Ezekiel 33
Lexham English Bible
Ezekiel Appointed as a Watchman and His Responsibility
33 And the word of Yahweh came[a] to me, saying,[b] 2 “Son of man,[c] speak to your people,[d] 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[e] hears the sound of the horn and he does not take warning[f] 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[g] the horn, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and it takes their lives,[h] 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] 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[j] to the wicked, ‘Wicked one, you will certainly die,’ and you did not speak[k] 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[l] from his way, he will die by his guilt, and you will have saved your life.
10 “And you, son of man,[m] say to the house of Israel, saying,[n] ‘So you said, saying,[o] “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,’[p] declares[q] the Lord Yahweh, ‘Surely I have no delight[r] in the death of the wicked, except[s] 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[t] you, son of man,[u] say to your people[v] 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[w] 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[x] his righteousness, and he turns and he does injustice, all of his righteousness[y] 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[z] 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,[aa] 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,[ab] they will not be remembered against[ac] him, and he did justice and righteousness; certainly he will live.
17 “Yet[ad] your people[ae] 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.[af] 19 And when the wicked turns from his wickedness, and he does justice and righteousness, because of it[ag] he will certainly live![ah] 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[ai] it was in the twelfth[aj] year, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month of our exile, a survivor from Jerusalem came to me, saying,[ak] “The city was destroyed!” 22 And the hand of Yahweh was on me on the evening before[al] the coming of the survivor, and he opened my mouth before the survivor came to me in the morning,[am] and my mouth was opened, and I was no longer[an] dumb.[ao] 23 And the word of Yahweh came[ap] to me, saying,[aq] 24 “Son of man,[ar] 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[as] 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?[at] 26 You rely on your sword, you do a detestable thing, and each man defiles[au] the wife of his neighbor, and yet you want to take possession of the land?”’[av]
27 “Thus you must say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “As I live,[aw] surely[ax] 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[ay] 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.”’[az] 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,[ba] your people,[bb] the ones talking together concerning you beside the walls and in the doorways of the houses, each one with his brother saying,[bc] ‘Please come and hear what is the word that is going out from Yahweh.’[bd] 31 And they come to you as people do,[be] and they sit before you,[bf] and my people hear your words, and they do not do them, for they are showing[bg] passion in their mouth, but their heart is going after ill-gotten gain. 32 Now, look! You are to them like a sensual song,[bh] beautiful of voice and played well on an instrument,[bi] and they hear your words, but they are not doing them.[bj] 33 So[bk] when it comes,[bl] look! It is coming! And then they will know that a prophet was in the midst of them.”
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 33:1 Literally “was”
- Ezekiel 33:1 Literally “to say”
- Ezekiel 33:2 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
- Ezekiel 33:2 Literally “the children of your people”
- Ezekiel 33:4 Literally “the listening”
- Ezekiel 33:4 Literally “not he takes warning”
- Ezekiel 33:6 Literally “and not he blows on”
- Ezekiel 33:6 Literally “it takes from them a life”
- Ezekiel 33:7 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
- Ezekiel 33:8 Literally “At my saying”
- Ezekiel 33:8 Literally “and not you spoke”
- Ezekiel 33:9 Literally “and not he turns”
- Ezekiel 33:10 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
- Ezekiel 33:10 Literally “to say”
- Ezekiel 33:10 Literally “to say”
- Ezekiel 33:11 Literally “live I”
- Ezekiel 33:11 Literally “declaration of”
- Ezekiel 33:11 Literally “if”
- Ezekiel 33:11 Literally “for it”
- Ezekiel 33:12 Or “And”
- Ezekiel 33:12 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
- Ezekiel 33:12 Literally “the children of your people”
- Ezekiel 33:12 Literally “not he will stumbled by it”
- Ezekiel 33:13 Or “on”
- Ezekiel 33:13 According to the reading tradition (Qere)
- Ezekiel 33:14 Or “and”
- Ezekiel 33:15 Literally “robbed/stolen items”
- Ezekiel 33:16 Literally “sins that he sinned”
- Ezekiel 33:16 Or “for”
- Ezekiel 33:17 Or “And”
- Ezekiel 33:17 Literally “the children of your people”
- Ezekiel 33:18 Literally “by/in them”
- Ezekiel 33:19 Hebrew “them”
- Ezekiel 33:19 Literally “he, he will live”
- Ezekiel 33:21 Literally “and it happened”
- Ezekiel 33:21 Literally “two of ten”
- Ezekiel 33:21 Literally “to say”
- Ezekiel 33:22 Literally “to the face of”
- Ezekiel 33:22 Literally “until coming to me in the morning”
- Ezekiel 33:22 Literally “and not I was dumb still”
- Ezekiel 33:22 Or “silent” or “speechless”
- Ezekiel 33:23 Literally “was”
- Ezekiel 33:23 Literally “to say”
- Ezekiel 33:24 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
- Ezekiel 33:24 Or “to”
- Ezekiel 33:25 Or “you would take possession of”
- Ezekiel 33:26 Literally “a man the wife of neighbor you defile”
- Ezekiel 33:26 Or “you would take possession of the land”
- Ezekiel 33:27 Literally “I live”
- Ezekiel 33:27 Literally “if not”
- Ezekiel 33:27 Hebrew “animal”
- Ezekiel 33:28 Literally “from there is not someone going over”
- Ezekiel 33:30 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
- Ezekiel 33:30 Literally “the children of your people”
- Ezekiel 33:30 Literally “to say”
- Ezekiel 33:30 Literally “the going out from with Yahweh”
- Ezekiel 33:31 Literally “like the coming of a people”
- Ezekiel 33:31 Literally “to the face of you”
- Ezekiel 33:31 Or “expressing”
- Ezekiel 33:32 Literally “like a song of lust”
- Ezekiel 33:32 Literally “doing good to play a music instrument”
- Ezekiel 33:32 Literally “and/but doing there is not they them”
- Ezekiel 33:33 Or “And”
- Ezekiel 33:33 Literally “in/at her coming”
Ezekiel 33
Christian Standard Bible
Ezekiel as Israel’s Watchman
33 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, speak to your people and tell them, ‘Suppose I bring the sword against a land, and the people of that land select a man from among them, appointing him as their watchman. 3 And suppose he sees the sword coming against the land and blows his ram’s horn(A) to warn the people. 4 Then, if anyone hears the sound of the ram’s horn but ignores the warning,(B) and the sword comes and takes him away, his death will be his own fault.[a] 5 Since he heard the sound of the ram’s horn but ignored the warning, his death is his own fault.[b] If he had taken warning, he would have saved his life. 6 However, suppose the watchman sees the sword coming but doesn’t blow the ram’s horn, so that the people aren’t warned, and the sword comes and takes away their lives. Then they have been taken away because of their iniquity, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood.’
7 “As for you, son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel.(C) When you hear a word from my mouth, give them a warning from me. 8 If I say to the wicked, ‘Wicked one, you will surely die,’(D) but you do not speak out to warn him about his way, that wicked person will die for his iniquity, yet I will hold you responsible for his blood. 9 But if you warn a wicked person to turn from his way and he doesn’t turn from it, he will die for his iniquity, but you will have rescued yourself.
10 “Now as for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘You have said this: “Our transgressions and our sins are heavy on us, and we are wasting away because of them!(E) How then can we survive?”’ (F) 11 Tell them, ‘As I live—this is the declaration of the Lord God—I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked person should turn from his way and live.(G) Repent, repent of your evil ways! Why will you die, house of Israel?’
12 “Now, son of man, say to your people, ‘The righteousness of the righteous person will not save him on the day of his transgression; neither will the wickedness of the wicked person cause him to stumble on the day he turns from his wickedness. The righteous person won’t be able to survive by his righteousness on the day he sins. 13 When I tell the righteous person that he will surely live, but he trusts in his righteousness and acts unjustly, then none of his righteousness will be remembered, and he will die because of the injustice he has committed.(H)
14 “‘So when I tell the wicked person, “You will surely die,” but he repents of his sin and does what is just and right— 15 he returns collateral, makes restitution for what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life(I) without committing injustice—he will certainly live; he will not die. 16 None of the sins he committed will be held[c] against him. He has done what is just and right; he will certainly live.(J)
17 “‘But your people say, “The Lord’s way isn’t fair,”(K) even though it is their own way that isn’t fair. 18 When a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, he will die for it. 19 But if a wicked person turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he will live because of it. 20 Yet you say, “The Lord’s way isn’t fair.” I will judge each of you according to his ways, house of Israel.’”
The News of Jerusalem’s Fall
21 In the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, a fugitive from Jerusalem came to me and reported, “The city has been taken!” 22 Now the hand of the Lord had been on me the evening before the fugitive arrived, and he opened my mouth before the man came to me in the morning. So my mouth was opened and I was no longer mute.(L)
Israel’s Continued Rebellion
23 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 24 “Son of man, those who live in the[d] ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one person,(M) yet he received possession of the land.(N) But we are many; surely the land has been given to us as a possession.’(O) 25 Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says: You eat meat with blood in it,(P) you look to your idols, and you shed blood. Should you then receive possession of the land? 26 You have relied on your swords, you have committed detestable acts, and each of you has defiled his neighbor’s wife. Should you then receive possession of the land?’ (Q)
27 “Tell them this: ‘This is what the Lord God says: As surely as I live, those who are in the ruins will fall by the sword, those in the open field I have given to wild animals to be devoured, and those in the strongholds and caves will die by plague.(R) 28 I will make the land a desolate waste,(S) and its proud strength will come to an end.(T) The mountains of Israel(U) will become desolate, with no one passing through. 29 They will know that I am the Lord when I make the land a desolate waste because of all the detestable acts they have committed.’
30 “As for you, son of man, your people are talking about you near the city walls and in the doorways of their houses. One person speaks to another, each saying to his brother, ‘Come and hear what the message is that comes from the Lord!’ 31 So my people come to you in crowds,[e] sit in front of you, and hear your words, but they don’t obey them. Their mouths go on passionately, but their hearts pursue dishonest profit. 32 Yes, to them you are like a singer of passionate songs who has a beautiful voice and plays skillfully on an instrument. They hear your words, but they don’t obey them. 33 Yet when all this comes true(V)—and it definitely will—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”
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