The Message (MSG)

Wheels Within Wheels, Like a Gyroscope

1 When I was thirty years of age, I was living with the exiles on the Kebar River. On the fifth day of the fourth month, the sky opened up and I saw visions of God.

2-3 (It was the fifth day of the month in the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin thatGod’s Word came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, on the banks of the Kebar River in the country of Babylon.God’s hand came upon him that day.)

4-9 I looked: I saw an immense dust storm come from the north, an immense cloud with lightning flashing from it, a huge ball of fire glowing like bronze. Within the fire were what looked like four creatures vibrant with life. Each had the form of a human being, but each also had four faces and four wings. Their legs were as sturdy and straight as columns, but their feet were hoofed like those of a calf and sparkled from the fire like burnished bronze. On all four sides under their wings they had human hands. All four had both faces and wings, with the wings touching one another. They turned neither one way nor the other; they went straight forward.

10-12 Their faces looked like this: In front a human face, on the right side the face of a lion, on the left the face of an ox, and in back the face of an eagle. So much for the faces. The wings were spread out with the tips of one pair touching the creature on either side; the other pair of wings covered its body. Each creature went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit went, they went. They didn’t turn as they went.

13-14 The four creatures looked like a blazing fire, or like fiery torches. Tongues of fire shot back and forth between the creatures, and out of the fire, bolts of lightning. The creatures flashed back and forth like strikes of lightning.

15-16 As I watched the four creatures, I saw something that looked like a wheel on the ground beside each of the four-faced creatures. This is what the wheels looked like: They were identical wheels, sparkling like diamonds in the sun. It looked like they were wheels within wheels, like a gyroscope.

17-21 They went in any one of the four directions they faced, but straight, not veering off. The rims were immense, circled with eyes. When the living creatures went, the wheels went; when the living creatures lifted off, the wheels lifted off. Wherever the spirit went, they went, the wheels sticking right with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. When the creatures went, the wheels went; when the creatures stopped, the wheels stopped; when the creatures lifted off, the wheels lifted off, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

22-24 Over the heads of the living creatures was something like a dome, shimmering like a sky full of cut glass, vaulted over their heads. Under the dome one set of wings was extended toward the others, with another set of wings covering their bodies. When they moved I heard their wings—it was like the roar of a great waterfall, like the voice of The Strong God, like the noise of a battlefield. When they stopped, they folded their wings.

25-28 And then, as they stood with folded wings, there was a voice from above the dome over their heads. Above the dome there was something that looked like a throne, sky-blue like a sapphire, with a humanlike figure towering above the throne. From what I could see, from the waist up he looked like burnished bronze and from the waist down like a blazing fire. Brightness everywhere! The way a rainbow springs out of the sky on a rainy day—that’s what it was like. It turned out to be the Glory ofGod!

When I saw all this, I fell to my knees, my face to the ground. Then I heard a voice.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/EZK/1-fa88aa85b8910d951f954d98dddb6039.mp3?version_id=97—

1 It said, “Son of man, stand up. I have something to say to you.”

2 The moment I heard the voice, the Spirit entered me and put me on my feet. As he spoke to me, I listened.

3-7 He said, “Son of man, I’m sending you to the family of Israel, a rebellious nation if there ever was one. They and their ancestors have fomented rebellion right up to the present. They’re a hard case, these people to whom I’m sending you—hardened in their sin. Tell them, ‘This is the Message ofGod, the Master.’ They are a defiant bunch. Whether or not they listen, at least they’ll know that a prophet’s been here. But don’t be afraid of them, son of man, and don’t be afraid of anything they say. Don’t be afraid when living among them is like stepping on thorns or finding scorpions in your bed. Don’t be afraid of their mean words or their hard looks. They’re a bunch of rebels. Your job is to speak to them. Whether they listen is not your concern. They’re hardened rebels.

8 “Only take care, son of man, that you don’t rebel like these rebels. Open your mouth and eat what I give you.”

9-10 When I looked he had his hand stretched out to me, and in the hand a book, a scroll. He unrolled the scroll. On both sides, front and back, were written lamentations and mourning and doom.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/EZK/2-da7347e51fd07955628fb50d85b0095b.mp3?version_id=97—

Warn These People

1 He told me, “Son of man, eat what you see. Eat this book. Then go and speak to the family of Israel.”

2-3 As I opened my mouth, he gave me the scroll to eat, saying, “Son of man, eat this book that I am giving you. Make a full meal of it!”

So I ate it. It tasted so good—just like honey.

4-6 Then he told me, “Son of man, go to the family of Israel and speak my Message. Look, I’m not sending you to a people who speak a hard-to-learn language with words you can hardly pronounce. If I had sent you to such people, their ears would have perked up and they would have listened immediately.

7-9 “But it won’t work that way with the family of Israel. They won’t listen to you because they won’t listen to me. They are, as I said, a hard case, hardened in their sin. But I’ll make you as hard in your way as they are in theirs. I’ll make your face as hard as rock, harder than granite. Don’t let them intimidate you. Don’t be afraid of them, even though they’re a bunch of rebels.”

10-11 Then he said, “Son of man, get all these words that I’m giving you inside you. Listen to them obediently. Make them your own. And now go. Go to the exiles, your people, and speak. Tell them, ‘This is the Message ofGod, the Master.’ Speak your piece, whether they listen or not.”

12-13 Then the Spirit picked me up. Behind me I heard a great commotion—“Blessed be the Glory ofGodin his Sanctuary!”—the wings of the living creatures beating against each other, the whirling wheels, the rumble of a great earthquake.

14-15 The Spirit lifted me and took me away. I went bitterly and angrily. I didn’t want to go. ButGodhad me in his grip. I arrived among the exiles who lived near the Kebar River at Tel Aviv. I came to where they were living and sat there for seven days, appalled.

16 At the end of the seven days, I received this Message fromGod:

17-19 “Son of man, I’ve made you a watchman for the family of Israel. Whenever you hear me say something, warn them for me. If I say to the wicked, ‘You are going to die,’ and you don’t sound the alarm warning them that it’s a matter of life or death, they will die and it will be your fault. I’ll hold you responsible. But if you warn the wicked and they keep right on sinning anyway, they’ll most certainly die for their sin, butyouwon’t die. You’ll have saved your life.

20-21 “And if the righteous turn back from living righteously and take up with evil when I step in and put them in a hard place, they’ll die. If you haven’t warned them, they’ll die because of their sins, and none of the right things they’ve done will count for anything—and I’ll hold you responsible. But if you warn these righteous people not to sin and they listen to you, they’ll live because they took the warning—and again, you’ll have saved your life.”

22 Godgrabbed me by the shoulder and said, “Get up. Go out on the plain. I want to talk with you.”

23 So I got up and went out on the plain. I couldn’t believe my eyes: the Glory ofGod! Right there! It was like the Glory I had seen at the Kebar River. I fell to the ground, prostrate.

24-26 Then the Spirit entered me and put me on my feet. He said, “Go home and shut the door behind you.” And then something odd: “Son of man: They’ll tie you hand and foot with ropes so you can’t leave the house. I’ll make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so you won’t be able to talk and tell the people what they’re doing wrong, even though they are a bunch of rebels.

27 “But then when the time is ripe, I’ll free your tongue and you’ll say, ‘This is whatGod, the Master, says: . . .’ From then on it’s up to them. They can listen or not listen, whichever they like. Theyarea bunch of rebels!”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/EZK/3-1bcf2d07038fe8f9e8275e075de3822d.mp3?version_id=97—

This Is What Sin Does

1-3 “Now, son of man, take a brick and place it before you. Draw a picture of the city Jerusalem on it. Then make a model of a military siege against the brick: Build siege walls, construct a ramp, set up army camps, lay in battering rams around it. Then get an iron skillet and place it upright between you and the city—an iron wall. Face the model: The city shall be under siege and you shall be the besieger. This is a sign to the family of Israel.

4-5 “Next lie on your left side and place the sin of the family of Israel on yourself. You will bear their sin for as many days as you lie on your side. The number of days you bear their sin will match the number of years of their sin, namely, 390. For 390 days you will bear the sin of the family of Israel.

6-7 “Then, after you have done this, turn over and lie down on your right side and bear the sin of the family of Judah. Your assignment this time is to lie there for forty days, a day for each year of their sin. Look straight at the siege of Jerusalem. Roll up your sleeve, shake your bare arm, and preach against her.

8 “I will tie you up with ropes, tie you so you can’t move or turn over until you have finished the days of the siege.

9-12 “Next I want you to take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, dried millet and spelt, and mix them in a bowl to make a flat bread. This is your food ration for the 390 days you lie on your side. Measure out about half a pound for each day and eat it on schedule. Also measure out your daily ration of about a pint of water and drink it on schedule. Eat the bread as you would a muffin. Bake the muffins out in the open where everyone can see you, using dried human dung for fuel.”

13 Godsaid, “This is what the people of Israel are going to do: Among the pagan nations where I will drive them, they will eat foods that are strictly taboo to a holy people.”

14 I said, “God, my Master! Never! I’ve never contaminated myself with food like that. Since my youth I’ve never eaten anything forbidden by law, nothing found dead or violated by wild animals. I’ve never taken a single bite of forbidden food.”

15 “All right,” he said. “I’ll let you bake your bread over cow dung instead of human dung.”

16-17 Then he said to me, “Son of man, I’m going to cut off all food from Jerusalem. The people will live on starvation rations, worrying where the next meal’s coming from, scrounging for the next drink of water. Famine conditions. People will look at one another, see nothing but skin and bones, and shake their heads. This is what sin does.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/EZK/4-205dfd08f4b0d359a8ac99459489e4c3.mp3?version_id=97—

A Jealous God, Not to Be Trifled With

1-2 “Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a straight razor, shaving your head and your beard. Then, using a set of balancing scales, divide the hair into thirds. When the days of the siege are over, take one-third of the hair and burn it inside the city. Take another third, chop it into bits with the sword and sprinkle it around the city. The final third you’ll throw to the wind. Then I’ll go after them with a sword.

3-4 “Retrieve a few of the hairs and slip them into your pocket. Take some of them and throw them into the fire—burn them up. From them, fire will spread to the whole family of Israel.

5-6 “This is whatGod, the Master, says: This meansJerusalem.I set her at the center of the world, all the nations ranged around her. But she rebelled against my laws and ordinances, rebelled far worse than the nations ranged around her—sheer wickedness!—refused my guidance, ignored my directions.

7 “Therefore this is whatGod, the Master, says: You’ve been more headstrong and willful than any of the nations around you, refusing my guidance, ignoring my directions. You’ve sunk to the gutter level of those around you.

8-10 “Therefore this is whatGod, the Master, says: I’m setting myself against you—yes, against you, Jerusalem. I’m going to punish you in full sight of the nations. Because of your disgusting no-god idols, I’m going to do something to you that I’ve never done before and will never do again: turn families into cannibals—parents eating children, children eating parents! Punishment indeed. And whoever’s left over I’ll throw to the winds.

11-12 “Therefore, as sure as I am the living God—Decree ofGod, the Master—because you’ve polluted my Sanctuary with your obscenities and disgusting no-god idols, I’m pulling out. Not an ounce of pity will I show you. A third of your people will die of either disease or hunger inside the city, a third will be killed outside the city, and a third will be thrown to the winds and chased by killers.

13 “Only then will I calm down and let my anger cool. Then you’ll know that I was serious about this all along, that I’m a jealous God and not to be trifled with.

14-15 “When I get done with you, you’ll be a pile of rubble. Nations who walk by will make coarse jokes. When I finish my angry punishment and searing rebukes, you’ll be reduced to an object of ridicule and mockery, turned into a horror story circulating among the surrounding nations. I,God, have spoken.

16-17 “When I shoot my lethal famine arrows at you, I’ll shoot to kill. Then I’ll step up the famine and cut off food supplies. Famine and more famine—and then I’ll send in the wild animals to finish off your children. Epidemic disease, unrestrained murder, death—and I will have sent it! I,God, have spoken.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/EZK/5-4e34376bb039751a30309b6f843dcd05.mp3?version_id=97—

Turn Israel into Wasteland

1-7 Then the Word ofGodcame to me: “Son of man, now turn and face the mountains of Israel and preach against them: ‘O Mountains of Israel, listen to the Message ofGod, the Master.God, the Master, speaks to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and the valleys: I’m about to destroy your sacred god and goddess shrines. I’ll level your altars, bust up your sun-god pillars, and kill your people as they bow down to your no-god idols. I’ll stack the dead bodies of Israelites in front of your idols and then scatter your bones around your shrines. Every place where you’ve lived, the towns will be torn down and the pagan shrines demolished—altars busted up, idols smashed, all your custom-made sun-god pillars in ruins. Corpses everywhere you look! Then you’ll know that I amGod.

8-10 “‘But I’ll let a few escape the killing as you are scattered through other lands and nations. In the foreign countries where they’re taken as prisoners of war, they’ll remember me. They’ll realize how devastated I was by their betrayals, by their voracious lust for gratifying themselves in their idolatries. They’ll be disgusted with their evil ways, disgusting to God in the way they’ve lived. They’ll know that I amGod. They’ll know that my judgment against them was no empty threat.

11-14 “‘This is whatGod, the Master, says: Clap your hands, stamp your feet, yell out, “No, no, no!” because of all the evil obscenities rife in Israel. They’re going to be killed, dying of hunger, dying of disease—death everywhere you look, people dropping like flies, people far away dying, people nearby dying, and whoever’s left in the city starving to death. Why? Because I’m angry, furiously angry. They’ll realize that I amGodwhen they see their people’s corpses strewn over and around all their ruined sex-and-religion shrines on the bare hills and in the lush fertility groves, in all the places where they indulged their sensual rites. I’ll bring my hand down hard on them, demolish the country wherever they live, turn it into wasteland from one end to the other, from the wilderness to Riblah. Then they’ll know that I amGod!’”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/EZK/6-c9ca961fb3cd7290a6b692ff8bfd0a50.mp3?version_id=97—

Fate Has Caught Up with You

1-4 God’s Word came to me, saying, “You, son of man—God, the Master, has this Message for the land of Israel:

“‘Endtime.

The end of business as usual for everyone.

It’s all over. The end is upon you.

I’ve launched my anger against you.

I’ve issued my verdict on the way you live.

I’ll make you pay for your disgusting obscenities.

I won’t look the other way,

I won’t feel sorry for you.

I’ll make you pay for the way you’ve lived:

Your disgusting obscenities will boomerang on you,

and you’ll realize that I amGod.’

5-9 “I,God, the Master, say:

‘Disaster after disaster! Look, it comes!

Endtime—

the end comes.

The end is ripe. Watch out, it’s coming!

This is your fate, you who live in this land.

Time’s up.

It’s zero hour.

No dragging of feet now,

no bargaining for more time.

Soon now I’ll pour my wrath on you,

pay out my anger against you,

Render my verdict on the way you’ve lived,

make you pay for your disgusting obscenities.

I won’t look the other way,

I won’t feel sorry for you.

I’ll make you pay for the way you’ve lived.

Your disgusting obscenities will boomerang on you.

Then you’ll realize

that it is I,God, who have hit you.

10-13 “‘Judgment Day!

Fate has caught up with you.

The scepter outsized and pretentious,

pride bursting all bounds,

Violence strutting,

brandishing the evil scepter.

But there’s nothing to them,

and nothing will be left of them.

Time’s up.

Countdown: five, four, three, two . . .

Buyer, don’t crow; seller, don’t worry:

Judgment wrath has turned the world topsy-turvy.

The bottom has dropped out of buying and selling.

It will never be the same again.

But don’t fantasize an upturn in the market.

The country is bankrupt because of its sins,

and it’s not going to get any better.

14-16 “‘The trumpet signals the call to battle:

“Present arms!”

But no one marches into battle.

My wrath has them paralyzed!

On the open roads you’re killed,

or else you go home and die of hunger and disease.

Either get murdered out in the country

or die of sickness or hunger in town.

Survivors run for the hills.

They moan like doves in the valleys,

Each one moaning

for his own sins.

17-18 “‘Every hand hangs limp,

every knee turns to rubber.

They dress in rough burlap—

sorry scarecrows,

Shifty and shamefaced,

with their heads shaved bald.

19-27 “‘They throw their money into the gutters.

Their hard-earned cash stinks like garbage.

They find that it won’t buy a thing

they either want or need on Judgment Day.

They tripped on money

and fell into sin.

Proud and pretentious with their jewels,

they deck out their vile and vulgar no-gods in finery.

I’ll make those god-obscenities a stench in their nostrils.

I’ll give away their religious junk—

strangers will pick it up for free,

the godless spit on it and make jokes.

I’ll turn my face so I won’t have to look

as my treasured place and people are violated,

As violent strangers walk in

and desecrate place and people—

A bloody massacre,

as crime and violence fill the city.

I’ll bring in the dregs of humanity

to move into their houses.

I’ll put a stop to the boasting and strutting

of the high-and-mighty,

And see to it that there’ll be nothing holy

left in their holy places.

Catastrophe descends. They look for peace,

but there’s no peace to be found—

Disaster on the heels of disaster,

one rumor after another.

They clamor for the prophet to tell them what’s up,

but nobody knows anything.

Priests don’t have a clue;

the elders don’t know what to say.

The king holds his head in despair;

the prince is devastated.

The common people are paralyzed.

Gripped by fear, they can’t move.

I’ll deal with them where they are,

judge them on their terms.

They’ll know that I amGod.’”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/EZK/7-a73f858c398ae46e8c81d464157bdd2a.mp3?version_id=97—

The Spirit Carried Me in Visions

1-4 In the sixth year, in the sixth month and the fifth day, while I was sitting at home meeting with the leaders of Judah, it happened that the hand of my Master,God, gripped me. When I looked, I was astonished. What I saw looked like a man—from the waist down like fire and from the waist up like highly burnished bronze. He reached out what looked like a hand and grabbed me by the hair. The Spirit swept me high in the air and carried me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the Temple’s inside court where the image of the sex goddess that makes God so angry had been set up. Right before me was the Glory of the God of Israel, exactly like the vision I had seen out on the plain.

5 He said to me, “Son of man, look north.” I looked north and saw it: Just north of the entrance loomed the altar of the sex goddess, Asherah, that makes God so angry.

6 Then he said, “Son of man, do you see what they’re doing? Outrageous obscenities! And doing them right here! It’s enough to drive me right out of my own Temple. But you’re going to see worse yet.”

7 He brought me to the door of the Temple court. I looked and saw a gaping hole in the wall.

8 He said, “Son of man, dig through the wall.”

I dug through the wall and came upon a door.

9 He said, “Now walk through the door and take a look at the obscenities they’re engaging in.”

10-11 I entered and looked. I couldn’t believe my eyes: Painted all over the walls were pictures of reptiles and animals and monsters—the whole pantheon of Egyptian gods and goddesses—being worshiped by Israel. In the middle of the room were seventy of the leaders of Israel, with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing in the middle. Each held his censer with the incense rising in a fragrant cloud.

12 He said, “Son of man, do you see what the elders are doing here in the dark, each one before his favorite god-picture? They tell themselves, ‘Goddoesn’t see us.Godhas forsaken the country.’”

13 Then he said, “You’re going to see worse yet.”

14-15 He took me to the entrance at the north gate of the Temple ofGod. I saw women sitting there, weeping for Tammuz, the Babylonian fertility god. He said, “Have you gotten an eyeful, son of man? You’re going to see worse yet.”

16 Finally, he took me to the inside court of the Temple ofGod. There between the porch and the altar were about twenty-five men. Their backs were toGod’s Temple. They were facing east, bowing in worship to the sun.

17-18 He said, “Have you seen enough, son of man? Isn’t it bad enough that Judah engages in these outrageous obscenities? They fill the country with violence and now provoke me even further with their obscene gestures. That’s it. They have an angry God on their hands! From now on, no mercy. They can shout all they want, but I’m not listening.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/EZK/8-1f9ff384c5d532b0db67b3b62e72ba7f.mp3?version_id=97—