Ezekiel 33

33 ¹ The word of our Father came to me:

² Son of man, speak to your people and tell them: When I bring a sword against a land, its people 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 trumpet but ignores the warning, and the sword comes and takes him, his blood is on his own head. ⁵ He heard the trumpet and ignored the warning; his blood is on him. Had he taken the warning, he would have saved his life. ⁶ But if the watchman sees the sword coming and doesn't blow the trumpet, and the people go unwarned, and the sword comes and takes one of them, that one dies for his own guilt, but I will charge his blood to the watchman.

⁷ You, son of man, I made a watchman for the house of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, warn them from me. ⁸ When I tell the wicked, "Wicked one, you will surely die," and you do not speak to warn him to turn from his way, he will die for his guilt, but I will hold you responsible for his blood. ⁹ But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way and he will not turn from it, he dies for his sin; you have saved your life.

Turn Back and Live

¹⁰ And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel: This is what you say: "Our wrongdoings and our sins are on us, and we rot away in them. How can we live?" ¹¹ Say to them: As I live, declares the Sovereign Father, I find no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why should you die, house of Israel?

¹² And you, son of man, tell your people: The righteous man's righteousness won't save him the day he rebels, and the wicked man's evil won't make him fall the day he turns from it; the righteous can't live by his righteousness the day he sins. ¹³ If I tell the righteous, 'You will certainly live,' and he trusts his own righteousness and does wrong, none of his righteous acts will be remembered; he dies for the wrong he did. ¹⁴ If I tell the wicked, "You will surely die," and he turns from his sin and does what is just and right ¹⁵ —if the wicked returns the pledge, pays back what he stole, follows the laws of life, doing no wrong—he will surely live; he will not die. ¹⁶ No sin he committed will be remembered against him. He did what is just and right; he will certainly live.

¹⁷ Your people say, 'The Sovereign Father's way is not right' — but it's their own way that is not right. ¹⁸ When the righteous turns from his righteousness and does wrong, he will die for it. ¹⁹ When the wicked turns from his evil 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 by his own ways, house of Israel.

Jerusalem Has Fallen

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

²³ Then the word of our Father came to me:

²⁴ Son of man, those living in these ruins in Israel's land keep saying, "Abraham was one man, and he took possession of the land; we are many—the land is given to us as our possession." ²⁵ So tell them: The Sovereign Father says: You eat meat with the blood, lift your eyes to your idols, and shed blood—should you 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 Tell them: This is what the Sovereign Father says: As I live, those in the ruins will fall by the sword, those in the open field I will hand to wild animals to eat, and those in strongholds and caves will die of plague. ²⁸ I will make the land a desolation and a waste; her proud strength will end; Israel's mountains will lie desolate, with no one crossing them. ²⁹ Then they will know I am their Father, when I make the land a wasteland and ruin because of all the detestable things they did.

³⁰ You, son of man: your people talk about you by the walls and in house doorways, one with another, each with his brother: "Come now, hear what word comes from our Father." ³¹ They come to you as people do, sit before you as my people, and hear your words—but they don't act on them. For with their mouths they speak love, while their hearts chase their own gain. ³² Look, to them you are like a love song, beautifully voiced, well played; they hear your words but don't do them. ³³ When it comes true—and it will—they will know a prophet was among them.