Ezekiel 33

The watchman’s responsibility

1The word of the LORD came to me: 2“Son of man, speak to your people. Tell them: Suppose I bring a sword against a land, and its people choose a man from among them and appoint him as their watchman. 3He sees the sword approaching the land, blows the ram’s horn, and warns the people. 4If someone hears the horn but ignores the warning, and the sword comes and takes that person away, their blood will be on their own head. 5They heard the horn but ignored the warning; their blood will be their own responsibility. Had they heeded the warning, they would have saved their life. 6But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the horn, so the people receive no warning, and the sword comes and takes a life, that person is taken in their guilt. Yet I will demand their blood from the watchman’s hand. 7“You, son of man, I have appointed as a watchman for the house of Israel. Hear the word from my mouth and give them my warning. 8When I tell the wicked, ‘Wicked one, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak to warn them away from their way, that wicked person will die in their guilt. But I will demand their blood from your hand. 9But if you warn the wicked to turn from their way, and they do not turn from it, they will die in their guilt, while you will have saved your own life.

Turn back and live

10“Son of man, tell the house of Israel: You say, ‘Our rebellions and sins weigh on us, and we are wasting away because of them. How can we live?’ 11Tell them: As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but in the wicked turning from their way and living. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why should you die, house of Israel? 12“Son of man, tell your people: The righteousness of the righteous will not rescue them when they rebel. The wickedness of the wicked will not bring them down when they turn from it. A righteous person cannot live by past righteousness when they sin. 13When I tell the righteous that they will surely live, but they trust in their righteousness and do wrong, none of their righteous deeds will be remembered. They will die because of the wrong they have done. 14But when I tell the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and they turn from their sin and do what is just and right— 15returning what was taken as a pledge, repaying what was stolen, and following the statutes that give life without doing wrong—they will surely live. They will not die. 16None of the sins they committed will be remembered against them. They have done what is just and right; they will surely live. 17“Yet your people say, ‘The Lord’s way is not fair.’ It is their own way that is not fair. 18When the righteous turn from their righteousness and do wrong, they will die because of it. 19When the wicked turn from their wickedness and do what is just and right, they will live because of it. 20Yet you say, ‘The Lord’s way is not fair.’ House of Israel, I will judge each of you according to your ways.”

The fugitive arrives

21In the twelfth year of our exile, on the fifth day of the tenth month, a fugitive from Jerusalem came to me and said, “The city has fallen!” 22The evening before the fugitive arrived, the hand of the LORD had come upon me. He opened my mouth before the man came to me in the morning. My mouth was opened, and I was no longer silent.

Claims to the land

23The word of the LORD came to me: 24“Son of man, the people living in these ruins on Israel’s soil say, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he possessed the land. We are many; surely the land has been given to us as a possession.’ 25Therefore tell them: This is what the Lord GOD says: You eat with the blood, lift your eyes to your idols, and shed blood. Should you possess the land? 26You rely on your sword, commit abominations, and each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife. Should you possess the land? 27Tell them: This is what the Lord GOD says: As I live, those in the ruins will fall by the sword. Those in the open country I have given to the beasts for food. Those in strongholds and caves will die of pestilence. 28I will make the land a desolate waste and put an end to its proud strength. Israel’s mountains will lie desolate, with no one passing through. 29Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I make the land a desolate waste because of all the abominations they committed.

Listening without doing

30“As for you, son of man, your people talk about you beside the walls and in the doorways. They say to one another, ‘Come and hear the word that comes from the LORD.’ 31They come to you as people do, and my people sit before you. They hear your words but do not act on them. Their mouths express love, but their hearts pursue dishonest gain. 32To them you are like a love song, sung with a beautiful voice and skillfully played. They hear your words but do not act on them. 33When it comes—and it is coming—they will know that a prophet has been among them.”