Skip to content
mannafest.faith
Read

Ezekiel 3:11

in Ezekiel 3

Go to your people, the exiles; speak to them and tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says,’ whether they listen or refuse to listen.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.

KJV

And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord God; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.

⋯

This verse in Ezekiel 3

Commentary

3 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ezekiel · Written before 420.

(Verse 11.) Go, enter into the exile (or captivity), to the sons of your people, and speak to them, and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: perhaps they will listen and be still. And our Lord came to the people of the Jews, sent by the Father, to proclaim remission to the captives, and to fulfill what is written: Ascending on high, he led captivity captive: he gave gifts to men (Psalm 67:19).

This site's exposition

receive in thine heart

on Ezekiel 3:10-11

Before Ezekiel speaks a word to Israel he is told to receive every word into his own heart and ears, an inward reception the text places ahead of the outward errand. The audience is narrowed and made personal, them of the captivity, the children of thy people, his own fellow exiles rather than an abstract nation. The charge closes exactly as chapter two's did, whether they hear or forbear, so the standard for the prophet's obedience is unchanged by two verses of hardening description.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And go, get thee to them of the captivity,.... Not in the times of Hoshea king of Israel, by Shalmaneser king of Assyria, for these were placed in the cities of the Medes, 2Ki 17:6; but in the times of Jeconiah king of Judah, Eze 1:2; unto the children of thy people; the Jews, which were in the land of Chaldea: and speak unto them, and tell them: the words the Lord spoke to him: thus saith the Lord God; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: See Gill on Eze 2:5.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

And a wind lifted me up After He finished His words, He commanded the wind to carry me to the place where the people of the exile were.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Ezekiel 3:12:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

19 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְלֵ֨ךְand go

    velekhH1980 →1546 times

  • בֹּ֤אgo

    bo'H935 →2568 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • הַגּוֹלָה֙the exile[s]

    hagolahH1473 →43 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • בְּנֵ֣י[the] children of

    beneiH1121 →4930 times

  • עַמֶּ֔ךָpeople your

    ʾamekhaH5971 →1873 times

  • וְדִבַּרְתָּ֤and you will speak

    vedibartaH1696 →1141 times

  • אֲלֵיהֶם֙to them

    ʾaleihemH413 →5510 times

  • וְאָמַרְתָּ֣and you will say

    veamartaH559 →5305 times

  • אֲלֵיהֶ֔םto them

    ʾaleihemH413 →5510 times

  • כֹּ֥הthus

    kohH3541 →577 times

  • אָמַ֖רhe says

    ʾamarH559 →5305 times

  • אֲדֹנָ֣י[the] Lord

    ʾadonaiH136 →440 times

  • יְהֹוִ֑הYahweh

    yahwehH3069 →306 times

  • אִֽם־whether

    ʾim-H518 →1069 times

  • יִשְׁמְע֖וּthey will listen

    yishmeuH8085 →1159 times

  • וְאִם־and or

    veim-H518 →1069 times

  • יֶחְדָּֽלוּ׃they will refrain

    yechdaluH2308 →58 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

18 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Ezekiel 2:7But speak My words to them, whether they listen or refuse to listen, for they are rebellious.6 worksActs 4:20For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”6 worksEzekiel 2:5And whether they listen or refuse to listen—for they are a rebellious house—they will know that a prophet has been among them.4 worksEzekiel 3:27But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you are to tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says.’ Whoever listens, let him listen; and whoever refuses, let him refuse, for they are a rebellious house.4 worksEzekiel 33:2“Son of man, speak to your people and tell them: ‘Suppose I bring the sword against a land, and the people of that land choose a man from among them, appointing him as their watchman,4 worksEzekiel 33:17Yet your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ But it is their way that is not just.3 works
The other 12 cross-references, with their words ▾
Ezekiel 33:30As for you, son of man, your people are talking about you near the city walls and in the doorways of their houses. One speaks to another, each saying to his brother, ‘Come and hear the message that has come from the LORD!’3 worksEzekiel 33:12Therefore, son of man, say to your people: ‘The righteousness of the righteous man will not deliver him in the day of his transgression; neither will the wickedness of the wicked man cause him to stumble on the day he turns from his wickedness. Nor will the righteous man be able to survive by his righteousness on the day he sins.’3 worksEzekiel 20:27Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel, and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: In this way also your fathers blasphemed Me by their unfaithfulness against Me.3 worksExodus 32:7Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.2 worksEzekiel 3:15I came to the exiles at Tel-abib who dwelt by the River Kebar. And for seven days I sat where they sat and remained there among them, overwhelmed.2 worksDaniel 12:1“At that time Michael, the great prince who stands watch over your people, will rise up. There will be a time of distress, the likes of which will not have occurred from the beginning of nations until that time. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered.2 worksDaniel 6:13Then they told the king, “Daniel, one of the exiles from Judah, shows no regard for you, O king, or for the decree that you have signed. He still makes his petition three times a day.”2 worksDeuteronomy 9:12And the LORD said to me, “Get up and go down from here at once, for your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten image.”2 worksEzekiel 37:18When your people ask you, ‘Won’t you explain to us what you mean by these?’2 worksEzekiel 11:24–25And the Spirit lifted me up and carried me back to Chaldea, to the exiles in the vision given by the Spirit of God. After the vision had gone up from me,2 worksActs 20:26–27Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men.2 worksJeremiah 29:20So hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Ezekiel 2:5

    And whether they listen or refuse to listen—for they are a rebellious house—they will know that a prophet has been among them.

    it leads to

    • Ezekiel 3:27

      But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you are to tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says.’ Whoever listens, let him listen; and whoever refuses, let him…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Ezekiel 33:33

      So when it comes to pass—and surely it will come—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

    • John 15:22

      If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.

  • Through

    Ezekiel 3:27

    But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you are to tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says.’ Whoever listens, let him listen; and whoever refuses, let him…

    it leads to

    • Ezekiel 12:2–3

      “Son of man, you are living in a rebellious house. They have eyes to see but do not see, and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious house.

  • Through

    Ezekiel 2:7

    But speak My words to them, whether they listen or refuse to listen, for they are rebellious.

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 23:28

      Let the prophet who has a dream retell it, but let him who has My word speak it truthfully. For what is straw compared to grain?” declares the LORD.

    • Ezekiel 3:10

      “Son of man,” He added, “listen carefully to all the words I speak to you, and take them to heart.

    • Ezekiel 3:17

      “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from My mouth, give them a warning from Me.

    • Jeremiah 1:7

      But the LORD told me: “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ For to everyone I send you, you must go, and all that I command you, you must speak.

Where this verse is studied

About Ezekiel

The Prophet Ezekiel — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
The Prophet Ezekiel — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Ezekiel: the study guide →Read Ezekiel 3 →

This page draws on Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Ezekiel 3 →