Ezekiel 33

33 ¹ The word of our Father came to me:

² Son of man, speak to your people and say to them: When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of that land take one man from among them and make him their watchman, ³ and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, ⁴ then if anyone hears the sound of the trumpet but ignores the warning, and the sword comes and strikes him down, his blood will be on his own head. ⁵ He heard the sound of the trumpet and ignored the warning; his blood is on himself. If he had listened to the warning, he would have saved his life. ⁶ But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes one of them, that person dies in his sins, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.

⁷ So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must warn them for me. ⁸ When I say to the wicked, "Wicked one, you will surely die," and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person will die in his sins, but I will hold you accountable for his blood. ⁹ But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way and he does not turn, he will die in his sins, but you will have saved your own life.

Turn Back and Live

¹⁰ And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel: This is what you are saying: "Our transgressions and our sins weigh upon us, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?"

¹¹ Say to them: As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Father, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why will you die, house of Israel?

¹² And you, son of man, say to your people: The righteousness of the righteous will not save him on the day he rebels, and the wickedness of the wicked will not bring him down on the day he turns from his wickedness; the righteous cannot live by his righteousness on the day he sins. ¹³ If I tell the righteous he will surely live, but he trusts in his righteousness and does wrong, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; he will die for the wrong he has done. ¹⁴ And if I tell the wicked, "You will surely die," but he turns from his sin and does what is just and right— ¹⁵ if he returns what he took as collateral, gives back what he stole, and follows the life-giving laws, doing no wrong—he will surely live; he will not die. ¹⁶ None of the sins he committed will be remembered against him. He has done what is just and right; he will surely live.

¹⁷ Yet your people say, "The way of the Sovereign Father is not just," when it is their own way that is not just. ¹⁸ When the righteous turns from his righteousness and does wrong, he will die for it. ¹⁹ And when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he will live by it. ²⁰ Yet you say, "The way of the Sovereign Father is not just." I will judge each of you according to his ways, house of Israel.

Jerusalem Has Fallen

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

²³ Then the word of our Father came to me: ²⁴ Son of man, the people living in these ruins in the land of Israel keep saying, "Abraham was only one man, yet he took possession of the land; we are many—surely the land has been given to us as our possession."

²⁵ Therefore say to them: This is what the Sovereign Father says: You eat meat with the blood still in it, you look to your idols, and you shed blood—should you then possess the land? ²⁶ You rely on your swords, you commit detestable things, and each of you commits adultery with his neighbor's wife—should you then possess the land?

²⁷ Say this to them: This is what the Sovereign Father says: As surely as I live, those in the ruins will fall by the sword, those in the open field I will give to the wild animals to devour, and those in the strongholds and caves will die of plague. ²⁸ I will make the land a desolate waste, and her proud strength will come to an end, and the mountains of Israel will lie so desolate that no one will pass through. ²⁹ Then they will know that I am their Father, when I have made the land a desolate waste because of all the detestable things they have done.

³⁰ As for you, son of man, your people are talking about you beside the walls and in the doorways of the houses, saying to one another, each to his brother, "Come, hear what word has come from our Father." ³¹ They come to you as people do, and they sit before you as my people and hear your words—but they do not act on them. With their mouths they express love, while their hearts pursue their own gain. ³² Indeed, to them you are like one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well; they hear your words but do not act on them. ³³ And when all this comes true—and come it will—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.