Ezekiel 3:2
in Ezekiel 3So I opened my mouth, and He fed me the scroll.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat the roll.
KJV
So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll.
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This verse in Ezekiel 3
Commentary
7 notes on this verse(Verse 2.) And I opened my mouth, and he fed me with that scroll. And he said to me: Son of man. I, he said, opened my mouth, because I was told: Open your mouth, and eat. And, with my mouth open, the Lord bestowed food; so that the beginnings of the will are in us, and we attain the perfection of blessedness from the Lord. For it is not of the one willing, nor of the one running, but of the merciful God (Rom. IX, 16). However, both to will and to run is of our own free will.
This site's exposition
Eat this scroll, then go
on Ezekiel 3:1-3
The scroll of lamentation, mourning and woe is eaten in full. The command sets eating before speaking, and the taste was “as sweet as honey in my mouth.” John eats a scroll in Revelation 10:10 and finds it “as sweet as honey in my mouth,” though his stomach turned bitter.
This site's exposition
He fed me the scroll
Ezekiel opened his mouth, and God fed him the scroll. John Gill notes the two parts: the prophet did what he could by opening his mouth, and the Lord put the scroll in. The act answers the command of 2:8.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistHomilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 10 · Written before 604.
proposed
And it should be noted that the prophet adds, saying: "And I opened my mouth and he fed me with that scroll." Another Prophet testifies that the mouth is in the heart, saying: "Deceitful lips in the heart, and with the heart they have spoken evil." Therefore we open our mouth when we prepare our understanding for the comprehension of the sacred word. Thus at the voice of the Lord the prophet opens his mouth, because at the breath of the Lord's command the desires of our heart yearn eagerly, so that they may receive something from the food of life. But nevertheless this very receiving is not within our own powers, unless he himself feeds us who commanded that he be eaten. For he is fed who cannot eat by himself. And because our weakness is not sufficient for grasping heavenly words, he himself feeds us, who measures out for us the portion of grain in due time, so that in the sacred word, while today we understand what yesterday we did not know, tomorrow also we may comprehend what today we do not know, and may be nourished by daily sustenance through the grace of divine dispensation. For Almighty God extends his hand to the mouth of our heart, as it were, as many times as he opens our understanding and places the food of sacred speech into our senses. Therefore he feeds us with the scroll, when by dispensing he opens to us the meaning of Sacred Scripture, and fills our thoughts with its sweetness.
The Reformation1 voice
When the Prophet is ordered to eat whatever he receives, this ought not to be extended to everything which he meets with, but, whatever may be the taste of the book, he is forbidden to refuse it: for its bitterness might possibly cause him to reject the threats of God. Lastly, the quality of the book is noted, because it contained nothing but the material for sorrow.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
So I opened my mouth,.... To take in the roll, and eat it; he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision; he did all that he could towards eating it, but was not sufficient of himself; and therefore it follows: and he caused me to eat that roll; he, the Lord, put it into his mouth, caused him to eat it, and tilled him with it, according to his promise, Psa 81:
We find St. John let into some part of the revelation by such a sign as this, Rev. x. He took the book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up, and it was, as this, in his mouth sweet as honey; but it was bitter in the belly; and we shall find that this was so too, for (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
And He said to me, "Ben adam, what is given to you, accept; accept what is written in this scroll, and go and prophesy to the house of Yisrael."
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. 5 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
7 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וָאֶפְתַּ֖ח | vaeftach | and I opened | H6605 → | 144 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| פִּ֑י | pi | mouth my | H6310 → | 498 times |
| וַיַּ֣אֲכִלֵ֔נִי | vaiyaakhileni | and he caused to eat me | H398 → | 810 times |
| אֵ֖ת | ʾet | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַמְּגִלָּ֥ה | hamegilah | the scroll | H4039 → | 21 times |
| הַזֹּֽאת׃ | hazot | <the> this | H2063 → | 603 times |
וָאֶפְתַּ֖חand I opened
vaeftachH6605 →144 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
פִּ֑יmouth my
piH6310 →498 times
וַיַּ֣אֲכִלֵ֔נִיand he caused to eat me
vaiyaakhileniH398 →810 times
אֵ֖ת<obj.>
ʾetH853 →10935 times
הַמְּגִלָּ֥הthe scroll
hamegilahH4039 →21 times
הַזֹּֽאת׃<the> this
hazotH2063 →603 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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
Acts 26:19So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.
it leads to
- Isaiah 50:5
The Lord GOD has opened My ears, and I have not been rebellious, nor have I turned back.
- Ezekiel 2:7–8
But speak My words to them, whether they listen or refuse to listen, for they are rebellious.
- Galatians 1:16
to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not rush to consult with flesh and blood,
- Jeremiah 20:9
If I say, “I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,” His message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones, and I become weary of…
- Acts 26:2
“King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today to defend myself against all the accusations of the Jews,
- Isaiah 50:5
Through
Jeremiah 25:17So I took the cup from the LORD’s hand and made all the nations drink from it, each one to whom the LORD had sent me,
it leads to
- Jeremiah 1:10
See, I have appointed you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and plant.”
- Jeremiah 25:28
If they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink it, you are to tell them that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘You most certainly must drink it!
- Ezekiel 43:3
The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when He came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the River Kebar. I fell facedown,
- Jeremiah 1:10
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Ezekiel
This page draws on Gregory the Dialogist, Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 10; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.