Ezekiel 33:7-20

English Standard Version

⁷^(A)“So you, ^(B)son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. ^(C)Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. ⁸^(D)If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, ^(E)and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, ^(F)that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. ⁹^(G)But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, ^(H)that person shall die in his iniquity, ^(I)but you will have delivered your soul.

Why Will You Die, Israel?

¹⁰“And you, ^(J)son of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus have you said: ‘Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and ^(K)we rot away because of them. ^(L)How then can we live?’ ¹¹Say to them, ^(M)As I live, declares the Lord God, ^(N)I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; ^(O)turn back, turn back from your evil ways, ^(P)for why will you die, O house of Israel?

¹²^(Q)“And you, son of man, say to ^(R)your people, ^(S)The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him when he transgresses, ^(T)and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall by it when he turns from his wickedness, ^(U)and the righteous shall not be able to live by his righteousness^[a] when he sins. ¹³Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet ^(V)if he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered, but in his injustice that he has done he shall die. ¹⁴Again, ^(W)though I say to the wicked, ^(X)‘You shall surely die,’ yet ^(Y)if he turns from his sin and does what is just and right, ¹⁵if the wicked ^(Z)restores the pledge, ^(AA)gives back what he has taken by robbery, and walks ^(AB)in the statutes of life, not doing injustice, he shall surely live; he shall not die. ¹⁶^(AC)None of the sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him. He has done what is just and right; he shall surely live.

¹⁷“Yet ^(AD)your people say, ^(AE)‘The way of the Lord is not just,’ when it is their own way that is not just. ¹⁸^(AF)When the righteous turns from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it. ¹⁹And ^(AG)when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he shall live by this. ²⁰Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, ^(AH)I will judge each of you according to his ways.”