Ezekiel 33–34

EZEKIEL AS ISRAEL’S WATCHMAN

33The word of the Lord came to me: ²“Son of man, speak to your people and tell them, ‘Suppose I bring the sword against a land, and the people of that land select a man from among them, appointing him as their watchman. ³And suppose he sees the sword coming against the land and blows his ram’s horn^h to warn the people. ⁴Then, if anyone hears the sound of the trumpet but ignores the warning,ⁱ and the sword comes and takes him away, his death will be his own fault.^{B 5}Since he heard the sound of the trumpet but ignored the warning, his death is his own fault.^C If he had taken warning, he would have saved his life. ⁶However, suppose the watchman sees the sword coming but doesn’t blow the trumpet, so that the people aren’t warned, and the sword comes and takes away their lives. Then they have been taken away because of their iniquity, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood.’

⁷“As for you, son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel.^a When you hear a word from my mouth, give them a warning from me. ⁸If I say to the wicked, ‘Wicked one, you will surely die,’^b but you do not speak out to warn him about his way, that wicked person will die for his iniquity, yet I will hold you responsible for his blood. ⁹But if you warn a wicked person to turn from his way and he doesn’t turn from it, he will die for his iniquity, but you will have rescued yourself.

¹⁰“Now as for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘You have said this: “Our transgressions and our sins are heavy on us, and we are wasting away because of them!^c How then can we survive?” ’^{d 11}Tell them, ‘As I live—this is the declaration of the Lord God—I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked person should turn from his way and live.^e Repent, repent of your evil ways! Why will you die, house of Israel?’

¹²“Now, son of man, say to your people, ‘The righteousness of the righteous person will not save him on the day of his transgression; neither will the wickedness of the wicked person cause him to stumble on the day he turns from his wickedness. The righteous person won’t be able to survive by his righteousness on the day he sins. ¹³When I tell the righteous person that he will surely live, but he trusts in his righteousness and acts unjustly, then none of his righteousness will be remembered, and he will die because of the injustice he has committed.^f

¹⁴“ ‘So when I tell the wicked person, “You will surely die,” but he repents of his sin and does what is just and right—¹⁵he returns collateral, makes restitution for what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life^g without committing injustice—he will certainly live; he will not die. ¹⁶None of the sins he committed will be held^A against him. He has done what is just and right; he will certainly live.^h

¹⁷“ ‘But your people say, “The Lord’s way isn’t fair,”ⁱ even though it is their own way that isn’t fair. ¹⁸When a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, he will die for it. ¹⁹But if a wicked person turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he will live because of it. ²⁰Yet you say, “The Lord’s way isn’t fair.” I will judge each of you according to his ways, house of Israel.’ ”

THE NEWS OF JERUSALEM’S FALL

²¹In 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 reported, “The city has been taken!” ²²Now the hand of the Lord had been on me the evening before the fugitive arrived, and he opened my mouth before the man came to me in the morning. So my mouth was opened and I was no longer mute.^j

ISRAEL’S CONTINUED REBELLION

²³Then the word of the Lord came to me: ²⁴“Son of man, those who live in the^B ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one person,^k yet he received possession of the land.^l But we are many; surely the land has been given to us as a possession.’^{m 25}Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says: You eat meat with blood in it,ⁿ you look to your idols, and you shed blood. Should you then receive possession of the land? ²⁶You have relied on your swords, you have committed detestable acts, and each of you has defiled his neighbor’s wife. Should you then receive possession of the land?’^o

²⁷“Tell them this: ‘This is what the Lord God says: As surely as I live, those who are in the ruins will fall by the sword, those in the open field I have given to wild animals to be devoured, and those in the strongholds and caves will die by plague.^{p 28}I will make the land a desolate waste,^q and its proud strength will come to an end.^r The mountains of Israel^s will become desolate, with no one passing through. ²⁹They will know that I am the Lord when I make the land a desolate waste because of all the detestable acts they have committed.’

³⁰“As for you, son of man, your people are talking about you near the city walls and in the doorways of their houses. One person speaks to another, each saying to his brother, ‘Come and hear what the message is that comes from the Lord!’ ³¹So my people come to you in crowds,^A sit in front of you, and hear your words, but they don’t obey them. Their mouths go on passionately, but their hearts pursue dishonest profit. ³²Yes, to them you are like a singer of passionate songs who has a beautiful voice and plays skillfully on an instrument. They hear your words, but they don’t obey them. ³³Yet when all this comes true^a—and it definitely will—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

THE SHEPHERDS AND GOD’S FLOCK

34The word of the Lord came to me: ²“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says to the shepherds: Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who have been feeding themselves!^b Shouldn’t the shepherds feed their flock? ³You eat the fat, wear the wool, and butcher the fattened animals, but you do not tend the flock.^{c 4}You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost.^d Instead, you have ruled them with violence and cruelty. ⁵They were scattered for lack of a shepherd;^e they became food for all the wild animals^f when they were scattered. ⁶My flock went astray on all the mountains and every high hill.^g My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and there was no one searching or seeking for them.

⁷“ ‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. ⁸As I live—this is the declaration of the Lord God—because my flock, lacking a shepherd, has become prey and food for every wild animal, and because my shepherds do not search for my flock, and because the shepherds feed themselves rather than my flock, ⁹therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord!

¹⁰“ ‘This is what the Lord God says: Look, I am against the shepherds.^h I will demand my flock from them^B and prevent them from shepherding the flock. The shepherds will no longer feed themselves, for I will rescue my flock from their mouths so that they will not be food for them.

¹¹“ ‘For this is what the Lord God says: See, I myself will search for my flock and look for them. ¹²As a shepherd looks for his sheep on the day he is among his scattered flock, so I will look for my flock. I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scatteredⁱ on a day of clouds and total darkness. ¹³I will bring them out from the peoples, gather them from the countries, and bring them to their own soil. I will shepherd them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the land. ¹⁴I will tend them in good pasture, and their grazing place will be on Israel’s lofty mountains. There they will lie down in a good grazing place; they will feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵I will tend my flock and let them lie down.^j This is the declaration of the Lord God. ¹⁶I will seek the lost,^k bring back the strays, bandage the injured,^l and strengthen the weak, but I will destroy^C the fat and the strong. I will shepherd them with justice.

¹⁷“ ‘As for you, my flock, the Lord God says this: Look, I am going to judge between one sheep and another, between the rams and goats.^{m 18}Isn’t it enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of the pasture with your feet? Or isn’t it enough that you drink the clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? ¹⁹Yet my flock has to feed on what your feet have trampled, and drink what your feet have muddied.

²⁰“ ‘Therefore, this is what the Lord God says to them: See, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. ²¹Since you have pushed with flank and shoulder and butted all the weak ones with your horns until you scattered them all over, ²²I will save my flock. They will no longer be prey, and I will judge between one sheep and another. ²³I will establish over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will shepherd them. He will tend them himself and will be their shepherd.^{n 24}I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David^o will be a prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken.

²⁵“ ‘I will make a covenant of peace^p with them and eliminate dangerous creatures^q from the land, so that they may live securely^r in the wilderness and sleep in the forest. ²⁶I will make them and the area around my hill^s a blessing: I will send down showers in their season;^t they will be showers of blessing. ²⁷The trees of the field will yield their fruit, and the land will yield its produce; my flock will be secure in their land. They will know that I am the Lord when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the power of those who enslave them.^{u 28}They will no longer be prey for the nations, and the wild creatures of the earth will not consume them. They will live securely, and no one will frighten them. ²⁹I will establish for them a place renowned for its agriculture,^A and they…