This verse is sometimes misread as suggesting that prophetic ministry or evangelism is inherently easier or more successful among one's own cultural or linguistic group, ignoring the broader context where God notes that foreign nations with incomprehensible tongues might actually heed the message more readily than Israel, which underscores the Israelites' greater guilt due to their privileged covenant relationship and familiarity with God's ways, not any ease of shared language.
Ezekiel 3:5
King James Version (1769)
5 For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel;
God sends the prophet Ezekiel specifically to the house of Israel, a people who share his own language rather than one of strange speech and hard language, emphasizing that the recipients of his message face no communication barrier and thus bear full responsibility for their response, as their potential rejection stems from rebellion against God rather than inability to understand.