Go to them of the captivity, to the children of your people, and speak to them, and tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh;’ whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.
Parallel translations
- 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.
- BSB 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.”
- NKJV And go, get to the captives, to the children of your people, and speak to them and tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ whether they hear, or whether they refuse.”
- NASB Go to the exiles, to the sons of your people, and speak to them and tell them, whether they listen or not, ‘This is what the Lord God says.’ ”
- NLT Then go to your people in exile and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says!’ Do this whether they listen to you or not.”
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
Ezekiel must go to the exiles and speak God's word, whether they hear or refuse. His duty is faithful delivery to his fellow captives.
Overview
God directs Ezekiel specifically to the exile community by the Chebar. He must declare 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh' regardless of their response. The prophet's accountability is to speak, leaving the outcome to God. This reaffirms that faithfulness, not visible success, defines true ministry.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Ezek 2:7You shall speak my words to them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear; for they are most rebellious.
- Ezek 3:27But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh.’ He who hears, let him hear; and he who forbears, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.”
- Ezek 33:2Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and tell them, When I bring the sword on a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and set him for their watchman;
- Ezek 2:5They, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house), yet shall know that there has been a prophet among them.
- Ezek 33:12You, son of man, tell the children of your people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his disobedience; and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turns from his wickedness; neither shall he who is righteous be able to live thereby in the day that he sins.
- Ezek 33:17Yet the children of your people say, The way of the Lord is not equal: but as for them, their way is not equal.
- Ezek 33:30As for you, son of man, the children of your people talk of you by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak to one another, everyone to his brother, saying, Please come and hear what is the word that comes out from Yahweh.
- Acts 20:26–27Therefore I testify to you today that I am clean from the blood of all men,
- Ezek 11:24–25The Spirit lifted me up, and brought me in the vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me.
- Dan 12:1“At that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince who stands for the children of your people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who shall be found written in the book.
- Dan 6:13Then answered they and said before the king, That Daniel, who is of the children of the captivity of Judah, doesn’t respect you, O king, nor the decree that you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day.
- Ezek 37:18When the children of your people shall speak to you, saying, Will you not show us what you mean by these?
- Ezek 3:15Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel Aviv, that lived by the river Chebar, and to where they lived; and I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days.
- Exod 32:7Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go, get down; for your people, who you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves!
- Deut 9:12Yahweh said to me, “Arise, get down quickly from here; for your people whom you have brought out of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them. They have made a molten image for themselves!”
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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 3:11 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
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