1 The word of the LORD also came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house.
The priests ... shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord. 44:15
12:1-16
1 The word of the LORD also came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house.
The word of God came to me, saying,
Son of man, you live among rebellious people, who have eyes but don't see and ears but don't hear.
3 Therefore, thou son of man, prepare thee stuff for removing, and remove by day in their sight; and thou shalt remove from thy place to another place in their sight: it may be they will consider, though they be a rebellious house.
4Then shalt thou bring forth thy stuff by day in their sight, as stuff for removing: and thou shalt go forth at even in their sight, as they that go forth into captivity.
So remove all your stuff while they watch. [1]
5Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and carry out thereby.
Dig a hole through the wall while they're watching,
and carry out all your stuff through the hole.
6 In their sight shalt thou bear it upon thy shoulders, and carry it forth in the twilight: thou shalt cover thy face, that thou see not the ground: for I have set thee for a sign unto the house of Israel.
While you're doing this, cover your face so you can't see the ground.
7And I did so as I was commanded: I brought forth my stuff by day, as stuff for captivity, and in the even I digged through the wall with mine hand; I brought it forth in the twilight, and I bare it upon my shoulder in their sight.
So that's what I did.
I dug through the wall with my hand,
and carried my stuff through the hole while they watched.
8 And in the morning came the word of the LORD unto me, saying,
In the morning the word of God came to me, saying,
9 Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said unto thee, What doest thou?
Son of man, if the people of Israel say to you,
What are you doing?
10 Say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; This burden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are among them.
11Say, I am your sign: like as I have done, so shall it be done unto them: they shall remove and go into captivity.
Say to them,This is what God says:I'm your sign. [2]
You'll do like I have done.
You'll remove your stuff and go into captivity.
12 And the prince that is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby: he shall cover his face, that he see not the ground with his eyes.
The prince will dig through the wall, while covering his face without seeing the ground.
13 My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.
He'll be caught in my trap,
and I'll bring him to Babylon, where he will die.
14 And I will scatter toward every wind all that are about him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them.
And I'll scatter the people and chase them with a sword.
15And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries.
Then they'll know that I'm God.
16 But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen whither they come; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
12:17-20
17 Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
The word of God came to me again and said,
18Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and with carefulness;
Son of man, eat your bread while shaking,
and drink water while trembling. [3]
19 And say unto the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord GOD of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and of the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein.
And say to the people,
This is what God says:
You will eat bread carefully and drink water with astonishment.
20And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
The cities will be destroyed.
And you'll know that I am God.
12:21-28
21 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
The word of God came to me again and said,
22Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth?
Son of man, you know that proverb in Israel that says,
Time goes on and every vision fails.
23Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision.
Say this to the people of Israel,
That will no longer be a proverb in Israel.
The time is here and every vision will come true.
24 For there shall be no more any vain vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel.
There will be no more false visions in Israel.
25 For I am the LORD: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord GOD.
26 Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying.
27 Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off.
28 Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; There shall none of my words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord GOD.
Because I'm God.
I'll speak and make things happen right away.
You won't have to wait any longer.
God tells Ezekiel to move his stuff. He tells him to move it in the daylight; to dig through a wall with his hand and carry his stuff out; and to move his stuff in the twilight, with his face covered so he can't see the ground. So that's what he did.
After Ezekiel moved his stuff, God asked if anyone asked him what he was doing? If they do ask, God told him to say that they will soon be moving their stuff, too, when God forces them into captivity.
God has Ezekiel do another clever demonstration: eat and drink carefully while shaking. That way, when the people see him doing that, they will know that God is going to starve them to death, which will teach them that God is the Lord.
