Ezekiel chapter 3

vs 10

If you weren't listening hard already, after the vision, and the scroll, and the whole shebang, then honestly, I don't think you've got what it takes to be a prophet, Ez.

vs 11

His job is not to elicit a response. His job is to keep spreading the message regardless of the response.

vs 12

So the TNIV takes this and twiddles the Hebrew a little, and makes it say something different - that the glory of the Lord rose up from where he was. Most others have something about praising the Lord in his dwelling place. I don't know if this is a kere thing or if they are just being super smart people or what. I've got to say it reads better, although the NIV doesn't do a bad job of breaking out the praise bit and linking the noise from vs 12a to 13a.

The problem then of course is that the LXX might still say something about God's praise, and then you're somewhat stuck here. Anyway, either he hears a noise and feels the need to say, "Praise God!" or he hears a noise and the glory is on the move.

vs 13

By vs 13, regardless of your translation, there is definitely movement at the station.

vs 14

The 'but' of the KJV I think is an old school but, and does not indicate a dichotomous reading, so the 'and' of the other translations is equal in lack of force. Basically Ezekiel has eaten a scroll of wrath and woe, and now the anger is seeping out of his pores like the heat of a really good curry. And the Spirit leads him (somehow) to somewhere.

vs 15

Something I love about having 4 translations open is that you can see how people end up deciding on a slightly different approach. TNIV here says that Ezekiel was 'deeply distressed'. NIV says he was 'overwhelmed'. KJV has 'astonished'. But the NASB takes the cake by saying that he 'caused consternation among'! I would have thought that, was there a more causative indication in the word, the other translations would pick it up, so NASB loses today in my book. The others are all varieties on a theme. 'Distressed' I think makes a stronger value judgment, which correlates with Ezekiel's anger, I think.

vs 16

So for 7 days, a whole week, he just sits there in his astonished, overwhelmed, distressed daze (possibly causing consternation, but let's assume not).

vs 17

God finally speaks to Ezekiel (again) and says to him that his role is that of a watchman. Not like the movie, more like keeping watch for the enemy. Now, of course, the remnant have already seen the enemy come and go, and they've been defeated, and they've been exiled. So what enemy can he possibly be on the look out for? For God himself, who is the enemy of his people. Uh oh.

vs 18

This verse is the start of a section which basically builds a flowchart of responsibility. It starts by saying that if God tells you to tell someone who is wicked that they will die from their wickedness if they do not turn away from it, and you don't tell them, not only will they die, but you will be responsible. That, when you think about it, is actually a mammoth amount of accountability, but the responsibility is fairy succinct - the telling is the key, not their doing, as becomes clear later.

When we were discussing these verses last night and mourning the possibility that we could be charged each individually with telling every single person who comes within 20 metres of us, say, Penny said something quite smart - that actually, to fulfil your responsibility, you have to tell them the message in a way that they can understand and accept. So just shouting it from rooftops or in crowded trains may have its place, but the need to transfer information through a respected means so that it is more acceptable (friendship, for example, or a position of respect and authority on such matters) is probably more meaningful. So really, God will judge you for exactly the number of people you had the opportunity to reach meaningfully, not just tangentially or haphazardly. Still a big deal, of course. This is Penny's idea, but I like it, and so it gets my stamp of approval.