Then I looked and saw a hand reaching out to me, and in it was a scroll,
Parallel translations
- WEB When I looked, behold, a hand was stretched out to me; and, behold, a scroll of a book was therein;
- KJV And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein;
- NKJV Now when I looked, there was a hand stretched out to me; and behold, a scroll of a book was in it.
- NASB Then I looked, and behold, a hand was extended to me; and behold, a scroll was in it.
- NLT Then I looked and saw a hand reaching out to me. It held a scroll,
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
A hand stretches out holding a written scroll. The scroll represents the divine message Ezekiel must take in and deliver.
Overview
The outstretched hand and scroll dramatize the giving of God's word to the prophet. Written content underscores that the message is fixed and authoritative, not invented by Ezekiel. This visual sets up the symbolic act of eating the scroll. It pictures the prophet receiving a message wholly originating from God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ezek 8:3He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. Then the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and carried me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the idol that provokes jealousy was seated.
- Rev 10:8–11Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the small scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel standing on the sea and on the land.”
- Ezek 3:1“Son of man,” He said to me, “eat what you find here. Eat this scroll, then go and speak to the house of Israel.”
- Dan 10:10Suddenly, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees.
- Rev 5:1–5Then I saw a scroll in the right hand of the One seated on the throne. It had writing on both sides and was sealed with seven seals.
- Jer 36:2“Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah, and all the nations, from the day I first spoke to you during the reign of Josiah until today.
- Dan 10:16–18And suddenly one with the likeness of a man touched my lips, and I opened my mouth and said to the one standing before me, “My lord, because of the vision, I am overcome with anguish, and I have no strength.
- Heb 10:7Then I said, ‘Here I am, it is written about Me in the scroll: I have come to do Your will, O God.’”
- Dan 5:5At that moment the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. As the king watched the hand that was writing,
- Jer 1:9Then the LORD reached out His hand, touched my mouth, and said to me: “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.
How Ezekiel 2:9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.