Ezekiel as Israel’s Watchman
1 The word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, speak to your people and tell them, ‘When I bring the sword on a land, and the people of the land choose a man from among them and set him up as their watchman, 3 if, when he sees the sword come on the land, he blows the trumpet and warns the people, 4 then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not heed the warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. 5 He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not heed the warning. His blood will be on his own head. Whereas, if he had heeded the warning, he would have delivered himself.
6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes the life of anyone among them, he is taken away because of his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the hands of the watchman.’
7 So you, son of man, I have set you as a watchman for the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word from my mouth and give them warnings from me. 8 When I tell the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his ways, that wicked man will die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hands. 9 Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked to turn from his ways, and he does not turn from his ways, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul.”
The Message of the Watchman
10 “You, son of man, tell the house of Israel this: ‘Our transgressions and our sins are on us, and we pine away in them. How then can we live?’ 11 Tell them, ‘As I live,” says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but desire that the wicked turn from his ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, house of Israel?’
12 You, son of man, tell your people, ‘The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him in the day of his disobedience. And as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not fall because of it when he turns from his wickedness, nor will he who is righteous be able to live because he was righteous when he turns to sin.
13 When I tell the righteous that he will surely live, if he trusts in his righteousness, and commits sin, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered, but he will die in the sin that he has committed. 14 Again, when I say to the wicked, “You will surely die,” if he turns from his sin, and does that which is lawful and right, 15 if the wicked restores his pledge, giving back that which he had taken in robbery, walks in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity, he will surely live. He will not die. 16 None of the sins that he has committed will be remembered against him. He has done that which is lawful and right. He will surely live.
17 Yet your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair,’ but as for them, their way is not fair. 18 When the righteous turns from his righteousness, and commits sin, he will die in that sin. 19 When the wicked turns from his wickedness, and does that which is lawful and right, he will live because of it. 20 Yet you say, ‘The ways of the Lord are not fair.’ House of Israel, I will judge you individually according to each of your ways.”
Explanation of Jerusalem’s Fall
21 On the fifth day of the tenth month, in the twelfth year of our exile, someone who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me, saying, “The city has been defeated!” 22 Now the hand of the Lord had been on me the evening before the escapee had come, and the Lord opened my mouth, so when the escapee came to me in the morning, my mouth was opened, and I was no longer mute.
23 The word of the Lord came to me, saying, 24 “Son of man, the inhabitants of the ruins of the land of Israel are speaking out, saying, ‘Abraham was one, yet he inherited the land. We are many. The land has been given to us as an inheritance.’
25 Therefore tell them, ‘The Lord God says: You eat meat with the blood still in it and look up to your idols and shed blood. So should you possess the land? 26 You stand upon your sword, you commit abominations, and every one of you defiles his neighbor’s wife. So should you possess the land?
27 You shall tell them that the Lord God says: ‘As I live, surely those who are in the ruins will fall by the sword. I will give those in the open field to be devoured by animals, and those who are in the strongholds and in the caves will die from disease. 28 I will make the land an appalling desolation. The pride of her power will cease. The mountains of Israel will be desolate so that no one will pass through. 29 Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I have made the land an appalling desolation because of all the abominations which they have committed.’
30 As for you, son of man, your people talk about you by the walls and at the doors of their homes, speaking to one another, everyone saying to his brother, ‘Please come and hear the word that comes from the Lord.’
31 They come to you as usual, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but do not do them, for with their mouths they show much love, but their hearts seek selfish gain. 32 You are like a singer with a great voice, singing a lovely song to them, playing well on an instrument, for they hear your words, but they do not do them.
33 When this comes to pass—and it is coming—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”