Ezekiel 33
Living Bible
33 Once again a message came to me from the Lord. He said:
2 “Son of dust, tell your people: ‘When I bring an army against a country, and the people of that land choose a watchman, 3 and when he sees the army coming and blows the alarm to warn them, 4 then anyone who hears the alarm but refuses to heed it—well, if he dies, the fault is his own. 5 For he heard the warning and wouldn’t listen; the fault is his. If he had heeded the warning, he would have saved his life. 6 But if the watchman sees the enemy coming and doesn’t sound the alarm and warn the people, he is responsible for their deaths. They will die in their sins, but I will charge the watchman with their deaths.’
7 “So with you, son of dust. I have appointed you as a watchman for the people of Israel; therefore, listen to what I say and warn them for me. 8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will die!’ and you don’t tell him what I say, so that he does not repent—that wicked person will die in his sins, but I will hold you responsible for his death. 9 But if you warn him to repent and he doesn’t, he will die in his sins, and you will not be responsible.
10 “O people of Israel, you are saying: ‘Our sins are heavy upon us; we pine away with guilt. How can we live?’ 11 Tell them: ‘As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; I desire that the wicked turn from his evil ways and live. Turn, turn from your wickedness, for why will you die, O Israel? 12 For the good works of a righteous man will not save him if he turns to sin; and the sins of an evil man will not destroy him if he repents and turns from his sins.’
13 “I have said the good man will live. But if he sins, expecting his past goodness to save him, then none of his good deeds will be remembered. I will destroy him for his sins. 14 And when I tell the wicked he will die, and then he turns from his sins and does what is fair and right— 15 if he gives back the borrower’s pledge, returns what he has stolen, and walks along the paths of right, not doing evil—he shall surely live. He shall not die. 16 None of his past sins shall be brought up against him, for he has turned to the good and shall surely live.
17 “And yet your people are saying the Lord isn’t fair. The trouble is they aren’t fair. 18 For again I say, when the good man turns to evil, he shall die. 19 But if the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what’s fair and just, he shall live. 20 Yet you are saying the Lord isn’t fair. But I will judge each of you in accordance with his deeds.”
21 In the eleventh year[a] of our exile, late in December, one of those who escaped from Jerusalem arrived to tell me, “The city has fallen!” 22 Now the hand of the Lord had been upon me the previous evening, and he had healed me so that I could speak again by the time the man arrived.
23 Then this message came to me:
24 “Son of dust, the scattered remnants of Judah living among the ruined cities keep saying, ‘Abraham was only one man and yet he got possession of the whole country! We are many, so we should certainly be able to get it back!’ 25 But the Lord God says: ‘You are powerless, for you do evil! You eat meat with the blood, you worship idols, and murder. Do you suppose I’ll let you have the land? 26 Murderers! Idolators! Adulterers! Should you possess the land?’
27 “Tell them, ‘The Lord God says: As I live, surely those living in the ruins shall die by the sword. Those living in the open fields shall be eaten by wild animals, and those in the forts and caves shall die of disease. 28 I will desolate the land and her pride, and her power shall come to an end. And the mountain villages of Israel shall be so ruined that no one will even travel through them. 29 When I have ruined the land because of their sins, then they shall know I am the Lord.’
30 “Son of dust, your people are whispering behind your back. They talk about you in their houses and whisper about you at the doors, saying, ‘Come on, let’s have some fun! Let’s go hear him tell us what the Lord is saying!’[b] 31 So they come as though they are sincere and sit before you listening. But they have no intention of doing what I tell them to; they talk very sweetly about loving the Lord, but with their hearts they are loving their money. 32 You are very entertaining to them, like someone who sings lovely songs with a beautiful voice or plays well on an instrument. They hear what you say but don’t pay any attention to it! 33 But when all these terrible things happen to them—as they will—then they will know a prophet has been among them.”
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 33:21 In the eleventh year. Some manuscripts read, “In the twelfth year.”
- Ezekiel 33:30 Come on, let’s have some fun! Let’s go hear him tell us what the Lord is saying! literally, “Come and let us hear what the word is that comes from the Lord!”
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”
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