Old/New Testament

Watchman, Blow the Shofar

33 The word of Adonai came to me saying: ² “Son of man, speak to the children of your people and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword upon a land, suppose the people of the land take a man from among them, and set him as their watchman. ³ If, when he sees the sword coming upon the land, he blows the shofar and warns the people, ⁴ then whoever hears the sound of the shofar but ignores 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 shofar and ignored the warning; his blood will be on himself. However, if he had taken warning, he would have saved his soul. ⁶ But if the watchman sees the sword come and does not blow the shofar, the people are not warned. Then the sword does come and takes a person from among them—he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’

⁷ “You, son of man, I have set you as a watchman for the house of Israel. When you hear the word from My mouth, warn them from Me. ⁸ When I say to the wicked: ‘Wicked one, you will surely die!’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked about his way—that wicked one will die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. ⁹ If you warn the wicked of his way to turn from it and he does not turn from his way, then he will die in his iniquity—but you have saved your soul.

¹⁰ “You, son of man, say to the house of Israel: ‘You have said, “Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us and we are pining away in them. So how can we live.” ¹¹ Say to them: ‘As I live’—it is a declaration of Adonai—‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Return, return from your evil ways. Why will you die, O house of Israel?’

¹² “You, son of man, say to the children of your people: ‘The righteousness of the righteous person will not deliver him in the day of his transgression. Nor will the wickedness of the wicked person make him stumble in it on the day he turns away from his wickedness. Nor will the righteous person be able to live by it on the day he sins. ¹³ When I tell the righteous that he will surely live, but he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered. But in his iniquity that he has committed, he will die. ¹⁴ When I say to the wicked, “You will surely die,” yet he turns from his sin and does what is just and right— ¹⁵ if the wicked restores a pledge, gives back what he had taken by robbery, walks in the laws 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 what is just and right; he will surely live.’

¹⁷ “Yet the children of your people say, ‘The way of Adonai isn’t fair!’ but it is their way, theirs that is unfair. ¹⁸ When a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he will die in it. ¹⁹ When a wicked person turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he will live by it. ²⁰ Yet you say, ‘The way of Adonai is not fair!’ House of Israel, I will judge every one of you according to his ways.”

Jerusalem Falls

²¹ In the twelfth year of our exile, on the fifth day of the tenth month, a survivor from Jerusalem came to me saying, “The city has been struck down.” ²² The hand of Adonai had been upon me in the evening, before the survivor came. He had opened my mouth by the time of his coming to me in the morning. So my mouth was opened and I was no longer mute.

²³ Then the word of Adonai came to me saying: ²⁴ “Son of man, the inhabitants of these ruins in the land of Israel keep saying, ‘Abraham was only one, yet he inherited the land. Since we are many, the land is given to us as a possession.’

²⁵ “Therefore say to them, thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘You eat with the blood, lift up your eyes to your idols and shed blood. Should you possess the land? ²⁶ You rely on your sword, commit abominations and each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife. Should you possess the land?’ ²⁷ Say this to them, thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘As I live, surely those who are in the ruins will fall by the sword. Whoever is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and whoever is in the strongholds and in the caves will die of the plague. ²⁸ I will make the land a desolation and a horror. The pride of her power will cease. The mountains of Israel will be desolate, so that no one will pass through.’ ²⁹ They will know that I am Adonai, when I have made the land a desolate waste, because of all their abominations that they have committed.”

³⁰ “Now as for you, son of man, the children of your people are talking about you by the walls and in the doorways of the houses. Each one speaks to one another, each saying to his brother: ‘Come now, hear what message is coming forth from Adonai!’ ³¹ So 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 with their mouth they express doting love, but their heart goes after their own dishonest gain. ³² Look, you are like a love song to them, one who has a beautiful voice and can play well on an instrument. They hear your words, but do not practice them. ³³ When this comes to pass—behold, it is coming—they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

Adonai, Our Shepherd

34 The word of Adonai came to me saying: ² “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to those shepherds, thus says Adonai Elohim: “Oy, shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should shepherds not take care of the sheep? ³ You eat the fat. You clothe yourself with the wool. You kill the fat ones. But you do not take care of the sheep. ⁴ You do not strengthen the weak, heal the sick, bind up the broken, bring back the stray or seek the lost. Instead, you have ruled over them with force and cruelty. ⁵ They were scattered for lack of a shepherd. They became food for all the beasts of the field as they were scattered. ⁶ My sheep wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill. Over all the face of the earth My sheep were scattered. No one searched. No one sought.”

⁷ Therefore, shepherds, hear the word of Adonai: ⁸ “As I live”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“as surely as My sheep became prey and My sheep became food for all the beasts of the field, because there was no shepherd, nor did My shepherds search for My flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My sheep,” ⁹ therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of Adonai, ¹⁰ thus says Adonai Elohim: “Behold, I am against the shepherds and I will demand My flock from their hand. I will dismiss them from tending the flock. The shepherds will no longer feed themselves. I will rescue My sheep from their mouth, so they will not be food for them.”

¹¹ For thus says Adonai Elohim: “Here I am! I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. ¹² As a shepherd seeks out his sheep on the day he is among his scattered flock, so I will seek out My sheep. I will rescue them out of all the places where they have been scattered, on a day of cloud and thick darkness. ¹³ I will bring them out from the peoples. I will gather them from the countries. I will bring them back to their own land. I will shepherd them upon the mountains of Israel, by the streams and in all the habitable places of the land. ¹⁴ I will shepherd them in a good pasture—their grazing place will be on the high mountains of Israel. There they will lie down on good grazing ground. They will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I will tend My flock and make them lie down”—it is a declaration of Adonai.

¹⁶ “I will seek the lost, bring back the stray, bind up the broken and strengthen the sick. But the fat and the strong I will destroy—I will tend them with justice. ¹⁷ As for you, My flock”—thus says Adonai Elohim—“behold, I will judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats. ^{[a] 18} Was it too little for you that you were feeding in the good pasture? Must you trample down the rest of your pastures with your feet? You were drinking clear water. Must you muddy the rest with your feet? ¹⁹ Yet My sheep must eat what you have trampled with your feet and drink what you have muddied with your feet!”

²⁰ Therefore thus says Adonai Elohim to them: “Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. ²¹ Because you thrust with your side and with shoulder and gore all the weak with your horns, until you have scattered them all over, ²² I will save My flock. They will no longer be prey. I will judge between sheep and sheep. ²³ So I will set up One Shepherd over them, My servant David—He will tend them, He will feed them Himself and be their shepherd. ^{[b] 24} I, Adonai, will be their God, and My servant David will be Prince among them. I, Adonai, have spoken.

²⁵ “I will make a covenant of shalom with them. I will remove the evil beasts from the land, so they may dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the forest. ²⁶ I will make them and the places around My hill a blessing. I will cause the rain to come down in its season. There will be showers of blessing. ²⁷ The tree of the field will yield its fruit. The ground will yield its produce. They will be secure in their land. Then they will know that I am Adonai, when I have broken the bars of their yoke and have delivered them from the hand of those who enslaved them. ²⁸ They will no longer be prey to the nations. The beast of the earth will not devour them. They will live in security. No one will make them afraid. ²⁹ I will make their agriculture renowned. They will no longer be consumed with hunger in the land. They will no longer bear the scorn of the nations. ³⁰ They will know that I, Adonai their God, am with them. They, the house of Israel, are My people.” It is a declaration of Adonai. ³¹ “So you, My sheep, the sheep of My pasture, you are human, and I am your God.” It is a declaration of Adonai Elohim.

Shepherds Lead by Example

5 Therefore I appeal to the elders among you—as a fellow elder and witness of Messiah’s sufferings, and a partaker also of the glory about to be revealed— ² shepherd God’s flock among you. Watch over it not under compulsion but willingly before God, not for dishonest gain but eagerly. ³ Don’t lord it over^[a] those apportioned to you, but become examples to the flock. ⁴ When the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. ⁵ Likewise, you younger ones, submit yourselves to the elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for

⁶ Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that He may lift you up at the appropriate time. ⁷ Cast all your worries on Him,^[c] for He cares for you. ⁸ Stay alert! Watch out! Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, searching for someone to devour. ⁹ Stand up against him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being laid upon your brothers and sisters throughout the world. ¹⁰ After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace—who has called you into His eternal glory in Messiah—will Himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. ¹¹ All power to Him forever!^[d] Amen.

Final Greetings

¹² Through Silvanus,^[e] whom I consider our faithful brother, I have written to you briefly, encouraging and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it! ¹³ Messiah’s community in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings. So does my son Mark. ¹⁴ Greet one another with a kiss of love.

Shalom to you all who are in Messiah. Amen.