Ezekiel 3:5

Translations

Modern

For you are not being sent to a people of unfamiliar speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel—

Traditional

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

Literal

For not to a people of unfathomable speech and heavy tongue are you being sent, but to the house of Israel—

Latin

Non enim ad populum profundi sermonis et ignotæ linguæ tu mitteris ad domum Israël:

Original

Hebrew

English

For you are not being sent to a people of unfamiliar speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel—

Notes

Ezekiel 3:4–7

Ezekiel was sent to the people of Israel, who were expected to eagerly listen to the Lord. However, it would have been easier for the prophet if he had been sent to people with a strange and difficult language who could not understand him. This stubborn community refused to obey the Lord.

Ezekiel 1:1–3:27

Old Testament prophetic books often begin with a “call narrative.” A call narrative describes how God chose and sent a prophet to serve in this role (for example, Jeremiah 1:4–19).

This account showed that the prophet’s message was legitimate. It made clear that the prophet spoke as the Lord’s ambassador (a representative sent with authority). The call narrative also introduced important themes that the book would explain more fully later.

In Ezekiel, the call narrative focuses on the Lord’s coming judgment on his people.

Theme notes and profiles

Prophetic Sign Acts

Events

Prophecies of Ezekielc. 593 BC

Related verses

Jonah 1:2
“Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before Me.”
Isaiah 33:19
You will no longer see the insolent, a people whose speech is unintelligible, who stammer in a language you cannot understand.
Acts 26:17–18
I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them
Isaiah 28:11
Indeed, with mocking lips and foreign tongues, He will speak to this people
Jonah 3:2–4
“Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message that I give you.”
Ezekiel 3:6
…not to the many peoples of unfamiliar speech and difficult language whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you.
Psalm 81:5
He ordained it as a testimony for Joseph when he went out over the land of Egypt, where I heard an unfamiliar language:

Parallels

Revelation 10:1–11

People

Israel: Patriarch, son of Isaac, father of twelve tribes

Glossary

Ezekiel (Person) Ezekiel, Book of Prophet, Prophetess Spirit of God

Topics

Impenitence: General Scriptures Concerning Language of some Nations Difficult Rebellion Against God: Ministers: Sent to Those Guilty of

Ezekiel 3:5

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Original?

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Related verses?

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