4 The Lord said:Ezekiel, I am sending you to your own people.
5-6 They are Israelites, not strangers who speak a foreign language you can't understand. If I were to send you to foreign nations, they would listen to you.
7 But the people of Israel will refuse to listen, because they have refused to listen to me. All of them are stubborn and hard-headed,
8 so I will make you as stubborn as they are.
9 You will be so determined to speak my message that nothing will stop you. I will make you hard like a diamond, and you'll have no reason to be afraid of those arrogant rebels.
10 Listen carefully to everything I say and then think about it.
11 Then go to the people who were brought here to Babylonia with you and tell them you have a message from me, the Lord God. Do this, whether they listen to you or not.