Ezekiel Appointed as a Watchman and His Responsibility
33 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, speak to your people, and you must say to them, ‘A land, if I bring over it a sword and the people of the land take a man, one from their number, and they appoint him for them as a watchman, 3 and he sees the sword coming against the land, and he blows on the horn and he warns the people, 4 and anyone who listens hears the sound of the horn and he does not take warning and the sword comes and it takes him, his blood will be on his own head. 5 For he heard the sound of the horn and he did not take warning; his blood will be on him. But if he took warning, he saved his life. 6 And as for the watchman, if he sees the sword coming and he does not blow the horn, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and it takes their lives, he will be taken through his guilt, but his blood from the hand of the watchman I will seek.’
7 “And you, son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; if you hear a word from my mouth, then you must warn them from me. 8 When I say to the wicked, ‘Wicked one, you will certainly die,’ and you did not speak to warn the wicked from his way, he, the wicked, will die by his guilt, but his blood I will seek from your hand. 9 But, you, if you warn the wicked from his way, to turn from it, and he does not turn from his way, he will die by his guilt, and you will have saved your life.
10 “And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, saying, ‘So you said, saying, “Indeed, our transgressions and our sins are on us, and because of them we are rotting, and how can we live?”’ 11 Say to them, ‘As I live,’ declares the Lord Yahweh, ‘Surely I have no delight in the death of the wicked, except in the wicked returning from his way, and he lives. Turn back! Turn back from your ways, O evil ones, for why should you die, house of Israel?’
12 “So you, son of man, say to your people that the righteousness of the righteous shall not save him in the day of his transgression, and the wickedness of the wicked will not cause him to stumble on the day of his returning from his wickedness; and the righteous will not be able to live by it on the day when he returns to his sin. 13 When I say to the righteous, ‘Certainly he will live,’ and he trusted in his righteousness, and he turns and he does injustice, all of his righteousness will not be remembered, and because of his injustice that he did, because of it he will die. 14 And when I say to the wicked, ‘Certainly you will die,’ but he returns from his sin and he does justice and righteousness— 15 for example, the wicked returns a pledge for a loan, he restores stolen property, he goes in the statutes of life so as not to do injustice—certainly he will live; he will not die. 16 All of his sins that he committed, they will not be remembered against him, and he did justice and righteousness; certainly he will live.
17 “Yet your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair!’ yet their way is not fair. 18 When the righteous turns from his righteousness and does injustice, then he will die because of it. 19 And when the wicked turns from his wickedness, and he does justice and righteousness, because of it he will certainly live! 20 Yet you said, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair!’ I will judge you, house of Israel, each person according to his ways.”
21 And then it was in the twelfth year, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month of our exile, a survivor from Jerusalem came to me, saying, “The city was destroyed!” 22 And the hand of Yahweh was on me on the evening before the coming of the survivor, and he opened my mouth before the survivor came to me in the morning, and my mouth was opened, and I was no longer dumb. 23 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 24 “Son of man, the inhabitants of these ruins on the soil of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was one man, and he took possession of the land, and we are many; the land has been given for us as a possession.’ 25 Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “You eat blood in your meat, and you raise your eyes to your idols and you pour out blood, and yet you want to take possession of the land? 26 You rely on your sword, you do a detestable thing, and each man defiles the wife of his neighbor, and yet you want to take possession of the land?”’
27 “Thus you must say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “As I live, surely whoever is in the ruins, by the sword they will fall, and whoever is on the surface of the open field, I will give him to the animals to eat him, and whoever is in the stronghold and in the cave, they will die by the plague. 28 And I will make the land a desolation and a wasteland, and the pride of its strength will come to an end, and the mountains of Israel will be desolate with no one traveling through them.”’ 29 And they will know that I am Yahweh when I make my land a desolation and a wasteland, because of all of their detestable things that they have done.
30 “And you, son of man, your people, the ones talking together concerning you beside the walls and in the doorways of the houses, each one with his brother saying, ‘Please come and hear what is the word that is going out from Yahweh.’ 31 And they come to you as people do, and they sit before you, and my people hear your words, and they do not do them, for they are showing passion in their mouth, but their heart is going after ill-gotten gain. 32 Now, look! You are to them like a sensual song, beautiful of voice and played well on an instrument, and they hear your words, but they are not doing them. 33 So when it comes, look! It is coming! And then they will know that a prophet was in the midst of them.”
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 33:1
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