Ezekiel 3:25 (ASV)

Passage

But thou, son of man, behold, they shall lay bands upon thee, and shall bind thee with them, and thou shalt not go out among them:

Nearby Context

Ezekiel 3:23 Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and, behold, the glory of Jehovah stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face.

Ezekiel 3:24 Then the Spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet; and he spake with me, and said unto me, Go, shut thyself within thy house.

Ezekiel 3:25 But thou, son of man, behold, they shall lay bands upon thee, and shall bind thee with them, and thou shalt not go out among them:

Ezekiel 3:26 and I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them a reprover; for they are a rebellious house.

Ezekiel 3:27 But when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: He that heareth, let him hear; and he that forbeareth, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "thou", "behold", "shall", "bands", "upon", "thee", and "bind". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "thou" and "behold", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 24's "Then the Spirit entered into me and..." into verse 26's "and I will make thy tongue cleave...", so "thou" and "behold" belong inside that flow. In Ezekiel context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "thou" and "behold" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.