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. 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's commission is defined by contrast: he was not sent to many peoples of strange speech and hard language whose words he could not understand, but to Israel, to the house of Israel, who spoke his own language and whom he was charged to warn. The peoples of foreign speech would have listened to him and hearkened to his message. The house of Israel would refuse to listen to him because they would not listen to God, for all the house of Israel were impudent and hardhearted with hardened hearts.
Israel's failure to hear was not caused by a language barrier or difficulty understanding the message. Their rejection of the prophet's words was rejection of God. The messenger is still required to give God's warnings to hard-hearted people whether they listen or refuse to listen.
The verse applies at the present time to those who have set themselves decidedly against the messages of the Lord, showing that the Lord deals with His people now as He dealt with them in the past. It reveals their true condition before God as rebellious, impudent and hardhearted, with hearts and minds filled by doubt and unbelief and lost in fog. These scriptures are to be brought before the people even when their unreadiness hinders the giving of the message at an appointed time and place.
The chapter containing the verse is for God's workers to study as they learn to depend wholly on God for guidance and trust rather than claiming control or credit for His work, and it shows His need of human agents to carry His message.