Ezekiel receives his mission

1 He said to me, ¡°Son of man, stand up for I am about to speak to you.¡±

2 A spirit came upon me as he spoke and kept me standing and then I heard him speak,

3 ¡°Son of man, I am sending you to the Is raelites, to a people who have rebelled against me; they and their fathers have sinned against me to this day.

4 Now I am sending you to these defiant and stubborn people to tell them ¡®this is the Lord Yah weh¡¯s word.¡¯

5 So, whether they listen or not this set of rebels will know there is a prophet among them.

6 But you, son of man, do not fear them or what they say, for they will be as thorns for you and you will be sitting on a nest of scorpions. Don¡¯t be afraid of their words when you are facing this set of rebels.

7 Tell them what I say whether they choose to listen or not, for they are rebels.

8 Listen then, son of man, to what I say and don¡¯t be a rebel among rebels. Open your mouth and take in what I¡¯m about to say.¡±

9 I looked and saw a hand stretched out in front of me holding a scroll.

10 He unrolled it before me; on both sides were written lamentations, groan ings and woes.