As for you, son of man, listen to what I am saying to you: Do not rebel like that rebellious house! Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you.”

He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll I am giving to you.” So I ate it, ¹  and it was sweet like honey in my mouth.

“Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman ¹  for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must give them a warning from me.

I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to reprove ¹  them, for they are a rebellious house.

And I said, “Ah, sovereign Lord, I have never been ceremonially defiled before. I have never eaten a carcass or an animal torn by wild beasts; from my youth up, unclean meat ¹  has never entered my mouth.”

“As for you, son of man, I have made you a watchman ¹  for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must warn them on my behalf.

“Then ¹  a second beast appeared, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and there were three ribs ²  in its mouth between its teeth. ³  It was told, ⁴  ‘Get up and devour much flesh!’

The Israelites who remain ¹  will not act deceitfully. They will not lie, and a deceitful tongue will not be found in their mouth. Indeed, they will graze peacefully like sheep ²  and lie down; no one will terrify them.”

But if the Lord does something entirely new, ¹  and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up ²  along with all that they have, and they ³  go down alive to the grave, ⁴  then you will know that these men have despised the Lord!”

or what he did to Dathan and Abiram, ¹  sons of Eliab the Reubenite, ²  when the earth opened its mouth in the middle of the Israelite camp ³  and swallowed them, their families, ⁴  their tents, and all the property they brought with them. ⁵ 

They said to him, “Shut up! Put your hand over your mouth and come with us! You can be our adviser ¹  and priest. Wouldn’t it be better to be a priest for a whole Israelite tribe than for just one man’s family?” ² 

The king said, “Did Joab put you up to all of this?” ¹  The woman answered, “As surely as you live, my lord the king, there is no deviation to the right or to the left from all that my lord the king has said. For your servant Joab gave me instructions. He has put all these words in your servant’s mouth.

When the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet of wine, Haman was throwing himself down ¹  on the couch where Esther was lying. ²  The king exclaimed, “Will he also attempt to rape the queen while I am still in the building!” As these words left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.

For the music director, Jeduthun; a psalm of David. I decided, ²  “I will watch what I say and make sure I do not sin with my tongue. ³  I will put a muzzle over my mouth while in the presence of an evil man.” ⁴ 

So the sovereign master was not pleased ¹  with their young men, he took no pity ²  on their orphans and widows; for the whole nation was godless ³  and did wicked things, ⁴  every mouth was speaking disgraceful words. ⁵  Despite all this, his anger does not subside, and his hand is ready to strike again. ⁶ 

Because of that, ¹  the Lord, the God who rules over all, ²  said to me, ³  “Because these people have spoken ⁴  like this, ⁵  I will make the words that I put in your mouth like fire. And I will make this people like wood which the fiery judgments you speak will burn up.” ⁶ 

This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand my sheep from their hand. I will no longer let them be shepherds; ¹  the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore. I will rescue my sheep from their mouth, so that they will no longer be food for them.

“As I was contemplating the horns, another horn – a small one – came up between them, and three of the former horns were torn out by the roots to make room for it. ¹  This horn had eyes resembling human eyes and a mouth speaking arrogant ²  things.

I also wanted to know ¹  the meaning of the ten horns on its head, and of that other horn which came up and before which three others fell. This was the horn that had eyes ²  and a mouth speaking arrogant things, whose appearance was more formidable than the others. ³ 

Then ¹  one who appeared to be a human being ²  was touching my lips. I opened my mouth and started to speak, saying to the one who was standing before me, “Sir, ³  due to the vision, anxiety has gripped me and I have no strength.