Bible Strands
Ezekiel 3:5
For you are not being sent to a people of unfamiliar speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel—
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses Ezekiel immediately after commanding him to deliver His words, clarifying the specific audience for his prophetic mission.
The words — עִמְקֵי שָׂפָה ('im.Kei sa.Fah) literally renders "deep of lip," and כִבְדֵי לָשׁוֹן (khiv.Dei la.Shon) means "heavy of tongue," describing complex or obscure speech.
The thread — The contrast between a prophet sent to Israel and nations of unintelligible speech appears in Ezekiel 3:6, Isaiah 33:19, and Psalms 81:5.
Why it lands — The text establishes that Ezekiel's audience possesses no linguistic barrier to God's message, placing the responsibility for reception squarely on the house of Israel.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel;
Cross-references
- Jonah 1:2 “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before Me.”
- Isaiah 33:19 You will no longer see the insolent, a people whose speech is unintelligible, who stammer in a language you cannot understand.
- Psalms 81:5 He ordained it as a testimony for Joseph when he went out over the land of Egypt, where I heard an unfamiliar language:
- Isaiah 28:11 Indeed, with mocking lips and foreign tongues, He will speak to this people
- Ezekiel 3:6 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.
- Jonah 3:2 “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message that I give you.”
- Acts 26:17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them