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.”