Historical

32 In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month, “Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ² ‘Son of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt, and tell him,

¹⁶ “‘“This is the lamentation with which they will lament. The daughters of the nations will lament with this. They will lament with it over Egypt, and over all her multitude,” says the Lord Yahweh.’”

¹⁷ Also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ¹⁸ “Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her and the daughters of the famous nations, to the lower parts of the earth, with those who go down into the pit. ¹⁹ Whom do you pass in beauty? Go down, and be laid with the uncircumcised. ²⁰ They will fall among those who are slain by the sword. She is delivered to the sword. Draw her away with all her multitudes. ²¹ The strong among the mighty will speak to him out of the middle of Sheol^[a] with those who help him. They have gone down. The uncircumcised lie still, slain by the sword.

²² “Asshur is there with all her company. Her graves are all around her. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword, ²³ whose graves are set in the uttermost parts of the pit, and her company is around her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who caused terror in the land of the living.

²⁴ “There is Elam and all her multitude around her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who have gone down uncircumcised into the lower parts of the earth, who caused their terror in the land of the living, and have borne their shame with those who go down to the pit. ²⁵ They have made Elam a bed among the slain with all her multitude. Her graves are around her, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for their terror was caused in the land of the living, and they have borne their shame with those who go down to the pit. He is put among those who are slain.

²⁶ “There is Meshech, Tubal, and all their multitude. Their graves are around them, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for they caused their terror in the land of the living. ²⁷ They will not lie with the mighty who are fallen of the uncircumcised, who have gone down to Sheol with their weapons of war and have laid their swords under their heads. Their iniquities are on their bones; for they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.

²⁸ “But you will be broken among the uncircumcised, and will lie with those who are slain by the sword.

²⁹ “There is Edom, her kings, and all her princes, who in their might are laid with those who are slain by the sword. They will lie with the uncircumcised, and with those who go down to the pit.

³⁰ “There are the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Sidonians, who have gone down with the slain. They are put to shame in the terror which they caused by their might. They lie uncircumcised with those who are slain by the sword, and bear their shame with those who go down to the pit.

³¹ “Pharaoh will see them and will be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army, slain by the sword,” says the Lord Yahweh. ³² “For I have put his terror in the land of the living. He will be laid among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude,” says the Lord Yahweh.

33 Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ² “Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and tell them, ‘When I bring the sword on a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and set him for their watchman, ³ if, when he sees the sword come on the land, he blows the trumpet and warns the people, ⁴ then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and doesn’t heed 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 trumpet and didn’t take warning. His blood will be on him; whereas if he had heeded the warning, he would have delivered his soul. ⁶ But if the watchman sees the sword come and doesn’t blow the trumpet, and the people aren’t warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’

⁷ “So you, son of man, I have set you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word from my mouth, and give them warnings from me. ⁸ When I tell the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you don’t speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man will die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at your hand. ⁹ Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and he doesn’t turn from his way; he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul.

¹⁰ “You, son of man, tell the house of Israel: ‘You say this, “Our transgressions and our sins are on us, and we pine away in them. How then can we live?”’ ¹¹ Tell them, ‘“As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why will you die, house of Israel?”’

¹² “You, son of man, tell the children of your people, ‘The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him in the day of his disobedience. And as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not fall by it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; neither will he who is righteous be able to live by it in the day that he sins. ¹³ When I tell the righteous that he will surely live, if he trusts in his righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but he will die in his iniquity that he has committed. ¹⁴ Again, when I say to the wicked, “You will surely die,” if he turns from his sin and does that which is lawful and right, ¹⁵ if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that which he had taken by robbery, walk in the statutes 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 that which is lawful and right. He will surely live.

¹⁷ “‘Yet the children of your people say, “The way of the Lord is not fair;” but as for them, their way is not fair. ¹⁸ When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he will even die therein. ¹⁹ When the wicked turns from his wickedness and does that which is lawful and right, he will live by it. ²⁰ Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is not fair.” House of Israel, I will judge every one of you after his ways.’”

²¹ In the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, one who had escaped out of Jerusalem came to me, saying, “The city has been defeated!” ²² Now Yahweh’s hand had been on me in the evening, before he who had escaped came; and he had opened my mouth until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no longer mute.

²³ Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ²⁴ “Son of man, those who inhabit the waste places in the land of Israel speak, saying, ‘Abraham was one, and he inherited the land; but we are many. The land is given us for inheritance.’ ²⁵ Therefore tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “You eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes to your idols, and shed blood. So should you possess the land? ²⁶ You stand on your sword, you work abomination, and every one of you defiles his neighbor’s wife. So should you possess the land?”’

²⁷ “You shall tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “As I live, surely those who are in the waste places will fall by the sword. I will give whoever is in the open field to the animals to be devoured, and those who are in the strongholds and in the caves will die of the pestilence. ²⁸ I will make the land a desolation and an astonishment. The pride of her power will cease. The mountains of Israel will be desolate, so that no one will pass through. ²⁹ Then they will know that I am Yahweh, when I have made the land a desolation and an astonishment because of all their abominations which they have committed.”’

³⁰ “As for you, son of man, the children of your people talk about you by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak to one another, everyone to his brother, saying, ‘Please come and hear what the word is that comes out from Yahweh.’ ³¹ They come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but don’t do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain. ³² Behold, you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they don’t do them.

³³ “When this comes to pass—behold, it comes—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

34 Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ² “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and tell them, even the shepherds, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Shouldn’t the shepherds feed the sheep? ³ You eat the fat. You clothe yourself with the wool. You kill the fatlings, but you don’t feed the sheep. ⁴ You haven’t strengthened the diseased. You haven’t healed that which was sick. You haven’t bound up that which was broken. You haven’t brought back that which was driven away. You haven’t sought that which was lost, but you have ruled over them with force and with rigor. ⁵ They were scattered, because there was no shepherd. They became food to all the animals of the field, and were scattered. ⁶ My sheep wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill. Yes, my sheep were scattered on all the surface of the earth. There was no one who searched or sought.”

⁷ “‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear Yahweh’s word: ⁸ “As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “surely because my sheep became a prey, and my sheep became food to all the animals of the field, because there was no shepherd, and my shepherds didn’t search for my sheep, but the shepherds fed themselves, and didn’t feed my sheep, ⁹ therefore, you shepherds, hear Yahweh’s word!” ¹⁰ The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I am against the shepherds. I will require my sheep at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the sheep. The shepherds won’t feed themselves any more. I will deliver my sheep from their mouth, that they may not be food for them.”

¹¹ “‘For the Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I myself, even I, will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. ¹² As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered abroad, so I will seek out my sheep. I will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. ¹³ I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited places of the country. ¹⁴ I will feed them with good pasture, and their fold will be on the mountains of the height of Israel. There they will lie down in a good fold. They will feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will cause them to lie down,” says the Lord Yahweh. ¹⁶ “I will seek that which was lost, and will bring back that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong. I will feed them in justice.”’

¹⁷ “As for you, O my flock, the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, the rams and the male goats. ¹⁸ Does it seem a small thing to you to have fed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture? And to have drunk of the clear waters, but must you foul the residue with your feet? ¹⁹ As for my sheep, they eat that which you have trodden with your feet, and they drink that which you have fouled with your feet.’

²⁰ “Therefore the Lord Yahweh says to them: ‘Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. ²¹ Because you thrust with side and with shoulder, and push all the diseased with your horns, until you have scattered them abroad, ²² therefore I will save my flock, and they will no more be a prey. I will judge between sheep and sheep. ²³ I will set up one shepherd over them, and he will feed them, even my servant David. He will feed them, and he will be their shepherd. ²⁴ I, Yahweh, will be their God, and my servant David prince among them. I, Yahweh, have spoken it.

²⁵ “‘I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause evil animals to cease out of the land. They will dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. ²⁶ I will make them and the places around my hill a blessing. I will cause the shower to come down in its season. There will be showers of blessing. ²⁷ The tree of the field will yield its fruit, and the earth will yield its increase, and they will be secure in their land. Then they will know that I am Yahweh, when I have broken the bars of their yoke, and have delivered them out of the hand of those who made slaves of them. ²⁸ They will no more be a prey to the nations, neither will the animals of the earth devour them; but they will dwell securely, and no one will make them afraid. ²⁹ I will raise up to them a plantation for renown, and they will no more be consumed with famine in the land, and not bear the shame of the nations any more. ³⁰ They will know that I, Yahweh, their God am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, says the Lord Yahweh. ³¹ You my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are men, and I am your God,’ says the Lord Yahweh.”