You’ll speak my words to them whether they listen or whether they refuse.

Ezekiel’s commissioning

1 The voice said to me: Human one, stand on your feet, and I’ll speak to you. 2 As he spoke to me, a windOr spirit came to me and stood me on my feet, and I heard someone addressing me. 3 He said to me: Human one, I’m sending you to the Israelites, a traitorous and rebellious people. They and their ancestors have been rebelling against me to this very day. 4 I’m sending you to their hardheaded and hard-hearted descendants, and you will say to them: The LORD God proclaims. 5 Whether they listen or whether they refuse, since they are a household of rebels, they will know that a prophet has been among them.

6 And as for you, human one, don’t be afraid of them or their words. Don’t be afraid! You possess thistles and thorns that subdue scorpions.Or thistles and thorns are with you, and you sit on scorpions. Don’t be afraid of their words or shrink from their presence, because they are a household of rebels. 7 You’ll speak my words to them whether they listen or whether they refuse. They are just a householdLXX, Syr, Tg; MT lacks household. of rebels!

8 As for you, human one, listen to what I say to you. Don’t become rebellious like that household of rebels. Open your mouth and eat what I give you. 9 Then I looked, and there in a hand stretched out to me was a scroll. 10He spread it open in front of me, and it was filled with writing on both sides, songs of mourning, lamentation, and doom.