Ezekiel 2: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

God tells Ezekiel to stand up, and God's Spirit lifts him to his feet so he can hear what is said. God sends him as a messenger to the people of Israel, a nation that has refused to obey God for generations, and tells him to speak God's words whether they listen or not. God tells him not to fear the people or their reaction, and not to be stubborn himself. Then Ezekiel sees a hand holding out a scroll, written on both sides with words of grief, mourning, and trouble.

Claim by Claim

1. 2:1
   • A voice said to Ezekiel, calling him son of man.
   • The speaker commanded him to stand upon his feet.
   • The speaker said he would speak to him.
2. 2:2
   • A spirit entered into Ezekiel as the speaker spoke to him.
   • The spirit set Ezekiel upon his feet.
   • Ezekiel heard the one speaking to him.
3. 2:3
   • The speaker said to Ezekiel, calling him son of man.
   • The speaker said he was sending Ezekiel to the children of Israel.
   • The speaker described them as rebellious nations that had rebelled against him.
   • The speaker said they and their fathers had transgressed against him.
   • The speaker said their transgression had continued to this very day.
4. 2:4
   • The speaker said the children were hard of face.
   • The speaker said the children were stubborn of heart.
   • The speaker said he was sending Ezekiel to them.
   • The speaker commanded Ezekiel to say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD.
5. 2:5
   • The speaker said that whether they hear or whether they refuse, they will know that a prophet has been among them.
   • The speaker said they are a rebellious house.
6. 2:6
   • The speaker addressed Ezekiel as son of man.
   • The speaker commanded Ezekiel not to be afraid of them.
   • The speaker commanded Ezekiel not to be afraid of their words.
   • The speaker said briers and thorns are with Ezekiel.
   • The speaker said Ezekiel dwells among scorpions.
   • The speaker again commanded Ezekiel not to be afraid of their words.
   • The speaker commanded Ezekiel not to be dismayed at their faces.
   • The speaker said they are a rebellious house.
7. 2:7
   • The speaker commanded Ezekiel to speak his words to them.
   • The speaker said Ezekiel is to speak whether they hear or whether they refuse.
   • The speaker said they are rebellious.
8. 2:8
   • The speaker addressed Ezekiel as son of man.
   • The speaker commanded Ezekiel to hear what he says to him.
   • The speaker commanded Ezekiel not to be rebellious like that rebellious house.
   • The speaker commanded Ezekiel to open his mouth.
   • The speaker commanded Ezekiel to eat what he gives him.
9. 2:9
   • Ezekiel looked.
   • A hand was stretched out to him.
   • In the hand was a scroll of a book.
10. 2:10
    • The one holding it spread the scroll out before Ezekiel.
    • The scroll was written on the front and on the back.
    • Written on it were lamentations, mourning, and woe.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

2:1

"Son of man" translates a Hebrew phrase meaning simply "human being" or "mortal." It is not a title of honor; it marks the distance between the speaker and the man being addressed. God calls Ezekiel by this phrase, and almost never by his name, throughout the book, about ninety times.

2:2

The Hebrew word here, *ruach*, covers wind, breath, and spirit all at once, and translators must choose. Older English Bibles print "the spirit"; the sense is a force from God that enters the prophet and moves his body.

2:3

The word translated "nation" is *goy*, the ordinary Hebrew term for a foreign, non-Israelite people. Applying it to Israel itself is pointed: they are being spoken of as though they were outsiders. Ezekiel himself was among the Judeans deported to Babylon, so his audience is a community already living in exile.

2:4

"This is what the Lord GOD says" is the standard opening a messenger used when delivering a ruler's words verbatim: it identifies the speech that follows as quoted, not as the speaker's own. In English Bibles, GOD printed in capitals stands in for the personal name of Israel's God, which Jewish tradition did not pronounce aloud.

2:5

"House" in Hebrew means a household, family line, or dynasty, not a building. "A rebellious house" plays on the standard phrase "the house of Israel", the whole extended family of the nation.

2:6

Briers, thorns and scorpions are figures of speech for hostile people, not literal hazards. The two plant words are rare in Hebrew and their exact species are unknown; the point is that they sting and catch at anyone who moves among them. "Their looks" means the expressions on their faces.

2:8

Being told to eat something handed to you is an acted sign, prophets regularly performed physical acts that stood for their message. Taking the words in as food pictures making them entirely one's own before speaking them.

2:9

A book in this period was a scroll: a long strip of leather or papyrus rolled up on itself and unrolled to be read. "A roll of a book" in older English means exactly that.

2:10

Scrolls were normally written only on the inner face, so that the writing was protected when rolled. Writing on both sides means the text has overrun the space available: there is more to say than the scroll can hold. "Lamentation" is a technical word for a formal funeral song, the chant sung over the dead.