Ezekiel 3:5 (KJV)

Passage

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

Nearby Context

Ezekiel 3:3 And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.

Ezekiel 3:4 And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.

Ezekiel 3:5 For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel;

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.

Ezekiel 3:7 But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "thou", "sent", "people", "strange", "speech", "hard", "language", and "house". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "thou" and "sent", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 4's "And he said unto me Son of..." into verse 6's "Not to many people of a strange...", so "thou" and "sent" 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 "sent" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.