Ezekiel 33
They Hear Your Words as a Lovely Song and Do Not Do Them
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The Watchman for the House
33:1The Lord’s word came to me, saying,
33:2“Son of man, speak to your people’s sons and say to them, ‘If I bring a sword upon a land, and the land’s people take one man from among themselves and appoint him as their watchman,
33:3and he sees the sword coming upon the land, sounds the trumpet and signals to the people,
33:4and a hearer hears the trumpet’s sound but does not take care, and the sword comes upon him and overtakes him, his blood will be upon his own head.
33:5Because he heard the trumpet’s sound and did not take care, his blood will be upon himself. But this one, because he took care, rescued his life.
33:6If the watchman sees the sword coming but does not signal with the trumpet, and the people do not take care, and the sword comes and takes a life from them, that life was taken because of its own lawlessness, but I will require the blood from the watchman’s hand.’
33:7And you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for Israel’s house, and you will hear a word from My mouth.
33:8When I say to the sinner, ‘You will surely be put to death,’ and you do not speak so that the impious man may guard himself from his way, that lawless man will die in his lawlessness, but I will require his blood from your hand.
33:9But if you forewarn the impious man of his way so that he may turn from it and he does not turn from his way, this man will die in his impiety, and you have rescued your own life.
33:10And you, son of man, say to Israel’s house, ‘You spoke this way: Our wanderings and lawless deeds are upon us, and we waste away in them. How shall we live?’
33:11Say to them, ‘I live, thus says the Lord: I do not will the impious man’s death so much as his turning from his way and living. Turn back completely from your way! Why are you dying, house of Israel?’
33:12Say to your people’s sons, ‘A righteous man’s righteousness certainly will not rescue him on the day he wanders, and an impious man’s lawlessness certainly will not harm him on the day he turns from it. A righteous man certainly will not be able to be saved.
33:13When I speak to the righteous man—this one has trusted in his righteousness, yet commits lawlessness—none of his righteous deeds will ever be remembered. In the injustice he committed, in it he will die.
33:14When I say to the impious man, ‘You will surely be put to death,’ and he turns from his sin and practices judgment and righteousness,
33:15and returns a pledge, repays what he seized and walks in the ordinances of life without doing wrong, he will surely live and certainly will not die.
33:16None of the sins he committed will ever be remembered, because he practiced judgment and righteousness; in these he will live.
33:17Your people’s sons will say, “The Lord’s way is not straight.” Yet this way of theirs is not straight.
33:18When a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits lawless deeds, he will die in them.
33:19When the sinner turns from his lawlessness and practices judgment and righteousness, in these he will live.
33:20This is what you said: “The Lord’s way is not straight.” I will judge you, each in his ways, house of Israel.’”
The Survivor Brings Word
33:21In the twelfth year of our captivity, in the twelfth month, on the fifth of the month, the survivor from Jerusalem came to me, saying, “The city has been captured!”
33:22The Lord’s hand came upon me in the evening before he arrived, and He opened my mouth until he came to me in the morning. Once my mouth was opened, it was no longer restrained.
33:23The Lord’s word came to me, saying,
Those Dwelling in the Devastated Places
33:24“Son of man, those dwelling in the devastated places upon Israel’s land say, ‘Abraham was one, yet he possessed the land. We are more; the land has been given to us as a possession.’
33:25Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, the Lord:
33:27I live: surely those in the devastated places will fall by the sword. Those in the open plain will be given as food to the field’s beasts, and those in fortified places and caves I will kill with death.
33:28I will make the land a wilderness; the arrogance of her strength will perish, and Israel’s mountains will be desolate because no one passes through.
33:29They will know that I am the Lord. I will make their land a wilderness, and it will be desolate because of all the abominations they committed.’
33:30And you, son of man, your people’s sons talk about you beside the walls and in the houses’ gateways. A man says to his brother, ‘Let us gather and hear what comes from the Lord!’
33:31They come to you as people assemble and sit before you. They hear your words but certainly will not do them, because falsehood is in their mouth, and their heart follows defilements.
33:32You become to them like the sound of a sweet-voiced, well-tuned psaltery. They will hear your words but certainly will not do them.
33:33When it comes, they will say, ‘Behold, it has arrived,’ and know that a prophet was among them.”
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.