Ezekiel 33–34

Ezekiel Appointed as a Watchman and His Responsibility

33And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,^{a 2}“Son of man,^b speak to your people,^c and you must say to them, ‘A land, if I bring over it a sword and the people of the land take a man, one from their number, and they appoint him for them as a watchman, ³and he sees the sword coming against the land, and he blows on the horn and he warns the people, ⁴and anyone who listens^d hears the sound of the horn and he does not take warning^e and the sword comes and it takes him, his blood will be on his own head. ⁵For he heard the sound of the horn and he did not take warning; his blood will be on him. But if he took warning, he saved his life. ⁶And as for the watchman, if he sees the sword coming and he does not blow^f the horn, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and it takes their lives,^g he will be taken through his guilt, but his blood from the hand of the watchman I will seek.’

⁷“And you, son of man,^h I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; if you hear a word from my mouth, then you must warn them from me. ⁸When I sayⁱ to the wicked, ‘Wicked one, you will certainly die,’ and you did not speak^j to warn the wicked from his way, he, the wicked, will die by his guilt, but his blood I will seek from your hand. ⁹But, you, if you warn the wicked from his way, to turn from it, and he does not turn^k from his way, he will die by his guilt, and you will have saved your life.

¹⁰“And you, son of man,^l say to the house of Israel, saying,^m ‘So you said, saying,ⁿ “Indeed, our transgressions and our sins are on us, and because of them we are rotting, and how can we live?” ’ ¹¹Say to them, ‘As I live,’^o declares^p the Lord Yahweh, ‘Surely I have no delight^q in the death of the wicked, except^r in the wicked returning from his way, and he lives. Turn back! Turn back from your ways, O evil ones, for why should you die, house of Israel?’

¹²“So^s you, son of man,^t say to your people^u that the righteousness of the righteous shall not save him in the day of his transgression, and the wickedness of the wicked will not cause him to stumble^v on the day of his returning from his wickedness; and the righteous will not be able to live by it on the day when he returns to his sin. ¹³When I say to the righteous, ‘Certainly he will live,’ and he trusted in^w his righteousness, and he turns and he does injustice, all of his righteousness^x will not be remembered, and because of his injustice that he did, because of it he will die. ¹⁴And when I say to the wicked, ‘Certainly you will die,’ but^y he returns from his sin and he does justice and righteousness— ¹⁵for example, the wicked returns a pledge for a loan, he restores stolen property,^z he goes in the statutes of life so as not to do injustice—certainly he will live; he will not die. ¹⁶All of his sins that he committed,^a they will not be remembered against^b him, and he did justice and righteousness; certainly he will live.

¹⁷“Yet^c your people^d say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair!’ yet their way is not fair. ¹⁸When the righteous turns from his righteousness and does injustice, then he will die because of it.^{e 19}And when the wicked turns from his wickedness, and he does justice and righteousness, because of it^f he will certainly live!^{g 20}Yet you said, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair!’ I will judge you, house of Israel, each person according to his ways.”

²¹And then^h it was in the twelfthⁱ year, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month of our exile, a survivor from Jerusalem came to me, saying,^j “The city was destroyed!” ²²And the hand of Yahweh was on me on the evening before^k the coming of the survivor, and he opened my mouth before the survivor came to me in the morning,^l and my mouth was opened, and I was no longer^m dumb.^{n 23}And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,^{o 24}“Son of man,^p the inhabitants of these ruins on the soil of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was one man, and he took possession of the land, and we are many; the land has been given for^q us as a possession.’ ²⁵Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “You eat blood in your meat, and you raise your eyes to your idols and you pour out blood, and yet you want to take possession of the land?^{r 26}You rely on your sword, you do a detestable thing, and each man defiles^s the wife of his neighbor, and yet you want to take possession of the land?” ’^t

²⁷“Thus you must say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “As I live,^u surely^v whoever is in the ruins, by the sword they will fall, and whoever is on the surface of the open field, I will give him to the animals^w to eat him, and whoever is in the stronghold and in the cave, they will die by the plague. ²⁸And I will make the land a desolation and a wasteland, and the pride of its strength will come to an end, and the mountains of Israel will be desolate with no one traveling through them.” ’^{x 29}And they will know that I am Yahweh when I make my land a desolation and a wasteland, because of all of their detestable things that they have done.

³⁰“And you, son of man,^y your people,^z the ones talking together concerning you beside the walls and in the doorways of the houses, each one with his brother saying,^a ‘Please come and hear what is the word that is going out from Yahweh.’^{b 31}And they come to you as people do,^c and they sit before you,^d and my people hear your words, and they do not do them, for they are showing^e passion in their mouth, but their heart is going after ill-gotten gain. ³²Now, look! You are to them like a sensual song,^f beautiful of voice and played well on an instrument,^g and they hear your words, but they are not doing them.^{h 33}Soⁱ when it comes,^j look! It is coming! And then they will know that a prophet was in the midst of them.”

Prophecy Concerning Israel’s Shepherds and Sheep

34And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, ²“Son of man,^a prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and you must say to them, to the shepherds, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who were feeding themselves! Must not the shepherds feed the flock? ³The fat you eat, and you clothe yourself with the wool; the well-nourished animals you slaughter, but you do not feed the flock. ⁴The weak you have not strengthened, and the sick you have not healed, and with respect to^b the hurt^c you have not bound them up, and you have not brought back the scattered, and you have not sought the lost, but rather you ruled over them with force^d and with ruthlessness. ⁵And they were scattered without^e a shepherd, and they were^f as food for all the animals^g of the field when they were scattered. ⁶My flock went astray upon all of the mountains and on every high hill, and so upon all the surface of the world^h my flock were scattered, and there was no one seeking them,ⁱ and there was no one searching for them.”^{j 7}Therefore, hear, O shepherds, the word of Yahweh: ⁸“As I live,”^k declares^l the Lord Yahweh, “Surely^m because my flock have become as plunder, and my flock became as food toⁿ all the animals^o of the field, since there was not a shepherd, since my shepherds have not sought my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and they fed not my flock,’ ” ⁹therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh, ¹⁰‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am against the shepherds, and I will seek my flock from their hand, and I will put an end to them from shepherding flocks, and the shepherds will no longer^p feed themselves, and I will deliver my flocks from their mouth, so that they will not be as food for them.”

¹¹“ ‘For thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I, even I, will seek my flock, and I will look after them, ¹²just like the caring of a shepherd for his herd on^q the day when he is in the midst of his scattered flock. Thus I will look after my flock, and I will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered^r on the day of storm and stress.^{s 13}And I will bring them out from the peoples, and I will gather them from the countries, and I will bring them to their soil, and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys, and in all of the settlements of the land. ¹⁴I will feed them in good pasture, and their pasture will be on the mountains of the heights of Israel; there they will lie down in good pasture, and on lush pasture they will feed on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵I myself^t will feed my flock and I myself^u will allow them to lie down,” declares^v the Lord Yahweh. ¹⁶“I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the scattered, and I will bind up the one hurt, and I will strengthen the sick; and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed her with justice.”

¹⁷“ ‘And you, my flock, thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am judging between one sheep and another,^w between the rams and between the he-goats. ¹⁸Is it not enough for you^x that you feed on the good pasture? And still you must trample the remainder of your pasture with your feet, and clear water^y you drink, and the leftover water^z you must make muddy with your feet. ¹⁹And my flock must graze the pasture treaded upon by^a your feet, and must drink the mud puddle stirred up by^b your feet.”

²⁰“ ‘Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh to them: “Look! I, even I will judge between fat sheep and between lean sheep, ²¹because with your flank and with your shoulder you shoved, and with your horns you pushed all of the sick animals until^c you scattered it^d to the outside. ²²And so I will save my flock, and they will no longer be^e for plunder, and I will judge between one sheep and another.^{f 23}And I will set up over them one shepherd, and he will feed them; that is, my servant David. He will feed them, and he will be for them as^g a shepherd. ²⁴And I, Yahweh, I will be for them as God,^h and my servant David will be a leader in the midst of them. I, Yahweh, I have spoken. ²⁵And I will make them a covenant of peace, and I will put an end to wild animalsⁱ from the land, and they will dwell in…