Ezekiel 33:1–20

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.”