Now the evening before the fugitive arrived, the hand of the LORD was upon me, and He opened my mouth before the man came to me in the morning. So my mouth was opened and I was no longer mute.
Parallel translations
- WEB Now Yahweh’s hand had been on me in the evening, before he who was escaped came; and he had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no more mute.
- KJV Now the hand of the LORD was upon me in the evening, afore he that was escaped came; and had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no more dumb.
- NKJV Now the hand of the Lord had been upon me the evening before the man came who had escaped. And He had opened my mouth; so when he came to me in the morning, my mouth was opened, and I was no longer mute.
- NASB Now the hand of the Lord had been upon me in the evening, before the survivors came. And He opened my mouth at the time they came to me in the morning; so my mouth was opened and I was no longer speechless.
- NLT The previous evening the Lord had taken hold of me and given me back my voice. So I was able to speak when this man arrived the next morning.
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
God had reopened Ezekiel's mouth the evening before the messenger came, ending his period of constrained silence. The prophet is freed to speak again.
Overview
Earlier Ezekiel had been made mute except for delivering God's specific words (3:26-27); now, with Jerusalem fallen, the Lord opens his mouth fully. The timing—God acting just before the news arrived—shows divine sovereignty over the prophet's ministry. Ezekiel can now speak freely as God turns his message toward the future hope of the exiles.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Ezek 1:3the word of the LORD came directly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Kebar. And there the LORD’s hand was upon him.
- Ezek 24:26–27on that day a fugitive will come and tell you the news.
- Ezek 3:26–27I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, and you will be silent and unable to rebuke them, though they are a rebellious house.
- Ezek 37:1The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by His Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley, and it was full of bones.
- Luke 1:64Immediately Zechariah’s mouth was opened and his tongue was released, and he began to speak, praising God.
- Ezek 3:22And there the hand of the LORD was upon me, and He said to me, “Get up, go out to the plain, and there I will speak with you.”
- Ezek 40:1In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month—in the fourteenth year after Jerusalem had been struck down—on that very day the hand of the LORD was upon me, and He took me there.
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 33:22 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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