Ezekiel 33

TKJU^{(i) 1} Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ² "Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them, 'When I bring the sword on a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: ³ If when he sees the sword come upon the land, he blows the trumpet, and warns the people; ⁴ then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet, and does not take warning; if the sword comes, and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. ⁵ He heard the sound of the trumpet, and did not take warning; his blood shall be on him. But he who takes warning shall deliver his soul. ⁶ But if the watchman sees the sword come, and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned; if the sword comes, and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand.' ⁷ So you, O son of man, I have set you a watchman to the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear the Word at My mouth, and warn them from Me. ⁸ When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you shall surely die'; if you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but I will require his blood at your hand. ⁹ Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul. ¹⁰ Therefore, O you son of man, speak to the house of Israel; Thus speak, saying, 'If our transgressions and our sins are on us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?' ¹¹ Say to them, 'As I live', said the Lord GOD, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: Turn yourself, turn from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?' ¹² Therefore, you son of man, say to the children of your people, 'The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: As for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall because of it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sins.' ¹³ When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trusts in his own righteousness, and commits iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he has committed, he shall die for it. ¹⁴ Again, when I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die'; if he turns from his sin, and does that which is lawful and right; ¹⁵ if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he had robbed, walks in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. ¹⁶ None of his sins that he has committed shall be mentioned to him: He has done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live. ¹⁷ Yet the children of your people say, 'The way of the Lord is not equal': But as for them, their way is not equal. ¹⁸ When the righteous turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, for that he shall even die. ¹⁹ But if the wicked turns from his wickedness, and does that which is lawful and right, for that he shall live. ²⁰ Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not equal.' O you house of Israel, I will judge everyone of you after his ways." ²¹ And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, that one who had escaped out of Jerusalem came to me, saying, "The city is smitten." ²² Now the hand of the LORD was on me in the evening, before he who had escaped came; and had opened my mouth, until He came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no more dumb. ²³ Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ²⁴ "Son of man, those who inhabit those wastes of the land of Israel speak, saying, 'Abraham was one, and he inherited the land: But we are many; the land is given to us as an inheritance.' ²⁵ Therefore say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD; "You eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes toward your idols, and shed blood: And shall you possess the land? ²⁶ You stand on your sword, you work abomination, anD Everyone defiles his neighbor's wife: And shall you possess the land?" ' ²⁷ Thus say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD; "As I live, surely those who are in the wastes shall fall by the sword, and he who is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and they who are in the forts and in the caves shall die of the pestilence. ²⁸ For I will lay the land most desolate, and the pomp of her strength shall cease; and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, that none shall pass through. ²⁹ Then they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have laid the land most desolate because of all their abominations which they have committed." ' ³⁰ Also, you son of man, the children of your people are still talking against you by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, everyone to his brother, saying, 'Come, I implore you, and hear what is the word that comes forth from the LORD.' ³¹ And they come to you according to the coming of the people, and they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they will not do them: For with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their covetousness. ³² And, see, you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: For they hear your words, but they do them not. ³³ And when this comes to pass, (see, it will come), then they shall know that a prophet has been among them."