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
World English Bible
33 Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and tell them, ‘When I bring the sword on a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and set him for their watchman; 3 if, when he sees the sword come on the land, he blows the trumpet, and warns the people; 4 then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet, and doesn’t heed the warning, if the sword comes, and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. 5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, and didn’t take warning. His blood will be on him; whereas if he had heeded the warning, he would have delivered his soul. 6 But if the watchman sees the sword come, and doesn’t blow the trumpet, and the people aren’t warned, and the sword comes, and takes any person from among them; he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’
7 “So you, son of man: I have set you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word from my mouth, and give them warnings from me. 8 When I tell the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you don’t speak to warn the wicked from his way; that wicked man will die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at your hand. 9 Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and he doesn’t turn from his way; he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul.
10 “You, son of man, tell the house of Israel: ‘You say this, “Our transgressions and our sins are on us, and we pine away in them. How then can we live?”’ 11 Tell them, ‘“As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why will you die, house of Israel?”’
12 “You, son of man, tell the children of your people, ‘The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him in the day of his disobedience. And as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not fall by it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; neither will he who is righteous be able to live by it in the day that he sins. 13 When I tell the righteous that he will surely live; if he trusts in his righteousness, and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but he will die in his iniquity that he has committed. 14 Again, when I say to the wicked, “You will surely die;” if he turns from his sin, and does that which is lawful and right; 15 if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that which he had taken by robbery, walk in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity; he will surely live. He will not die. 16 None of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him. He has done that which is lawful and right. He will surely live.
17 “‘Yet the children of your people say, “The way of the Lord is not fair;” but as for them, their way is not fair. 18 When the righteous turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, he will even die therein. 19 When the wicked turns from his wickedness, and does that which is lawful and right, he will live by it. 20 Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is not fair.” House of Israel, I will judge every one of you after his ways.’”
21 In the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, one who had escaped out of Jerusalem came to me, saying, “The city has been defeated!” 22 Now Yahweh’s hand had been on me in the evening, before he who had escaped came; and he had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no longer mute.
23 Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 24 “Son of man, those who inhabit the waste places in the land of Israel speak, saying, ‘Abraham was one, and he inherited the land; but we are many. The land is given us for inheritance.’ 25 Therefore tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “You eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes to your idols, and shed blood. So should you possess the land? 26 You stand on your sword, you work abomination, and every one of you defiles his neighbor’s wife. So should you possess the land?”’
27 “You shall tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “As I live, surely those who are in the waste places will fall by the sword. I will give whoever is in the open field to the animals to be devoured; and those who are in the strongholds and in the caves will die of the pestilence. 28 I will make the land a desolation and an astonishment. The pride of her power will cease. The mountains of Israel will be desolate, so that no one will pass through. 29 Then they will know that I am Yahweh, when I have made the land a desolation and an astonishment, because of all their abominations which they have committed.”’
30 “As for you, son of man, the children of your people talk about you by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak to one another, everyone to his brother, saying, ‘Please come and hear what the word is that comes out from Yahweh.’ 31 They come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but don’t do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain. 32 Behold, you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they don’t do them.
33 “When this comes to pass—behold, it comes—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”
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