The Angel and the Small Scroll (Ezekiel 3:1–15)
1 UST Then in the vision I saw another mighty angel come down out of heaven. A cloud surrounded him. There was a rainbow over his head. His face shone brightly like the sun. His legs glowed like columns of fire. BSB BSB: Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head. His face was like the sun, and his legs were like pillars of fire.
2 UST He had in his hand a small scroll that was open. He set his right foot on the ocean and his left foot on the land. BSB BSB: He held in his hand a small scroll, which lay open. He placed his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land.
3 UST He shouted something in a voice as loud as the roar of a lion. As he shouted, I heard seven thunderclaps.{ In the thunder were words that I could understand.} BSB BSB: Then he cried out in a loud voice like the roar of a lion. And when he cried out, the seven thunders sounded their voices.
4 UST I was about to record what the thunders had said. But then a voice from heaven told me,“Keep secret what the thunders said! Do not write it down!” BSB BSB: When the seven thunders had spoken, I was about to put it in writing. But I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.”
5 UST Then the angel whom I had seen standing on the ocean and the land raised his right hand toward heaven{ in order to swear an oath}. BSB BSB: Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven.
6 UST He asked God, who lives forever and who created everything that exists, to confirm that what he said was true. The angel said that God would no longer delay in doing what he had planned to do. BSB BSB: And he swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and everything in it, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it: “There will be no more delay!
7 UST He said that when the time came for the seventh angel to blow his trumpet, then God would finish his secret plan. That is what God told his servants the prophets long ago. BSB BSB: But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he begins to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be fulfilled, just as He proclaimed to His servants the prophets.”
8 UST Then the one whom I had heard speak from heaven spoke to me again. He said,“Go and take the open scroll from the hand of the angel who is standing on the ocean and on the land.” BSB BSB: Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the small scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel standing on the sea and on the land.”
9 UST So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me,“Take it and eat it. When you eat it, it will taste sweet like honey, but after you eat it, your stomach will hurt.” BSB BSB: And I went to the angel and said, “Give me the small scroll.” “Take it and eat it,” he said. “It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.”
10 UST So I took the little scroll from the angel’ s hand and ate it. When I ate it, it tasted sweet like honey, but after I ate it, my stomach hurt. BSB BSB: So I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach turned bitter.
11 UST Then someone said to me,“You must speak God’ s messages again about many nations, many people groups, speakers of many languages, and many kings.” BSB BSB: And they told me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.”
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