Ezekiel 33-34

New American Standard Bible

The Watchman’s Duty

33 Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “Son of man, speak to the ^(A)sons of your people and say to them, ‘If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one man from among them and make him their watchman, ³ and he sees the sword coming upon the land and ^(B)blows the ^[a]horn and warns the people, ⁴ then ^[b]someone who hears the sound of the horn but ^(C)does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his ^(D)blood will be on his own head. ⁵ He heard the sound of the horn but did not take warning; his blood will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have ^(E)saved his life. ⁶ But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the horn and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is ^(F)taken away for his wrongdoing; but I will ^[c]require his ^(G)blood from the watchman’s hand.’

⁷ “Now as for you, son of man, I have ^[d](H)appointed you as a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a ^[e]message from My mouth and give them a ^(I)warning from Me. ⁸ When I say to the wicked, ‘You wicked person, you will ^(J)certainly die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked about his way, that wicked person shall die for his wrongdoing, but I will ^[f]require his blood from your hand. ⁹ But if you on your part warn a wicked person to turn from his way and he ^(K)does not turn from his way, he will die for his wrongdoing, but you have ^(L)saved your life.

¹⁰ “Now as for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what you have ^[g]said: “Surely our offenses and our sins are upon us, and we are ^(M)rotting away in them; ^(N)how then can we ^[h]survive?”’ ¹¹ Say to them, ‘^(O)As I live!’ declares the Lord ^[i]God, ‘I take ^(P)no pleasure at all in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked ^(Q)turn from his way and live. ^(R)Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then should you die, house of Israel?’ ¹² And you, son of man, say to ^[j]your fellow citizens, ‘The ^(S)righteousness of a righteous one will not save him on the day of his offense, and as for the wickedness of a wicked one, he will ^(T)not stumble because of it on the day when he turns from his wickedness; whereas a righteous one will not be able to live ^[k]by his righteousness on the day when he commits sin.’ ¹³ When I say to the righteous that he will certainly live, and he so trusts in his righteousness that he ^(U)commits injustice, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but for that same injustice of his which he has committed he will die. ¹⁴ But when I say to the wicked, ‘You will certainly die,’ and he ^(V)turns from his sin and practices ^(W)justice and righteousness, ¹⁵ if a wicked person returns a pledge, ^(X)pays back what he has taken by robbery, walks by the ^(Y)statutes ^[l]which ensure life without committing injustice, he shall certainly live; he shall not die. ^16 (Z)None of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him. He has practiced justice and righteousness; he shall certainly live.

¹⁷ “Yet ^[m]your fellow citizens say, ‘The way of the Lord is not right,’ when it is their own way that is not right. ¹⁸ When the righteous turns from his righteousness and ^(AA)commits injustice, then he shall die in ^[n]it. ¹⁹ But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and practices justice and righteousness, he will live by them. ²⁰ Yet you say, ‘^(AB)The way of the Lord is not right.’ I will judge each of you according to his ways, house of Israel.”

Word of Jerusalem’s Capture

²¹ Now ^(AC)in the ^(AD)twelfth year of our exile, on the fifth of the tenth month, the survivor from Jerusalem came to me, saying, “^(AE)The city has been ^[o]taken.” ²² Now the ^(AF)hand of the Lord had been upon me in the evening, before the survivors came. And He ^(AG)opened my mouth ^[p]at the time they came to me in the morning; so my mouth was ^(AH)opened and I was no longer ^[q]speechless.

²³ Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ²⁴ “Son of man, they who ^(AI)live in these ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ‘^(AJ)Abraham was only one, yet he possessed the land; so to ^(AK)us who are many the land has been given as a possession.’ ²⁵ Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “You eat meat with the ^(AL)blood in it, raise your eyes to your idols as you shed blood. ^(AM)Should you then possess the land? ²⁶ You ^[r](AN)rely on your sword, you commit abominations, and each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife. Should you then possess the land?”’ ²⁷ You shall say this to them: ‘This is what the Lord God says: “As I live, those who are in the places of ruins certainly will ^(AO)fall by the sword, and whoever is in the ^[s]open field I will give to the animals to be devoured, and those who are in the strongholds and in the ^(AP)caves will die of plague. ²⁸ And I will ^(AQ)make the land a desolation and a waste, and the ^(AR)pride of her power will be brought to an end; and the mountains of Israel will be deserted so that no one will pass through. ²⁹ Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I make the land a desolation and a waste because of all their abominations which they have committed.”’

³⁰ “But as for you, son of man, ^[t]your fellow citizens who talk with one another about you by the walls and in the doorways of the houses, speak one with another, each with his brother, saying, ‘^(AS)Come now and hear what the ^[u]message is that comes from the Lord.’ ³¹ And they come to you as people come, and sit before you as My people and hear your words, but they do not do them; for they do the lustful desires expressed by their ^(AT)mouth, and their heart follows their unlawful ^(AU)gain. ³² And behold, you are to them like a love song by one who has a ^(AV)beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument; for they hear your words but they do not practice them. ³³ So when it ^(AW)comes—^[v]as it certainly will—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

Prophecy against the Shepherds of Israel

34 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “Son of man, prophesy against the ^(AX)shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to ^[w]those shepherds, ‘This is what the Lord ^[x]God says: “Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been ^[y](AY)feeding themselves! Should the shepherds not ^[z](AZ)feed the flock? ³ You ^(BA)eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, you ^(BB)slaughter the fat sheep ^[aa]without feeding the flock. ⁴ Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, ^(BC)the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you ^(BD)searched for the lost; but with force and with violence you have ^[ab]dominated them. ⁵ They ^(BE)scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became ^(BF)food for every animal of the field and scattered. ⁶ My flock ^(BG)strayed through all the mountains and on every high hill; ^(BH)My flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth, and there was ^(BI)no one to search or seek for them.”’”

⁷ Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: ⁸ “As I live,” declares the Lord God, “certainly, because My flock has become ^(BJ)plunder, and My flock has become food for all the animals of the field for lack of a shepherd, and My shepherds did not search for My flock, but rather the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock, ⁹ therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: ¹⁰ ‘This is what the Lord God says: “Behold, I am ^(BK)against the shepherds, and I will demand My ^[ac]sheep ^[ad]from them and make them ^(BL)stop tending sheep. So the shepherds will not ^[ae]feed themselves anymore, but I will ^(BM)save My sheep from their mouth, so that they will not be food for them.”’”

The Restoration of Israel

¹¹ For the Lord God says this: “Behold, I Myself will ^(BN)search for My sheep and look after them. ^12 (BO)As a shepherd cares for his flock on a day when he is among his scattered ^[af]sheep, so I will ^(BP)care for My ^[ag]sheep and will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a ^(BQ)cloudy and gloomy day. ¹³ I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land; and I will ^(BR)feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ^(BS)streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land. ¹⁴ I will feed them in a ^(BT)good pasture, and their grazing place will be on the mountain heights of Israel. There they will lie down in a good grazing place and feed in ^[ah](BU)rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I Myself will ^(BV)feed My flock and I Myself will ^[ai]lead them to rest,” declares the Lord God. ¹⁶ “I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken, and strengthen the sick; but the ^(BW)fat and the strong I will eliminate. I will ^(BX)feed them with judgment.

¹⁷ “As for you, My flock, this is what the Lord God says: ‘Behold, I am going to ^(BY)judge between one ^[aj]sheep and another, between the rams and the male goats. ¹⁸ Is it too ^(BZ)little a thing for you to feed in the good pasture, that you must trample with your feet the rest of your pastures? Or too little for you to drink the clear waters, that you must muddy the rest with your feet? ¹⁹ But as for My flock, they must eat what you trample with your feet, and drink what you muddy with your feet!’”

²⁰ Therefore, this is what the Lord God says to them: “Behold, I, I Myself will also judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. ²¹ Since you push away with your side and shoulder, and ^(CA)gore all the ^[ak]weak with your horns until you have scattered them ^[al]abroad, ²² therefore, I will ^(CB)save My flock, and they will no longer be plunder; and I will judge between one sheep and another.

²³ “Then I will ^(CC)appoint over them one ^(CD)shepherd, My servant ^(CE)David, and he will feed them; he will feed them himself and be their shepherd. ²⁴ And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant ^(CF)David will be prince among them; I the Lord have spoken.

²⁵ “And I will make a ^(CG)covenant of peace with them and ^(CH)eliminate harmful animals from the land, so that they may ^(CI)live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. ²⁶ I will make them and the places around My hill a ^(CJ)blessing. And I will make ^(CK)showers fall in their season; they will be showers of ^(CL)blessing. ²⁷ Also the tree of the field will yield its fruit and the earth will yield its produce, and they will be ^(CM)secure on their land. Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I have ^(CN)broken the bars of their yoke and have saved them from the hand of those who enslaved them. ²⁸ They will no longer be plunder to the nations, and the animals of the earth will not devour them; but they will ^(CO)live securely, and no one will make them afraid. ²⁹ I will establish for them a ^(CP)renowned planting place, and they will ^(CQ)not again be ^[am]victims of famine in the land, and they will not ^(CR)endure the insults of the nations anymore. ³⁰ Then they will know that ^(CS)I, the Lord their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are My people,” declares the Lord God. ³¹ “As for you, My ^(CT)sheep, ^[an]the ^(CU)sheep of My pasture, you are mankind, and I am your God,” declares the Lord God.