Ezekiel 3:2

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat the scroll.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

Septuagint runs longer here — compare

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Word by word

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הַמְּגִלָּ֥ה

mᵉgillâh

H4039

“the · scroll”

Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 21× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Psalms 40:7

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H1556

TWOT: 353m

roll, book, writing

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

7: words
6: distinct lemmas
Prophets: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is הַמְּגִלָּ֥ה scroll H4039 — appearing just 21 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

הַמְּגִלָּ֥ה scroll H4039 occurs in 19 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
2 nouns
1 pronoun
2 particles

Verb forms

וָאֶפְתַּ֖ח Qal · Sequential Imperfect
וַיַּ֣אֲכִלֵ֔נִי Hiphil · Sequential Imperfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 13 words from the Hebrew and 20 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the Septuagint runs noticeably longer here. See the side-by-side →

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 7 Hebrew tokens and 11 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Ezekiel 3:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Jeremiah 25:17 Then took I the cup at Yahweh's hand, and made all the nations to drink, to whom Yahweh had sent me:
Acts 26:19 "Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

Here the Septuagint runs noticeably longer than the Hebrew — LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) 20 words vs World English Bible 13. A rough length comparison of the two English translations, not a word-level alignment — read both below.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Ezekiel 3:2 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וָאֶפְתַּ֖ח אֶת פִּ֑י וַיַּ֣אֲכִלֵ֔נִי אֵ֖ת הַמְּגִלָּ֥ה הַזֹּֽאת

So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat the scroll.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Ezekiel 3:2 Septuagint · lemma form

καί δια ἀναοἴγω ὁ στόμα ἐγώ καί ψωμίζω ἐγώ ὁ κεφαλίς

So he opened my mouth, and caused me to eat the volume. And he said to me, Son of man,

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

וְאַרְכִינֵית יַת נַפְשִׁי וְאַחְכִּימֵינִי מַה דִכְתִיב בִּמְגִלְתָא הָדָא:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Ezekiel 3:2 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Eze 3:2 So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll.

Ver. 2. So I opened my mouth.] Without delays or consults, I obeyed Christ’s command, et hausi quodammodo donum prophetiae, {a} and yielded to become a prophet. This was well; but not long after, Ezekiel, through infirmity of the flesh, would have declined the office, and therefore sought to lurk among his countrymen at Telabib, {Eze 3:15} till Christ called him out again and newly employed him. {Eze 3:16}

And he caused me to eat that roll.] See on Eze 3:1.

{a} Alsted. Chronol., 347.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

3:2-3 Although the scroll looked bitter, Ezekiel found it as sweet as honey when he ate it. Adam’s disobedience turned bitter, but Ezekiel’s obedience became pleasant and satisfying. Psalm 119:103 also describes God’s words as “sweeter than honey.”

John Gill's Exposition

So I opened my mouth,.... To take in the roll, and eat it; he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision; he did all that he could towards eating it, but was not sufficient of himself; and therefore it follows:

and he caused me to eat that roll; he, the Lord, put it into his mouth, caused him to eat it, and tilled him with it, according to his promise, Psa 81:10. The efficacy and sufficiency to think of good things, to meditate upon them, receive and digest them, are of God; it is he that makes men prophets, and able ministers. The Targum is,

"and I inclined my soul, and he taught me (or made me wise "with") what was written in this roll.''

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Book, in spirit; (Calmet) or in reality, he chewed the volume. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

So, Heb. And; so soon as he had heard he must eat it. I opened my mouth; not to discuss points, but to obey, to show my readiness indeed, and to do what lay on me to do.

He caused me to eat that roll; not by a force compelling me, but by a concurrent help in what the prophet was ready to do.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Ezekiel, in the Prophets, opens this verse with 7 words (6 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is mᵉgillâh (“scroll”). The Greek Septuagint runs longer here. A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “scroll” (mᵉgillâh) contribute to the verse as a whole?
Psalms 40:7 shares the word «scroll» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
Compared with the Hebrew, the Septuagint runs longer here. What questions does that raise?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
The verb «וָאֶפְתַּ֖ח» is Qal Sequential Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Tyndale Open Study Notes read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 7 Hebrew ↔ 11 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 5 words in this verse.
6 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 7 words in this verse.