Ezekiel 33

Revised Geneva Translation

33 Again, the Word of the LORD 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, if the people of the land take a man from among them and make him their watchman —

³ ‘if, when he sees the sword come upon the land, he blows the trumpet and warns the people —

⁴ ‘then he who hears the sound of the trumpet and will not be warned, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.

⁵ ‘For he heard the sound of the trumpet and would not be admonished. His blood shall be upon him. But he who receives warning, shall save his life.

⁶ ‘But if the watchman sees the sword come and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned — if the sword comes and takes any person from among them — he is taken away for his iniquity, but I will require his blood from the watchman’s hand.’

⁷ “So, you, O son of man. I have made you a watchman to the House of Israel. Therefore, you shall hear the Word from My Mouth, and admonish them from Me.

⁸ “When I shall say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you shall die the death,’ if you do not speak and admonish the wicked of his ways, that wicked man shall die for his iniquity, but I will require his blood from your hand.

⁹ “But, if you warn the wicked of his ways, to turn from them, if he does not turn from his ways, he shall die for his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul.

¹⁰ “Therefore, O you son of man, speak to the House of Israel. Speak like this and say, ‘If our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we are consumed because of them, how should we then live?’

¹¹ “Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘I do not desire the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turns from his way and lives. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why would you die, O you House of Israel?’

¹² “Therefore you, son of man, say to the children of your people, ‘The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him on the day of his transgression. Nor shall the wickedness of the wicked cause him to fall in it on the day that he repents from his wickedness; nor shall the righteous live because of his righteousness on the day that he sins.’

¹³ “When I shall say to the righteous that he shall surely live, if he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteousness shall be remembered. But he shall die for his iniquity that he has committed.

¹⁴ “Again, when I shall say to the wicked, ‘You shall die the death,’ if he turns from his sin and does that which is lawful and right,

¹⁵ —if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has robbed, walks in the Statutes of life without committing iniquity—he shall surely live, not die.

¹⁶ “None of his sins that he has committed shall be mentioned to him. He has done that which is lawful and right. He shall surely live.

¹⁷ “Yet the children of your people say, ‘The way of the LORD is not equal!’ But their own way is unequal.

¹⁸ “When the righteous turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, he shall die by it.

¹⁹ “But if the wicked returns from his wickedness, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall live by it.

²⁰ “Yet you say, ‘The way of the LORD is not equal!’ O you House of Israel, I will judge you, each one after his ways.”

²¹ Also, in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came to me, and said, “The city is stricken!”

²² Now the hand of the LORD had been upon me in the evening, before he who had escaped came. And He opened my mouth. So, when he came to me in the morning, my mouth had been opened. I was no longer mute.

²³ Again, the Word of the LORD came to me, and said:

²⁴ “Son of man, those who dwell in the desolate places of the land of Israel, talk and say, ‘Abraham was but one, and he possessed the land. But we are many. Therefore, the land shall be given to us in possession.’

²⁵ “Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “You eat meat with the blood, and lift up your eyes toward your idols, and shed blood. Should you then possess the land?

²⁶ “You lean upon your swords. You work abomination and every one of you defiles his neighbor’s wife. Should you then possess the land?”’

²⁷ “Say this to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “As I live, surely those who are in the desolate places shall fall by the sword. And he who is in the open field I will give to the beasts, to be devoured. And those who are in the forts and in the caves shall die of pestilence.

²⁸ “For I will lay the land desolate and waste, and the pride of her strength shall cease. And the mountains of Israel shall be desolate and no one shall pass through.

²⁹ “Then they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have laid the land desolate and waste because of all their abominations that they have committed.”’

³⁰ “Also you, son of man, the children of your people who talk about you by the walls and in the doors of houses and speak to each another, each one to his brother, saying, ‘Please come and hear what the Word is that comes from the LORD.’

³¹ “For they come to you as the people come, and my people sit before you and hear your Words, but they will not do them. For with their mouths they make jests. Their hearts go after their covetousness.

³² “And lo, you are to them as a jesting song of one who has a pleasant voice and can sing well. For they hear your Words, but they do not do them.

³³ “And when this comes to pass (for lo, it will come) then they shall know that a Prophet has been among them.”