Ezekiel 3:5 For you are not being sent to a people of unfamiliar speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel--

◄ Ezekiel 3:5 ►

New International Version
You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and strange language, but to the people of Israel—

New Living Translation
I am not sending you to a foreign people whose language you cannot understand.

English Standard Version
For you are not sent to a people of foreign speech and a hard language, but to the house of Israel—

Berean Standard Bible
For you are not being sent to a people of unfamiliar speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel—

King James Bible
For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel;

New King James Version
For you are not sent to a people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, but to the house of Israel,

New American Standard Bible
For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel,

NASB 1995
“For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel,

NASB 1977
“For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel,

Legacy Standard Bible
For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible lips or a difficult tongue, but to the house of Israel,

Amplified Bible
For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel,

Christian Standard Bible
For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech or a difficult language but to the house of Israel —

Holman Christian Standard Bible
For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech or difficult language but to the house of Israel.

American Standard Version
For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel;

English Revised Version
For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel;

GOD'S WORD® Translation
I am not sending you to people whose language is hard to understand or difficult to speak. I am sending you to Israel.

Good News Translation
I am not sending you to a nation that speaks a difficult foreign language, but to the Israelites.

International Standard Version
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.

Majority Standard Bible
For you are not being sent to a people of unfamiliar speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel—

NET Bible
For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech and difficult language, but to the house of Israel--

New Heart English Bible
For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel;

Webster's Bible Translation
For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel;

World English Bible
For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel—

Literal Translations

Literal Standard Version
For you [are] not sent to a people deep of lip and heavy of tongue—to the house of Israel;

Young's Literal Translation
For, not unto a people deep of lip and heavy of tongue art thou sent -- unto the house of Israel;

Smith's Literal Translation
For not to a people deep of lip and heavy of tongue; thou art sent to the house of Israel;

Catholic Translations

Douay-Rheims Bible
For thou art not sent to a people of a profound speech, and of an unknown tongue, but to the house of Israel:

Catholic Public Domain Version
For you will be sent, not to a people of profound words or of an unknown language, but to the house of Israel,

New American Bible
Not to a people with obscure speech and difficult language am I sending you, but to the house of Israel.

New Revised Standard Version
For you are not sent to a people of obscure speech and difficult language, but to the house of Israel—

Translations from Aramaic

Lamsa Bible
For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel;

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
Because it was not to a people of difficult speaking and stammering tongue I sent you, but to those of the household of Israel

OT Translations

JPS Tanakh 1917
For thou art not sent to a people of an unintelligible speech and of a slow tongue, but to the house of Israel;

Brenton Septuagint Translation
For thou art not sent to a people of hard speech, but to the house of Israel;

Additional Translations ...

Audio Bible

Context

Ezekiel Eats the Scroll
…4Then He said to me, “Son of man, go now to the house of Israel and speak My words to them. 5For you are not being sent to a people of unfamiliar speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel— 6not 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.…

Berean Standard Bible · Download

Cross References

Matthew 10:5-6
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.

Acts 22:21
Then He said to me, ‘Go! I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”

Romans 15:20-21
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.”

John 1:11
He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

Matthew 15:24
He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Acts 13:46
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.

Romans 11:13
I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry

1 Corinthians 14:21
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.”

Acts 18:6
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.”

Isaiah 6:9-10
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.”

Jeremiah 1:7
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.

Deuteronomy 7:6
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.

Isaiah 28:11
Indeed, with mocking lips and foreign tongues, He will speak to this people

Isaiah 65:1-2
“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,

Jeremiah 5:15
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.

Treasury of Scripture

For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel;

thou

Jonah 1:2
Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.

Jonah 3:2-4
Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee…

Acts 26:17,18
Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, …

and so

Ezekiel 3:6
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.

Psalm 81:5
This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: where I heard a language that I understood not.

Isaiah 33:19
Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.

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Ezekiel 3

1. Ezekiel eats the scroll
4. God encourages him
15. God shows him the rule of prophecy
22. God shuts and opens the prophet's mouth

Berean Study Bible

For you are not being sent
The phrase emphasizes the divine commissioning of Ezekiel. The Hebrew root for "sent" is שָׁלַח (shalach), which conveys the idea of being dispatched with authority. In the biblical context, being sent by God implies a mission with divine purpose and backing. Ezekiel's role as a prophet is not self-appointed but divinely ordained, underscoring the seriousness and sacredness of his task.

to a people of unfamiliar speech
The Hebrew term for "unfamiliar speech" is לֹא־עַמִּים (lo amim), which can be translated as "not a people of strange lips." This phrase indicates that Ezekiel's audience is not foreign or alien in language, suggesting that communication barriers are not the issue. Historically, prophets often faced the challenge of delivering God's message to foreign nations, but Ezekiel's mission is to his own people, the Israelites, who share his language and cultural background.

or difficult language
The phrase "difficult language" in Hebrew is כָּבֵד שָׂפָה (kaved saphah), meaning "heavy of tongue." This expression highlights that Ezekiel's task is not complicated by linguistic challenges. The emphasis here is on the spiritual and moral obstinacy of the people, rather than any linguistic barrier. The Israelites' resistance is not due to a lack of understanding of the language but a hardness of heart.

but to the house of Israel—
The "house of Israel" refers to the collective people of Israel, God's chosen nation. The Hebrew term בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל (beit Yisrael) signifies not just a physical house or lineage but a covenant community bound by their relationship with God. Historically, the Israelites were in a period of exile and spiritual rebellion, making Ezekiel's mission critical. His prophetic message is a call to repentance and a reminder of their covenantal obligations. The focus on "the house of Israel" underscores the intimate and urgent nature of Ezekiel's mission, as he is addressing his own people, who are expected to know and understand God's laws and expectations.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(5) To a people of a strange speech.--In Ezekiel 3:4-7 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 (Matthew 15:21-28), and of the Roman centurion (Matthew 8:10-12), 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 (Matthew 11:21; Matthew 11:23; Matthew 12:41-42). 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. . . .

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - Of a strange speech and of a hard language, etc.; literally, as in margin, both of Authorized Version and Revised Version, to a people deep of lip and heavy of tongue; i.e. 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 Isaiah 28:11; Isaiah 33:19). The thought implied is that Ezekiel's mission, as to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matthew 15:24), 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."

Parallel Commentaries ...

Hebrew

For
כִּ֡י (kî)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

you
אַתָּ֣ה (’at·tāh)
Pronoun - second person masculine singular
Strong's 859: Thou and thee, ye and you

are not
לֹא֩ (lō)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

being sent
שָׁל֑וּחַ (šā·lū·aḥ)
Verb - Qal - QalPassParticiple - masculine singular
Strong's 7971: To send away, for, out

to
אֶל־ (’el-)
Preposition
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

a people
עַ֨ם (‘am)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5971: A people, a tribe, troops, attendants, a flock

of unfamiliar
עִמְקֵ֥י (‘im·qê)
Adjective - masculine plural construct
Strong's 6012: Deep, unfathomable

speech
שָׂפָ֛ה (śā·p̄āh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 8193: The lip, language, a margin

or difficult
וְכִבְדֵ֥י (wə·ḵiḇ·ḏê)
Conjunctive waw | Adjective - masculine plural construct
Strong's 3515: Heavy

language,
לָשׁ֖וֹן (lā·šō·wn)
Noun - common singular
Strong's 3956: The tongue

but to
אֶל־ (’el-)
Preposition
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

the house
בֵּ֖ית (bêṯ)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 1004: A house

of Israel—
יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ (yiś·rā·’êl)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3478: Israel -- 'God strives', another name of Jacob and his desc

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OT Prophets: Ezekiel 3:5 For you are not sent to (Ezek. Eze Ezk)