Ezekiel the Watchman for Israel

1And the word of YHWH came to me, saying: 2“Son of man, speak to the sons of your people, and say to them: ‘A land, when I bring upon it the sword, and the people of the land take a single man from their borders and set him to them as watchman, 3and he sees the sword coming upon the land, and he blows on the shofar and warns the people,

4then if anyone at all hears the voice of the shofar and has not heeded the warning, when the sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his head. 5He heard the voice of the shofar and he did not heed the warning; his blood will be upon himself. And he who has heeded the warning has saved his soul.

6And the watchman, if he sees the sword coming and does not blow on the shofar, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes from among them a soul, he will be taken away in his iniquity, and I will seek his blood from the hand of the watchman.’

7And you, O son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel, and you will hear a word from My mouth, and you will give a warning to them from Me. 8In My saying to the wicked, ‘O wicked one, you will surely die,’ if you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, then that wicked one will die in his iniquity, and I will seek his blood from your hand. 9And you, if if you warn the wicked from his way, to turn from it, and he does not turn from his way, then he will die in his iniquity, and you will have delivered your soul.†

The Message of the Watchman

10Now you, son of man, say to the house of Israel: Thus you⁺ have spoken, saying, ‘Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and in them we rot away! How then can we live?’

11Say to them: ‘As I live, a declaration of the Lord YHWH, I have no delight in the death of the wicked, but only in turning the wicked from his way that he should live. Turn back, turn back from your⁺ evil ways! For why should you⁺ die, O house of Israel?’

12And you, son of man, say to the sons of your people: ‘The righteousness of the righteous man will not snatch him up in the day of his transgression, and the wickedness of the wicked will not cause him to stumble because of it in the day of his turning from his wickedness. And the righteous one will not be able to live by it in the day of his sinning.’

13In My saying to the righteous, ‘He will surely live,’ and he trusts in his righteousness and does iniquity, all his righteousnesses will not be remembered; and because of the iniquity that he did, by it he will die.

14And in My saying to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and he turns from his sin and does what is just and right, 15if a wicked one restores a pledge for what he has stolen, makes restitution in the statutes of life, and he walks without doing iniquity, he will surely live; he will not die. 16All his sins that he had sinned, they will not be remembered for him; what is just and right he has done; he will surely live.

17And the sons of your people may say, ‘The way of the Lord is not balanced.’ And they—their way is not balanced. 18In the turning of the righteous from his righteousness, and he has done iniquity, he will die because of it. 19And in the turning of the wicked from his wickedness, and he has done what is just and righteous, because of it he will live.

20And you⁺ say, ‘The way of the Lord is not balanced!’ Each man—according to his ways will I judge you⁺, O house of Israel.”

Word of Jerusalem’s Fall

21And it came to pass, in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, on the fifth of the month, that an escapee came to me from Jerusalem, and he said, “The city has been struck!”

22And the hand of YHWH had been upon me in the evening, before the coming of the escapee, and He had opened my mouth until his coming to me in the morning, and my mouth was opened, and I was not mute any longer.

23And the word of YHWH came to me, saying: 24“Son of man, those dwelling in these ruins in the land of Israel are speaking, saying: ‘Abraham was one, and he possessed the land; and we are many—to us the land has been given as a possession!’

25Therefore say to them, thus says the Lord YHWH: ‘You⁺ eat that with the blood, and you⁺ lift up your⁺ eyes toward your⁺ idols, and you⁺ pour out blood—and you⁺ would possess the land? You⁺ rely on your⁺ sword, you⁺ commit abominations, and each man defiles the wife of his neighbor—and you⁺ would possess the land?’

27Thus you shall say to them, thus says the Lord YHWH: ‘As I live, surely those who are in the ruins will fall by the sword, and the one who is upon the face of the field I will give to the beasts to eat him, and those who are in the strongholds and in the caves will die by the pestilence. 28And I will give the land as a desolation and a horror, and will cease the pride of its strength, and the mountains of Israel will be desolate, with no one passing through! 29And they will know that I am YHWH, in My giving the land as a desolation and a horror, because of all their abominations that they have done.’

30And you, son of man, the sons of your people are speaking about you beside the walls and in the doors of the houses, and they speak one to to another, a man to his brother, saying: ‘Come, now, and hear what is the word coming forth from YHWH.’

31And they come to you, like the coming of people, and they sit before you—My people, and they hear your words, and they will not do them; for they do loves with their mouth; their heart is pursuing after dishonest gain. 32And behold, you are to them as a song of loves, one beautiful of voice, and playing well on a stringed instrument; for they hear your words, and nthey do ot do them. 33And in the coming of this—and behold, it is coming—they will know that a prophet has been among them.”