Ezekiel 33–34

Ezekiel Is Israel’s Watchman

33The word of the Lord came to me: ^2t“Son of man, speak to ^uyour people and say to them, If ^vI bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and make him their ^wwatchman, ³and if he sees the sword coming upon the land and ^xblows the trumpet and warns the people, ⁴then if anyone who hears the sound of the trumpet does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, ^yhis blood shall be upon his own head. ^5zHe heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But if he had taken warning, he would have saved his life. ^6aBut if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them, ^athat person is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.

^7b“So you, ^tson of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. ^bWhenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. ^8cIf I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, ^cand you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, ^cthat wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. ^9dBut if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, ^dthat person shall die in his iniquity, ^ebut you will have delivered your soul.

Why Will You Die, Israel?

¹⁰“And you, ^fson of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus have you said: ‘Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and ^gwe rot away because of them. ^hHow then can we live?’ ¹¹Say to them, ⁱAs I live, declares the Lord God, ^jI have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; ^kturn back, turn back from your evil ways, ^kfor why will you die, O house of Israel?

^12t“And you, son of man, say to ^lyour people, ^mThe righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him when he transgresses, ⁿand as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall by it when he turns from his wickedness, ^mand the righteous shall not be able to live by his righteousness¹ when he sins. ¹³Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet ^mif he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered, but in his injustice that he has done he shall die. ¹⁴Again, ^othough I say to the wicked, ^p‘You shall surely die,’ yet ^qif he turns from his sin and does what is just and right, ¹⁵if the wicked ^rrestores the pledge, ^sgives back what he has taken by robbery, and walks ^tin the statutes of life, not doing injustice, he shall surely live; he shall not die. ^16uNone of the sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him. He has done what is just and right; he shall surely live.

¹⁷“Yet ^lyour people say, ^v‘The way of the Lord is not just,’ when it is their own way that is not just. ^18wWhen the righteous turns from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it. ¹⁹And ^xwhen the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he shall live by this. ²⁰Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, ^yI will judge each of you according to his ways.”

Jerusalem Struck Down

²¹In the ^ztwelfth year ^aof our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, ^ba fugitive from Jerusalem came to me and said, ^c“The city has been struck down.” ^22dNow ^ethe hand of the Lord had been upon me the evening before the fugitive came; and he had opened my mouth by the time the man came to me in the morning, so my mouth was opened, and I was no longer mute.

²³The word of the Lord came to me: ^24f“Son of man, the inhabitants of these ^gwaste places in the land of Israel keep saying, ^h‘Abraham was only one man, yet he got possession of the land; but ⁱwe are many; the land is surely given us to possess.’ ²⁵Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord God: ^jYou eat flesh with the blood and ^klift up your eyes to your idols and ^lshed blood; shall you then possess the land? ^26mYou rely on the sword, ⁿyou commit abominations, and ⁿeach of you defiles his neighbor’s wife; shall you then possess the land? ²⁷Say this to them, Thus says the Lord God: ^oAs I live, surely those who are in ^pthe waste places shall fall by ^qthe sword, and whoever is in the open field I will give to ^qthe beasts to be devoured, and those who are in ^rstrongholds and in caves shall die by ^qpestilence. ^28sAnd I will make the land a desolation and a waste, and ^ther proud might shall come to an end, and ^uthe mountains of Israel shall be so desolate that none will pass through. ^29vThen they will know that I am the Lord, when I have made the land a desolation and a waste because of all their abominations that they have committed.

³⁰“As for you, ^fson of man, ^wyour people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses say to one another, each to his brother, ‘Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord.’ ^31xAnd they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for ^ywith lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain. ³²And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and ^zplays² well on an instrument, for ^athey hear what you say, but they will not do it. ^33bWhen this comes—and come it will!—^cthen they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

Prophecy Against the Shepherds of Israel

34The word of the Lord came to me: ^2d“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: ^eAh, shepherds of Israel ^fwho have been feeding yourselves! ^gShould not shepherds feed the sheep? ^3hYou eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, ⁱyou slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. ^4jThe weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, ^hthe injured you have not bound up, ^hthe strayed you have not brought back, ^kthe lost you have not sought, and with force and ^lharshness you have ruled them. ^5mSo they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and ⁿthey became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered; ⁶they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, ^owith none to search or seek for them.

⁷“Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: ^8pAs I live, declares the Lord God, surely because ^qmy sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep, ⁹therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: ¹⁰Thus says the Lord God, ^rBehold, I am against the shepherds, and ^sI will require my sheep at their hand and ^tput a stop to their feeding the sheep. ^uNo longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. ^vI will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.

The Lord God Will Seek Them Out

¹¹“For thus says the Lord God: ^wBehold, I, I ^xmyself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. ¹²As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on ^ya day of clouds and ^zthick darkness. ¹³And I will bring them out from the peoples ^aand gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on ^bthe mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. ^14cI will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. ^dThere they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. ^15eI myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, ^dand I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. ^16fI will seek the lost, ^gand I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and ^hthe fat and the strong I will destroy.¹ I will feed them in justice.

¹⁷“As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God: ⁱBehold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and ^jmale goats. ¹⁸Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of ^kclear water, that you must muddy the rest of the water with your feet? ¹⁹And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet?

²⁰“Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. ²¹Because you push with side and shoulder, and ^lthrust at all the ^mweak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad, ²²I will rescue² my flock; ⁿthey shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep. ²³And ^oI will set up over them one shepherd, ^pmy servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. ²⁴And ^qI, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. ^rI am the Lord; I have spoken.

The Lord’s Covenant of Peace

^25s“I will make with them a covenant of peace and ^tbanish wild beasts from the land, ^uso that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. ²⁶And I will make them and the places all around my hill ^va blessing, and ^wI will send down the showers in their season; they shall be ^xshowers of blessing. ^27yAnd the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, ^uand they shall be secure in their land. And ^zthey shall know that I am the Lord, when ^aI break the bars of their yoke, and ^adeliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them. ²⁸ⁿThey shall no more be a prey to the nations, ^tnor shall the…