Ezekiel 33

1The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

2Son of man, speak to the sons of your people and say to them: When I bring a sword upon a land and that land's people take one man from their borders and appoint him their watchman,

3when he sees the sword coming upon the land, he sounds the trumpet and warns the people.

4Whoever hears the sound of the trumpet but is not warned, when the sword comes and takes him, his blood will be on his own head.

5He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not heed; his blood will be on him, but he who heeds delivers his life.

6But if the watchman sees the sword coming and fails to sound the trumpet, and the people go unwarned, and the sword arrives and seizes a person's life from among them, he perishes for his own iniquity, but I will hold his blood accountable at the watchman's hand.

7You, son of man, I have appointed you watchman for the house of Israel, so hear the word carefully from my mouth and warn them from me.

8When I declare to the wicked, "O wicked one, you must surely die," but you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, then he, the wicked, will die in his iniquity, and I will require his blood from your hand.

9But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from it, he shall die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul.

10You, son of man, say to the house of Israel: Thus you say, "Our transgressions and our sins rest upon us, and we waste away in them; how can we live?"

11Say to them: As I live, declares Lord Yahweh, I take no delight in the death of the wicked, but desire that the wicked turn from his way and live—turn, turn from your evil ways; why will you die, house of Israel?

12You, son of man, say to the sons of your people: the righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him in the day of his transgression, and the wickedness of the wicked—he will not fall in it in the day of his turning from his wickedness, and the righteous will not be able to live in it in the day of his sin.

13When I say to the righteous, "You will surely live," if he relies on his righteousness and does iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but in his iniquity that he has done, he will die for it.

14When I tell the wicked, "You will surely die," if he turns from his sin and does justice and righteousness,

15If the wicked restores the pledge, repays the robbery, walks in the statutes of life, and commits no iniquity, he will surely live; he will not die.

16All his sins that he committed will not be remembered against him; he has done justice and righteousness; he shall surely live.

17Yet your people's sons say, "The Lord's way is not fair," but as for them, their way is not fair.

18When the just turns from his justice and does wrong, he dies for it.

19When the wicked turns from his wickedness and does justice and righteousness, he shall live by them.

20You say, "The Lord's way is not fair." House of Israel, I will judge you, every man according to his ways.

21In the twelfth year of our exile, on the fifth day of the tenth month, a survivor from Jerusalem came to me, saying, "The city was struck."

22The hand of Yahweh had been upon me in the evening before the fugitive came; he opened my mouth until he came to me in the morning, my mouth was opened, and I was no longer silent.

23Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

24Son of man, those dwelling in these ruins on Israel's ground declare, "Abraham was one, and he possessed the land, but we are numerous; the land has been granted us for a possession."

25Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: You eat with the blood, raise your eyes to your idols, and pour out blood—shall you possess the land?

26You stand on your sword, you commit abomination, and each of you defiles his neighbor's wife; shall you possess the land?

27Thus you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord Yahweh, As I live, those in the ruins will fall by the sword, and him who is upon the open ground I will give to the wild beast to devour him, and those in the strongholds and caves will die by pestilence.

28I will make the land a desolation and horror, the pride of her strength will cease, and the mountains of Israel will lie desolate, so no traveler passes through.

29They will know that I am Yahweh when I make the land a desolation and an astonishment because of all their abominations that they have done.

30As for you, son of man, the sons of your people who speak about you beside the walls and at the doorways of houses speak one to another, every man to his brother, saying, "Come now and hear what the word is that comes forth from Yahweh."

31They come to you as people arrive, sit before you as my people, and hear your words but do not act on them; for loving words fill their mouths as they pursue gain, their hearts going after it.

32See, you are to them like a love song from someone beautiful in voice and skilled at playing instruments; they listen carefully to your words but do not act on them.

33When it comes, see, it comes, and they will know that a prophet has been among them.