Ezek 33
1
And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2
Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and you shall say to them, On whatever
land I shall bring a sword, and the people of the land take one man of them, and set
him for their watchman:
3
and he shall see the sword coming upon the land, and blow the trumpet, and sound an
alarm to the people;
4
and he who hears the sound of the trumpet shall hear indeed, and yet not take heed,
and the sword shall come upon him, and overtake him, his blood shall be upon his own
head.
5
Because he heard the sound of the trumpet, and took no heed, his blood shall be upon
him: but the other, because he took heed, has delivered his soul.
6
But if the watchman see the sword coming, and do not sound the trumpet, and the people
do not watch; and the sword come, and take a soul from among them, that soul is taken
because of its iniquity; but the blood thereof will I require at the watchman’s hand.
7
And you, son of man, I have set you as a watchman to the house of Israel, and you
shall hear a word from my mouth.
8
When I say to the sinner, You shall surely die; if you speak not to warn the wicked
from his way, the wicked himself shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require
at your hand.
9
But if you forewarn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and he turn not from his
way, he shall die in his ungodliness; but you have delivered your own soul.
10
And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel; Thus have you spoken, saying, Our
errors, and our iniquities weigh upon us, and we pine away in them, and how then shall
we live?
11
Say to them, Thus says the Lord; As I live, I desire not the death of the ungodly,
as that the ungodly should turn from his way and live: turn you Gr. with turning heartily from your way; for why Gr. do you
die will you die, O house of Israel?
12
Say to the children of your people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver
him, in the day wherein he errs: and the iniquity of the ungodly shall not harm him,
in the day wherein he turns from his iniquity, but the righteous erring shall not
be able to deliver himself.
13
When I say to the righteous, The words in italics are found in Alex. You shall live; and he trusts in his righteousness, and
shall commit iniquity, none
of his righteousnesses shall be remembered; in his unrighteousness which he has wrought,
in it shall he die.
14
And when I say to the ungodly, You shall surely die; and he shall turn from his sin,
and do judgement and justice,
15
and return the pledge, and repay that which he has robbed, and walk in the ordinances
of life, so as to do no wrong; he shall surely live, and shall not die.
16
None of his sins which he has committed shall be remembered: because he has wrought
judgement and righteousness; Alex. autoiv by them shall he live.
17
Yet the children of your people will say, The way of the Lord is not straight: whereas
this their way is not straight.
18
When the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and shall commit iniquities,
then shall he die in them.
19
And when the sinner turns from his iniquity, and shall do judgement and righteousness,
he shall live by them.
20
And this is that which you said, The way of the Lord is not straight. I will judge
you, O house of Israel, every one for his ways.
21
And it came to pass in the Heb. and Alex. twelfth year tenth year of our captivity, in the twelfth month, on the fifth day
of the month,
that one that had escaped from Jerusalem came to me, saying, The city is taken.
22
Now the hand of the Lord had come upon me in the evening, before he came; and he opened
my mouth, when he came to me in the morning: and my mouth was open, it was no longer
kept closed.
23
And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
24
Son of man, they that inhabit the desolate places on the land of Israel say, Abram
was one, and he possessed the land: and we are more numerous; to us the land is given
for a possession.
25
Alex. Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord God: You will eat with the blood,
and you will lift up your eyes to your idols, and you shed blood, and shall you inherit
the land?
26
You stand upon your sword, you have wrought abominations, and have defiled every one
his neighbour, and shall you inherit the land?
27
Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord God, As I live, surely they that are in
the desolate places shall fall by swords and they that are in the open plain shall
be given for food to the wild beasts of the field, and them that are in the fortified
cities and them that are in the caves I will slay with pestilence.
28
And I will make the land desert, and the pride of her strength shall perish; and the
mountains of Israel shall be made desolate by reason of no man passing through.
29
And they shall know that I am the Lord; and I will make their land desert, and it
shall be made desolate because of all their abominations which they have wrought.
30
And as for you, son of man, the children of your people are they that speak concerning
you by the walls, and in the porches of the houses, and they talk Gr. a man to his brother one to another, saying, Let us
come together, and let us hear the words that proceed
from the Lord.
31
They approach you as a people comes together, and sit before you, and hear your words,
but they will not do them: for there is falsehood in their mouth, and their heart
goes after their pollutions.
32
And you are to them as a sound of a sweet, well-tuned psaltery, and they will hear
your words, but they will not do them.
33
But whenever it shall come to pass, they will say, Behold, it is come: and they shall
know that there was a prophet in the midst of them.