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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Ezekiel 3:5 For you are not being sent to a people of unfamiliar speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel--</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/ezekiel/3-5.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/new9.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><meta property="og:image" content="https://biblehub.com/visuals/7/26_Ezk_03_05.jpg" /><meta property="og:title" content="Ezekiel 3:5 - Ezekiel Eats the Scroll" /><meta property="og:site_name" content="Bible Hub" /><meta property="og:description" content="For you are not being sent to a people of unfamiliar speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel--" /><script type="application/javascript" 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align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/ad5.htm" width="100%" height="48" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="/ezekiel/3-4.htm" title="Ezekiel 3:4">◄</a> Ezekiel 3:5 <a href="/ezekiel/3-6.htm" title="Ezekiel 3:6">►</a></div></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="topverse"> <a href="#audio" class="clickchap2" title="Context and Audio Bible"> Audio </a> <a href="#crossref" class="clickchap2" title="Cross References"> Cross </a> <a href="#study" class="clickchap2" title="Study Bible"> Study </a> <a href="#commentary" class="clickchap2" title="Commentary"> Comm </a> <a href="#lexicon" class="clickchap2" title="Lexicon"> Heb </a> </div><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheadingv"><b>Verse</b><a href="/bsb/ezekiel/3.htm" class="clickchap" style="color:#001320" title="Click any translation name for full chapter">  (Click for Chapter)</a></div><div id="par"><span class="versiontext"><a href="/niv/ezekiel/3.htm">New International Version</a></span><br />You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and strange language, but to the people of Israel—<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/nlt/ezekiel/3.htm">New Living Translation</a></span><br />I am not sending you to a foreign people whose language you cannot understand.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/esv/ezekiel/3.htm">English Standard Version</a></span><br />For you are not sent to a people of foreign speech and a hard language, but to the house of Israel—<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/bsb/ezekiel/3.htm">Berean Standard Bible</a></span><br />For you are not being sent to a people of unfamiliar speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel—<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/kjv/ezekiel/3.htm">King James Bible</a></span><br />For thou <i>art</i> not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, <i>but</i> to the house of Israel;<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/nkjv/ezekiel/3.htm">New King James Version</a></span><br />For you <i>are</i> not sent to a people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, <i>but</i> to the house of Israel,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/nasb_/ezekiel/3.htm">New American Standard Bible</a></span><br />For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech or difficult language, <i>but</i> to the house of Israel,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/nasb/ezekiel/3.htm">NASB 1995</a></span><br />&#8220For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/nasb77/ezekiel/3.htm">NASB 1977 </a></span><br />“For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech or difficult language, <i>but</i> to the house of Israel,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/lsb/ezekiel/3.htm">Legacy Standard Bible </a></span><br />For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible lips or a difficult tongue, <i>but</i> to the house of Israel,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/amp/ezekiel/3.htm">Amplified Bible</a></span><br />For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/csb/ezekiel/3.htm">Christian Standard Bible</a></span><br />For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech or a difficult language but to the house of Israel —<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/hcsb/ezekiel/3.htm">Holman Christian Standard Bible</a></span><br />For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech or difficult language but to the house of Israel. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/asv/ezekiel/3.htm">American Standard Version</a></span><br />For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel;<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/erv/ezekiel/3.htm">English Revised Version</a></span><br />For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel;<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/gwt/ezekiel/3.htm">GOD'S WORD® Translation</a></span><br />I am not sending you to people whose language is hard to understand or difficult to speak. I am sending you to Israel.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/gnt/ezekiel/3.htm">Good News Translation</a></span><br />I am not sending you to a nation that speaks a difficult foreign language, but to the Israelites. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/isv/ezekiel/3.htm">International Standard Version</a></span><br />because you're not going to a people whose speech you cannot understand or whose language is difficult to speak. Instead, you're going to the house of Israel. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/msb/ezekiel/3.htm">Majority Standard Bible</a></span><br />For you are not being sent to a people of unfamiliar speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel?<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/net/ezekiel/3.htm">NET Bible</a></span><br />For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech and difficult language, but to the house of Israel--<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/nheb/ezekiel/3.htm">New Heart English Bible</a></span><br />For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel;<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/wbt/ezekiel/3.htm">Webster's Bible Translation</a></span><br />For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel;<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/web/ezekiel/3.htm">World English Bible</a></span><br />For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel— <div class="vheading2"><b>Literal Translations</b></div><span class="versiontext"><a href="/lsv/ezekiel/3.htm">Literal Standard Version</a></span><br />For you [are] not sent to a people deep of lip and heavy of tongue—to the house of Israel;<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/ylt/ezekiel/3.htm">Young's Literal Translation</a></span><br /> For, not unto a people deep of lip and heavy of tongue art thou sent -- unto the house of Israel;<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/slt/ezekiel/3.htm">Smith's Literal Translation</a></span><br />For not to a people deep of lip and heavy of tongue; thou art sent to the house of Israel;<div class="vheading2"><b>Catholic Translations</b></div><span class="versiontext"><a href="/drb/ezekiel/3.htm">Douay-Rheims Bible</a></span><br />For thou art not sent to a people of a profound speech, and of an unknown tongue, but to the house of Israel: <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/cpdv/ezekiel/3.htm">Catholic Public Domain Version</a></span><br />For you will be sent, not to a people of profound words or of an unknown language, but to the house of Israel,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/nabre/ezekiel/3.htm">New American Bible</a></span><br />Not to a people with obscure speech and difficult language am I sending you, but to the house of Israel.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/nrsvce/ezekiel/3.htm">New Revised Standard Version</a></span><br />For you are not sent to a people of obscure speech and difficult language, but to the house of Israel—<div class="vheading2"><b>Translations from Aramaic</b></div><span class="versiontext"><a href="/lamsa/ezekiel/3.htm">Lamsa Bible</a></span><br />For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel;<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/hpbt/ezekiel/3.htm">Peshitta Holy Bible Translated</a></span><br />Because it was not to a people of difficult speaking and stammering tongue I sent you, but to those of the household of Israel<div class="vheading2"><b>OT Translations</b></div><span class="versiontext"><a href="/jps/ezekiel/3.htm">JPS Tanakh 1917</a></span><br />For thou art not sent to a people of an unintelligible speech and of a slow tongue, but to the house of Israel;<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/sep/ezekiel/3.htm">Brenton Septuagint Translation</a></span><br />For thou art not sent to a people of hard speech, <i>but</i> to the house of Israel;<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/parallel/ezekiel/3-5.htm">Additional Translations ...</a></span></div></div></div><div id="centbox"><div class="padcent"><a name="audio" id="audio"></a><div class="vheadingv"><b>Audio Bible</b></div><iframe width="100%" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vET3Gmwku4s?start=428" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe><span class="p"><br /><br /><br /></span><div class="vheadingv"><b>Context</b></div><span class="hdg"><a href="/bsb/ezekiel/3.htm">Ezekiel Eats the Scroll</a></span><br>…<span class="reftext">4</span>Then He said to me, “Son of man, go now to the house of Israel and speak My words to them. <span class="reftext">5</span><span class="highl"><a href="/hebrew/3588.htm" title="3588: kî (Conj) -- That, for, when. ">For</a> <a href="/hebrew/859.htm" title="859: ’at·tāh (Pro-2ms) -- You (masc. sing.). ">you</a> <a href="/hebrew/3808.htm" title="3808: lō (Adv-NegPrt) -- Not. Or lowi; or loh; a primitive particle; not; by implication, no; often used with other particles.">are not</a> <a href="/hebrew/7971.htm" title="7971: šā·lū·aḥ (V-Qal-QalPassPrtcpl-ms) -- To send. A primitive root; to send away, for, or out.">being sent</a> <a href="/hebrew/413.htm" title="413: ’el- (Prep) -- To, into, towards. ">to</a> <a href="/hebrew/5971.htm" title="5971: ‘am (N-ms) -- From amam; a people; specifically, a tribe; hence troops or attendants; figuratively, a flock.">a people</a> <a href="/hebrew/6012.htm" title="6012: ‘im·qê (Adj-mpc) -- Deep, unfathomable. From amaq; deep.">of unfamiliar</a> <a href="/hebrew/8193.htm" title="8193: śā·p̄āh (N-fs) -- Or sepheth; probably from caphah or shaphah through the idea of termination; the lip; by implication, language; by analogy, a margin.">speech</a> <a href="/hebrew/3515.htm" title="3515: wə·ḵiḇ·ḏê (Conj-w:: Adj-mpc) -- Heavy. From kabad; heavy; figuratively in a good sense or in a bad sense.">or difficult</a> <a href="/hebrew/3956.htm" title="3956: lā·šō·wn (N-cs) -- Tongue. Or lashon; also feminine lshonah; from lashan; the tongue, used literally, and figuratively.">language,</a> <a href="/hebrew/413.htm" title="413: ’el- (Prep) -- To, into, towards. ">but to</a> <a href="/hebrew/1004.htm" title="1004: bêṯ (N-msc) -- A house. Probably from banah abbreviated; a house.">the house</a> <a href="/hebrew/3478.htm" title="3478: yiś·rā·’êl (N-proper-ms) -- From sarah and 'el; he will rule as God; Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also of his posterity.">of Israel—</a> </span><span class="reftext">6</span>not to the many peoples of unfamiliar speech and difficult language whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you.…<div class="cred"><a href="//berean.bible">Berean Standard Bible</a> · <a href="//berean.bible/downloads.htm">Download</a></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="crossref" id="crossref"></a><div class="vheading">Cross References</div><div id="crf"><span class="crossverse"><a href="/matthew/10-5.htm">Matthew 10:5-6</a></span><br />These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go onto the road of the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. / Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/acts/22-21.htm">Acts 22:21</a></span><br />Then He said to me, ‘Go! I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/romans/15-20.htm">Romans 15:20-21</a></span><br />In this way I have aspired to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. / Rather, as it is written: “Those who were not told about Him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/john/1-11.htm">John 1:11</a></span><br />He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/matthew/15-24.htm">Matthew 15:24</a></span><br />He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/acts/13-46.htm">Acts 13:46</a></span><br />Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “It was necessary to speak the word of God to you first. But since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/romans/11-13.htm">Romans 11:13</a></span><br />I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/1_corinthians/14-21.htm">1 Corinthians 14:21</a></span><br />It is written in the Law: “By strange tongues and foreign lips I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to Me, says the Lord.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/acts/18-6.htm">Acts 18:6</a></span><br />But when they opposed and insulted him, he shook out his garments and told them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/isaiah/6-9.htm">Isaiah 6:9-10</a></span><br />And He replied: “Go and tell this people, ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ / Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/jeremiah/1-7.htm">Jeremiah 1:7</a></span><br />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.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/deuteronomy/7-6.htm">Deuteronomy 7:6</a></span><br />For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all peoples on the face of the earth.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/isaiah/28-11.htm">Isaiah 28:11</a></span><br />Indeed, with mocking lips and foreign tongues, He will speak to this people<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/isaiah/65-1.htm">Isaiah 65:1-2</a></span><br />“I revealed Myself to those who did not ask for Me; I was found by those who did not seek Me. To a nation that did not call My name, I said, ‘Here I am! Here I am!’ / All day long I have held out My hands to an obstinate people who walk in the wrong path, who follow their own imaginations,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/jeremiah/5-15.htm">Jeremiah 5:15</a></span><br />Behold, I am bringing a distant nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD. “It is an established nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose speech you do not understand.</div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="tsk" id="tsk"><div class="vheading">Treasury of Scripture</div><p class="tsk2">For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel;</p><p class="hdg">thou</p><p class="tskverse"><b><a href="/jonah/1-2.htm">Jonah 1:2</a></b></br> Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.</p><p class="tskverse"><b><a href="/jonah/3-2.htm">Jonah 3:2-4</a></b></br> Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee… </p><p class="tskverse"><b><a href="/acts/26-17.htm">Acts 26:17,18</a></b></br> Delivering thee from the people, and <i>from</i> the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, … </p><p class="hdg">and so</p><p class="tskverse"><b><a href="/ezekiel/3-6.htm">Ezekiel 3:6</a></b></br> Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee.</p><p class="tskverse"><b><a href="/psalms/81-5.htm">Psalm 81:5</a></b></br> This he ordained in Joseph <i>for</i> a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: <i>where</i> I heard a language <i>that</i> I understood not.</p><p class="tskverse"><b><a href="/isaiah/33-19.htm">Isaiah 33:19</a></b></br> Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, <i>that thou canst</i> not understand.</p><div class="vheading">Jump to Previous</div><a href="/ezekiel/3-4.htm">Children</a> <a href="/lamentations/3-47.htm">Deep</a> <a href="/jeremiah/33-3.htm">Difficult</a> <a href="/jeremiah/50-37.htm">Foreign</a> <a href="/ezekiel/2-4.htm">Hard</a> <a href="/lamentations/3-7.htm">Heavy</a> <a href="/ezekiel/3-4.htm">House</a> <a href="/ezekiel/3-4.htm">Israel</a> <a href="/jeremiah/5-15.htm">Language</a> <a href="/isaiah/33-19.htm">Obscure</a> <a href="/jeremiah/15-15.htm">Slow</a> <a href="/ezekiel/1-24.htm">Speech</a> <a href="/lamentations/5-2.htm">Strange</a> <a href="/jeremiah/35-2.htm">Talk</a> <a href="/lamentations/4-4.htm">Tongue</a> <a href="/isaiah/33-19.htm">Unintelligible</a><div class="vheading2">Jump to Next</div><a href="/ezekiel/3-7.htm">Children</a> <a href="/ezekiel/3-6.htm">Deep</a> <a href="/ezekiel/3-6.htm">Difficult</a> <a href="/ezekiel/3-6.htm">Foreign</a> <a href="/ezekiel/3-6.htm">Hard</a> <a href="/ezekiel/3-6.htm">Heavy</a> <a href="/ezekiel/3-7.htm">House</a> <a href="/ezekiel/3-7.htm">Israel</a> <a href="/ezekiel/3-6.htm">Language</a> <a href="/ezekiel/3-6.htm">Obscure</a> <a href="/ezekiel/3-6.htm">Slow</a> <a href="/ezekiel/3-6.htm">Speech</a> <a href="/ezekiel/3-6.htm">Strange</a> <a href="/ezekiel/3-6.htm">Talk</a> <a href="/ezekiel/3-6.htm">Tongue</a> <a href="/ezekiel/3-6.htm">Unintelligible</a><div class="vheading2">Ezekiel 3</div><span class="reftext">1. </span><span class="outlinetext"><a href="/ezekiel/3-1.htm">Ezekiel eats the scroll</a></span><br><span class="reftext">4. </span><span class="outlinetext"><a href="/ezekiel/3-4.htm">God encourages him</a></span><br><span class="reftext">15. </span><span class="outlinetext"><a href="/ezekiel/3-15.htm">God shows him the rule of prophecy</a></span><br><span class="reftext">22. </span><span class="outlinetext"><a href="/ezekiel/3-22.htm">God shuts and opens the prophet's mouth</a></span><br></div></div><div id="mdd"><div align="center"><div class="bot2"><table align="center" width="100%"><tr><td><div align="center"> <script id="3d27ed63fc4348d5b062c4527ae09445"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=51ce25d5-1a8c-424a-8695-4bd48c750f35&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script> <script id="b817b7107f1d4a7997da1b3c33457e03"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=cb0edd8b-b416-47eb-8c6d-3cc96561f7e8&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-2'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-0' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-3'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-1' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div align="center" id='div-gpt-ad-1531425649696-0'> </div><br /><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:200px;height:200px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="3592799687"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script> <br /><br /> </div> </td></tr></table></div></div></div><div id="combox"><div class="padcom"><a name="study" id="study"></a><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top"><a href="/study/ezekiel/3.htm">Study Bible</a></td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/study/ezekiel/" title="Book Summary and Study">Book ◦</a> <a href="/study/chapters/ezekiel/3.htm" title="Chapter summary and Study">Chapter </a></tr></table></div><b>For you are not being sent to a people of unfamiliar speech or difficult language</b><br>This phrase highlights the nature of Ezekiel's mission. Unlike other prophets, such as Jonah who was sent to Nineveh, Ezekiel's audience is his own people, the Israelites. The language barrier is not an issue, indicating that the challenge lies not in communication but in the people's receptiveness. This underscores the spiritual stubbornness of Israel, as they are familiar with God's laws and messages but choose to ignore them. The reference to "unfamiliar speech" can also be seen as a metaphor for the spiritual distance between God and His people, despite their shared language and heritage.<p><b>but to the house of Israel—</b><br>The "house of Israel" refers to the collective nation, emphasizing their identity as God's chosen people. Historically, this period is during the Babylonian exile, a time of great turmoil and identity crisis for the Israelites. Ezekiel's role is to remind them of their covenant with God and call them to repentance. This phrase also connects to the broader biblical narrative of Israel's repeated cycles of rebellion and redemption. Theologically, it points to the persistent love and patience of God, who continues to reach out to His people despite their disobedience. This mission foreshadows the ultimate reconciliation through Jesus Christ, who is sent to the "lost sheep of Israel" (<a href="/matthew/15-24.htm">Matthew 15:24</a>) and ultimately to all nations.<div class="vheading2">Persons / Places / Events</div>1. <b><a href="/topical/e/ezekiel.htm">Ezekiel</a></b><br>A prophet and priest during the Babylonian exile, called by God to deliver His messages to the Israelites.<br><br>2. <b><a href="/topical/h/house_of_israel.htm">House of Israel</a></b><br>Refers to the people of Israel, God's chosen nation, who were in exile due to their disobedience and idolatry.<br><br>3. <b><a href="/topical/b/babylonian_exile.htm">Babylonian Exile</a></b><br>The period when the Israelites were taken captive by Babylon, a significant event in Israel's history that shaped much of the prophetic literature.<div class="vheading2">Teaching Points</div><b><a href="/topical/u/understanding_our_audience.htm">Understanding Our Audience</a></b><br>Just as Ezekiel was sent to his own people, we are often called to minister to those within our own communities. Recognize the cultural and linguistic familiarity as an advantage in sharing God's message.<br><br><b><a href="/topical/t/the_challenge_of_familiarity.htm">The Challenge of Familiarity</a></b><br>Familiarity can breed contempt. The Israelites' resistance to Ezekiel's message serves as a reminder that those closest to us may be the hardest to reach with the truth.<br><br><b><a href="/topical/f/faithfulness_in_obedience.htm">Faithfulness in Obedience</a></b><br>Ezekiel's mission underscores the importance of obedience to God's call, regardless of the anticipated response. Our responsibility is to deliver the message faithfully.<br><br><b><a href="/topical/g/god's_persistent_love.htm">God's Persistent Love</a></b><br>Despite Israel's rebellion, God continues to reach out to them through His prophets. This reflects His enduring love and desire for reconciliation with His people.<br><br><b><a href="/topical/c/cultural_and_linguistic_barriers.htm">Cultural and Linguistic Barriers</a></b><br>While Ezekiel was not sent to a people of "unfamiliar speech," we may be called to cross cultural and linguistic barriers. This requires reliance on the Holy Spirit for effective communication.<div class="vheading2">Lists and Questions</div><a href="/top10/lessons_from_ezekiel_3.htm">Top 10 Lessons from Ezekiel 3</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/q/what's_the_bible's_view_on_zionism.htm">What is the Bible's perspective on Zionism?</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/q/can_christians_join_soulcycle_classes.htm">What does the Bible say about church gossip?</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/q/does_ezekiel_eating_a_scroll_defy_science.htm">In Ezekiel 3:1–3, how can Ezekiel physically eat a scroll and find it sweet—does this contradict natural science? </a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/q/does_history_show_foreigners_more_receptive.htm">In Ezekiel 3:6-7, why would God say foreign nations would be more receptive than Israel--does historical evidence support this claim?</a><a name="commentary" id="commentary"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/ellicott/ezekiel/3.htm">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</a></div>(5) <span class= "bld">To a people of a strange speech.</span>--In <a href="/context/ezekiel/3-4.htm" title="And he said to me, Son of man, go, get you to the house of Israel, and speak with my words to them.">Ezekiel 3:4-7</a> it is emphasised that Ezekiel's immediate mission is to be, like that of his great Antitype, to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel; "and yet that they would not give the heed to him which men far below them in spiritual privilege would have gladly yielded. Similar facts are continually encountered in the Scriptures, whether in its histories, as in those of Naaman the Syrian, of the faith of the Syro-Ph?nician woman (<a href="/context/matthew/15-21.htm" title="Then Jesus went there, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.">Matthew 15:21-28</a>), and of the Roman centurion (<a href="/context/matthew/8-10.htm" title="When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to them that followed, Truly I say to you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.">Matthew 8:10-12</a>), or in the express declarations of our Lord that the teaching and signs given to Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum in vain would have been more than sufficient for the conversion of Tyre, or Sidon, or even of Sodom (<a href="/matthew/11-21.htm" title="Woe to you, Chorazin! woe to you, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.">Matthew 11:21</a>; <a href="/matthew/11-23.htm" title="And you, Capernaum, which are exalted to heaven, shall be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in you, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.">Matthew 11:23</a>; <a href="/context/matthew/12-41.htm" title="The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.">Matthew 12:41-42</a>). If it be asked, Why then should so much of the Divine compassion be expended upon a nation which so generally refused to avail itself of its blessings? the answer must be that only thus could even a few be raised at all above the very lowest spiritual plane, and that the raising of these few leads ultimately to the elevation of many. As an accountable being, man must be left free to neglect the proffered grace; and, as in the case of the Israelites to whom Ezekiel was sent, there would always be many who choose to do so. The consequence of this neglect must be such a hardening of the heart as was now shown by these people, and every man is warned by their example of the responsibility attached to the enjoyment of religious privilege. But the same thing would have happened with any other nation; and that God's faithfulness should not fail, and that His purposes for man's salvation should be accomplished, more grace must yet be given and His people must still be pleaded with, that at least a remnant of them might be led to repentance and be saved from the impending ruin. Theodoret calls attention to the contrast between the restriction of the grace of the Old Dispensation to a single people, and the universal diffusion of the preaching of the Gospel. . . . <div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/pulpit/ezekiel/3.htm">Pulpit Commentary</a></div><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 5.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Of a strange speech and of a hard language</span>, etc.; literally, as in margin, both of Authorized Version and Revised Version, <span class="accented">to a people deep of lip and heavy of tongue</span>; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> to a barbarous people outside the covenant, Chaldeans, Assyrians, Scythians: not speaking the familiar sacred speech of Israel (compare the "stammering lips and another tongue" of <a href="/isaiah/28-11.htm">Isaiah 28:11</a>; <a href="/isaiah/33-19.htm">Isaiah 33:19</a>). The thought implied is that Ezekiel's mission, as to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (<a href="/matthew/15-24.htm">Matthew 15:24</a>), was outwardly easier than if he had been sent to the heathen. With Israel there was at least the medium of a speech common both to the prophet and his hearers. In ver. 6 the thought is enlarged by the use of "many peoples." <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/commentaries/ezekiel/3-5.htm">Parallel Commentaries ...</a></span><span class="p"><br /><br /><br /></span><a name="lexicon" id="lexicon"></a><div class="vheading">Hebrew</div><span class="word">For</span><br /><span class="heb">כִּ֡י</span> <span class="translit">(kî)</span><br /><span class="parse">Conjunction<br /></span><span class="str"><a href="/hebrew/strongs_3588.htm">Strong's 3588: </a> </span><span class="str2">A relative conjunction</span><br /><br /><span class="word">you</span><br /><span class="heb">אַתָּ֣ה</span> <span class="translit">(’at·tāh)</span><br /><span class="parse">Pronoun - second person masculine singular<br /></span><span class="str"><a href="/hebrew/strongs_859.htm">Strong's 859: </a> </span><span class="str2">Thou and thee, ye and you</span><br /><br /><span class="word">are not</span><br /><span class="heb">לֹא֩</span> <span class="translit">(lō)</span><br /><span class="parse">Adverb - Negative particle<br /></span><span class="str"><a href="/hebrew/strongs_3808.htm">Strong's 3808: </a> </span><span class="str2">Not, no</span><br /><br /><span class="word">being sent</span><br /><span class="heb">שָׁל֑וּחַ</span> <span class="translit">(šā·lū·aḥ)</span><br /><span class="parse">Verb - Qal - QalPassParticiple - masculine singular<br /></span><span class="str"><a href="/hebrew/strongs_7971.htm">Strong's 7971: </a> </span><span class="str2">To send away, for, out</span><br /><br /><span class="word">to</span><br /><span class="heb">אֶל־</span> <span class="translit">(’el-)</span><br /><span class="parse">Preposition<br /></span><span class="str"><a href="/hebrew/strongs_413.htm">Strong's 413: </a> </span><span class="str2">Near, with, among, to</span><br /><br /><span class="word">a people</span><br /><span class="heb">עַ֨ם</span> <span class="translit">(‘am)</span><br /><span class="parse">Noun - masculine singular<br /></span><span class="str"><a href="/hebrew/strongs_5971.htm">Strong's 5971: </a> </span><span class="str2">A people, a tribe, troops, attendants, a flock</span><br /><br /><span class="word">of unfamiliar</span><br /><span class="heb">עִמְקֵ֥י</span> <span class="translit">(‘im·qê)</span><br /><span class="parse">Adjective - masculine plural construct<br /></span><span class="str"><a href="/hebrew/strongs_6012.htm">Strong's 6012: </a> </span><span class="str2">Deep, unfathomable</span><br /><br /><span class="word">speech</span><br /><span class="heb">שָׂפָ֛ה</span> <span class="translit">(śā·p̄āh)</span><br /><span class="parse">Noun - feminine singular<br /></span><span class="str"><a href="/hebrew/strongs_8193.htm">Strong's 8193: </a> </span><span class="str2">The lip, language, a margin</span><br /><br /><span class="word">or difficult</span><br /><span class="heb">וְכִבְדֵ֥י</span> <span class="translit">(wə·ḵiḇ·ḏê)</span><br /><span class="parse">Conjunctive waw | Adjective - masculine plural construct<br /></span><span class="str"><a href="/hebrew/strongs_3515.htm">Strong's 3515: </a> </span><span class="str2">Heavy</span><br /><br /><span class="word">language,</span><br /><span class="heb">לָשׁ֖וֹן</span> <span class="translit">(lā·šō·wn)</span><br /><span class="parse">Noun - common singular<br /></span><span class="str"><a href="/hebrew/strongs_3956.htm">Strong's 3956: </a> </span><span class="str2">The tongue</span><br /><br /><span class="word">but to</span><br /><span class="heb">אֶל־</span> <span class="translit">(’el-)</span><br /><span class="parse">Preposition<br /></span><span class="str"><a href="/hebrew/strongs_413.htm">Strong's 413: </a> </span><span class="str2">Near, with, among, to</span><br /><br /><span class="word">the house</span><br /><span class="heb">בֵּ֖ית</span> <span class="translit">(bêṯ)</span><br /><span class="parse">Noun - masculine singular construct<br /></span><span class="str"><a href="/hebrew/strongs_1004.htm">Strong's 1004: </a> </span><span class="str2">A house</span><br /><br /><span class="word">of Israel—</span><br /><span class="heb">יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃</span> <span class="translit">(yiś·rā·’êl)</span><br /><span class="parse">Noun - proper - masculine singular<br /></span><span class="str"><a href="/hebrew/strongs_3478.htm">Strong's 3478: </a> </span><span class="str2">Israel -- 'God strives', another name of Jacob and his desc</span><br /><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div class="vheading">Links</div><a href="/niv/ezekiel/3-5.htm">Ezekiel 3:5 NIV</a><br /><a href="/nlt/ezekiel/3-5.htm">Ezekiel 3:5 NLT</a><br /><a href="/esv/ezekiel/3-5.htm">Ezekiel 3:5 ESV</a><br /><a href="/nasb/ezekiel/3-5.htm">Ezekiel 3:5 NASB</a><br /><a href="/kjv/ezekiel/3-5.htm">Ezekiel 3:5 KJV</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="//bibleapps.com/ezekiel/3-5.htm">Ezekiel 3:5 BibleApps.com</a><br /><a href="//bibliaparalela.com/ezekiel/3-5.htm">Ezekiel 3:5 Biblia Paralela</a><br /><a href="//holybible.com.cn/ezekiel/3-5.htm">Ezekiel 3:5 Chinese Bible</a><br /><a href="//saintebible.com/ezekiel/3-5.htm">Ezekiel 3:5 French Bible</a><br /><a href="/catholic/ezekiel/3-5.htm">Ezekiel 3:5 Catholic Bible</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/ezekiel/3-5.htm">OT Prophets: Ezekiel 3:5 For you are not sent to (Ezek. Eze Ezk) </a></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="left"><a href="/ezekiel/3-4.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Ezekiel 3:4"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Ezekiel 3:4" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="/ezekiel/3-6.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Ezekiel 3:6"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Ezekiel 3:6" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="bot"><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhnew2.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>