Old Testament · Ezekiel

Ezekiel 33

Ezekiel the Watchman for Israel

1And the word of the LORD came to me, saying: 2Son of man^a, speak to the sons of your people, and you shall say to them: A land, when I bring upon it a sword, and the people of the land take one man^b from among them and set him for themselves as a watchman; 3and he sees the sword coming upon the land, and he blows on the horn and warns the people;

4then whoever hears the sound of the horn and does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him — his blood shall be on his head. 5The sound of the horn he heard, and he did not take warning; his blood shall be upon him; but he who takes warning, his soul^c he has delivered.

6But the watchman, if he sees the sword coming and does not blow on the horn, and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a soul from among them — he is taken in his iniquity, but his blood from the hand of the watchman I will require.

7And you, son of man — a watchman I have set you for the house of Israel; and you shall hear from my mouth a word, and you shall warn them from me. 8When I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die; and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way — he, the wicked, shall die in his iniquity, but his blood from your hand I will require. 9But you, if you warn the wicked from his way to turn from it, and he does not turn from his way — he shall die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul.

The Message of the Watchman

10And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel: Thus you have spoken, saying: Indeed our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and in them we are rotting away; how then shall we live?

11Say to them: As I live^d, declares the Lord GOD, do I delight in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live? Turn, turn from your evil ways; and why will you die, O house of Israel?

12And you, son of man, say to the sons of your people: The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression; and the wickedness of the wicked — he shall not stumble by it in the day he turns from his wickedness; and the righteous shall not be able to live by it in the day of his sinning.

13When I say to the righteous, He shall surely live; and he trusts in his righteousness and does iniquity — all his righteous deeds shall not be remembered, and for his iniquity that he has done, by it he shall die.

14And when I say to the wicked, You shall surely die; and he turns from his sin and does judgment^e and righteousness; 15the pledge the wicked restores, robbery he repays, in the statutes^f of life he walks, doing no iniquity — he shall surely live, he shall not die. 16All his sins that he has sinned shall not be remembered against him; judgment and righteousness he has done; he shall surely live.

17And the sons of your people say, The way of my Lord^g is not equal; but they — their way is not equal. 18When the righteous turns from his righteousness and does iniquity, he shall die by them. 19And when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does judgment and righteousness, by them he shall live.

20Yet you say, The way of my Lord is not equal. Each man according to his ways I will judge you, O house of Israel.

Word of Jerusalem’s Fall

21And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, on the fifth of the month, one escaped from Jerusalem came to me, saying: The city is smitten.

22And the hand of the LORD had been upon me in the evening, before the coming of the escaped one; and he opened my mouth until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no longer mute.

23And the word of the LORD came to me, saying: 24Son of man, those dwelling in these waste places upon the ground^h of Israel are saying, saying: Abraham was one, and he inherited the land; but we are many; to us the land is given for a possession.

25Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Upon the blood you eat, and your eyes you lift to your idols, and blood you shed; and shall you possess the land? 26You stand upon your sword, you do abomination, and each man defiles the wifeⁱ of his neighbor; and shall you possess the land?

27Thus you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: As I live, surely those in the waste places shall fall by the sword, and him who is on the face of the field I have given to the beast to devour him, and those in the strongholds and in the caves shall die by the plague. 28And I will make the land a desolation and a waste, and the pride of her strength shall be shabbatted; and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, with none passing through. 29And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I make the land a desolation and a waste because of all their abominations that they have done.

30And you, son of man, the sons of your people who speak with one another about you beside the walls and in the doorways of the houses, and one speaks with another, each man with his brother, saying: Come, please, and hear what is the word that comes forth from the LORD.

31And they come to you as a people comes, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for lusts with their mouth they make, after their unjust gain their heart goes. 32And behold, you are to them as a song of lusts, beautiful of voice, and playing well; and they hear your words, but they do not do them. 33And when it comes — behold, it comes — then they shall know that a prophet has been in their midst.