will protect you and save you.

¹¹“Those who are angry with you will know the shame of defeat. Those who fight against you will die

¹²and will disappear from the earth.

¹³I am the Lord your God; I strengthen you and tell you, ‘Do not be afraid; I will help you.’”

¹⁴The Lord says, “Small and weak as you are, Israel, don't be afraid; I will help you. I, the holy God of Israel, am the one who saves you.

¹⁵I will make you like a threshing board, with spikes that are new and sharp. You will thresh mountains and destroy them; hills will crumble into dust.

¹⁶You will toss them in the air; the wind will carry them off, and they will be scattered by the storm. Then you will be happy because I am your God; you will praise me, the holy God of Israel.

¹⁷“When my people in their need look for water, when their throats are dry with thirst, then I, the Lord, will answer their prayer; I, the God of Israel, will never abandon them.

¹⁸I will make rivers flow among barren hills and springs of water run in the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water and the dry land into flowing springs.

¹⁹I will make cedars grow in the desert, and acacias and myrtles and olive trees. Forests will grow in barren land, forests of pine and juniper and cypress.

²⁰People will see this and know that I, the Lord, have done it. They will come to understand that Israel's holy God has made it happen.”

The Lord's Challenge to False Gods

²¹The Lord, the king of Israel, has this to say: “You gods of the nations, present your case. Bring the best arguments you have!

²²Come here and predict what will happen, so that we will know it when it takes place. Explain to the court the events of the past, and tell us what they mean.

²³Tell us what the future holds— then we will know that you are gods! Do something good or bring some disaster; fill us with fear and awe!

²⁴You and all you do are nothing; those who worship you are disgusting!

²⁵“I have chosen a man who lives in the east; I will bring him to attack from the north. He tramples on rulers as if they were mud, like a potter trampling clay.

²⁶Which of you predicted that this would happen, so that we could say that you were right? None of you said a word about it; no one heard you say a thing!

²⁷I, the Lord, was the first to tell Zion the news; I sent a messenger to Jerusalem to say, ‘Your people are coming! They are coming home!’

²⁸When I looked among the gods, none of them had a thing to say; not one could answer the questions I asked.

²⁹All these gods are useless; they can do nothing at all— these idols are weak and powerless.”

The Lord's Servant

¹The Lord says, “Here is my servant, whom I strengthen— the one I have chosen, with whom I am pleased. I have filled him with my Spirit, and he will bring justice to every nation.

²He will not shout or raise his voice or make loud speeches in the streets.

³He will not break off a bent reed nor put out a flickering lamp. He will bring lasting justice to all.

⁴He will not lose hope or courage; he will establish justice on the earth. Distant lands eagerly wait for his teaching.”

⁵God created the heavens and stretched them out; he fashioned the earth and all that lives there; he gave life and breath to all its people. And now the Lord God says to his servant,

⁶“I, the Lord, have called you and given you power to see that justice is done on earth. Through you I will make a covenant with all peoples; through you I will bring light to the nations.

⁷You will open the eyes of the blind and set free those who sit in dark prisons.

⁸“I alone am the Lord your God. No other god may share my glory; I will not let idols share my praise.

⁹The things I predicted have now come true. Now I will tell you of new things even before they begin to happen.”

A Song of Praise

¹⁰Sing a new song to the Lord; sing his praise, all the world! Praise him, you that sail the sea; praise him, all creatures of the sea! Sing, distant lands and all who live there!

¹¹Let the desert and its towns praise God; let the people of Kedar praise him! Let those who live in the city of Sela shout for joy from the tops of the mountains!

¹²Let those who live in distant lands give praise and glory to the Lord!

¹³The Lord goes out to fight like a warrior; he is ready and eager for battle. He gives a war cry, a battle shout; he shows his power against his enemies.

God Promises to Help His People

¹⁴God says, “For a long time I kept silent; I did not answer my people. But now the time to act has come; I cry out like a woman in labor.

¹⁵I will destroy the hills and mountains and dry up the grass and trees. I will turn the river valleys into deserts and dry up the pools of water.

¹⁶“I will lead my blind people by roads they have never traveled. I will turn their darkness into light and make rough country smooth before them. These are my promises, and I will keep them without fail.

¹⁷All who trust in idols, who call images their gods, will be humiliated and disgraced.”

Israel's Failure to Learn

¹⁸The Lord says, “Listen, you deaf people! Look closely, you that are blind!

¹⁹Is anyone more blind than my servant, more deaf than the messenger I send?

²⁰Israel, you have seen so much, but what has it meant to you? You have ears to hear with, but what have you really heard?”

²¹The Lord is a God who is eager to save, so he exalted his laws and teachings, and he wanted his people to honor them.

²²But now his people have been plundered; they are locked up in dungeons and hidden away in prisons. They were robbed and plundered, with no one to come to their rescue.

²³Will any of you listen to this? From now on will you listen with care?

²⁴Who gave Israel up to the looters? It was the Lord himself, against whom we sinned! We would not live as he wanted us to live or obey the teachings he gave us.

²⁵So he made us feel the force of his anger and suffer the violence of war. Like fire his anger burned throughout Israel, but we never knew what was happening; we learned nothing at all from it.

¹saying, “Mortal man, stand up. I want to talk to you.”

²While the voice was speaking, God's spirit entered me and raised me to my feet, and I heard the voice continue,

³“Mortal man, I am sending you to the people of Israel. They have rebelled and turned against me and are still rebels, just as their ancestors were.

⁴They are stubborn and do not respect me, so I am sending you to tell them what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying to them.

⁵Whether those rebels listen to you or not, they will know that a prophet has been among them.

⁶“But you, mortal man, must not be afraid of them or of anything they say. They will defy and despise you; it will be like living among scorpions. Still, don't be afraid of those rebels or of anything they say.

⁷You will tell them whatever I tell you to say, whether they listen or not. Remember what rebels they are.

⁸“Mortal man, listen to what I tell you. Don't be rebellious like them. Open your mouth and eat what I am going to give you.”

⁹I saw a hand reaching out toward me, and it was holding a scroll.

¹⁰The hand unrolled the scroll, and I saw that there was writing on both sides—cries of grief were written there, and wails and groans.

¹God said, “Mortal man, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.”

²So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat.

³He said, “Mortal man, eat this scroll that I give you; fill your stomach with it.” I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey.

⁴Then God said, “Mortal man, go to the people of Israel and say to them whatever I tell you to say.

⁵I am not sending you to a nation that speaks a difficult foreign language, but to the Israelites.

⁶If I sent you to great nations that spoke difficult languages you didn't understand, they would listen to you.

⁷But none of the people of Israel will be willing to listen; they will not even listen to me. All of them are stubborn and defiant.

⁸Now I will make you as stubborn and as tough as they are.

⁹I will make you as firm as a rock, as hard as a diamond; don't be afraid of those rebels.”

¹⁰God continued, “Mortal man, pay close attention and remember everything I tell you.

¹¹Then go to the people of your nation who are in exile and tell them what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying to them, whether they pay attention to you or not.”

¹²Then God's spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the loud roar of a voice that said, “Praise the glory of the Lord in heaven above!”

¹³I heard the wings of the creatures beating together in the air, and the noise of the wheels, as loud as an earthquake.

¹⁴The power of the Lord came on me with great force, and as his spirit carried me off, I felt bitter and angry.

¹⁵So I came to Tel Abib beside the Chebar River, where the exiles were living, and for seven days I stayed there, overcome by what I had seen and heard.

The Lord Appoints Ezekiel as a Lookout

¹⁶After the seven days had passed, the Lord spoke to me.

¹⁷“Mortal man,” he said, “I am making you a lookout for the nation of Israel. You will pass on to them the warnings I give you.

¹⁸If I announce that someone evil is going to die but you do not warn him to change his ways so that he can save his life, he will die, still a sinner, but I will hold you responsible for his death.

¹⁹If you do warn an evil man and he doesn't stop sinning, he will die, still a sinner, but your life will be spared.

²⁰“If someone truly good starts doing evil and I put him in a dangerous situation, he will die if you do not warn him. He will die because of his sins—I will not remember the good he did—and I will hold you responsible for his death.

²¹If you do warn a good man not to sin and he listens to you and doesn't sin, he will stay alive, and your life will also be spared.”

Ezekiel Will Be Unable to Talk

²²I felt the powerful presence of the Lord and heard him say to me, “Get up and go out into the valley. I will talk to you there.”

²³So I went out into the valley, and there I saw the glory of the Lord, just as I had seen it beside the Chebar River. I fell face downward on the ground,

²⁴but God's spirit entered me and raised me to my feet. The Lord said to me, “Go home and shut yourself up in the house.

²⁵You will be tied with ropes, mortal man, and you will not be able to go out in public.

²⁶I will paralyze your tongue so that you won't be able to warn these rebellious people.

²⁷Then, when I speak to you again and give you back the power of speech, you will tell them what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying. Some of them will listen, but some will ignore you, for they are a nation of rebels.”

¹Any who love knowledge want to be told when they are wrong. It is stupid to hate being corrected.

²The Lord is pleased with good people, but condemns those who plan evil.

³Wickedness does not give security, but righteous people stand firm.

⁴A good wife is her husband's pride and joy; but a wife who brings shame on her husband is like a cancer in his bones.