Ezekiel 33

₁The Lord talked to me and He said: ₂‘Son of man, you must talk to the people of your nation and tell them: “If I bring war to a land, the people of the land will choose one of their own people to be a guard for them. ₃What must the guard do? If he sees the enemies coming to attack the land, he must blow the trumpet and warn the people. ₄If they hear the trumpet but they do nothing and the enemies come and kill them, then it will be their own fault that they died. ₅Because they heard the trumpet, but they did nothing, it is their own fault that they died. If they had listened to the guard when he warned them, they could have done something to save their lives. ₆But if the guard sees the enemies and he does not blow the trumpet to warn the people, and the enemies come and kill some of them, those people will die because of their own sin. But I will punish the guard because those people have died.”

₇Son of man, I have chosen you to be the guard for the people of Israel. If I tell you to warn the people, you must do it. ₈If I tell someone who does wrong that he will surely die, and you don't talk to him and warn him to stop doing wrong, then that person will die because of his sin. But I will punish you for his death. ₉But if someone does wrong and you warn him to stop doing wrong, and he does not turn away from sin, then that person will die because of his sin. It will be his own fault that he died, and you will not be guilty.’

₁₀‘And you, Son of man, you must say to the Israelites: “You say: “‘We were rebellious and we have sinned so much that it is like a heavy load for us to carry. It is killing us. What can we do to stay alive?”’ ”

₁₁You must tell them: “The Lord God says: I do not want people who do wrong to die, this is as sure as I live. I want them to stop doing wrong so that they can keep on living. Israelites, you must stop doing wrong. You must stop sinning. Why do you want to die?”

₁₂And you, Son of man, you must tell your people: “If someone who has always lived in the right way later starts to rebel_against Me, then I will punish him. The good things that he did before will not save him. And if someone who has always done wrong turns away from sin, I will not punish him. Someone who has always lived right and then starts sinning must know that the good things that he has done will not save him. ₁₃If I say to a good person: “‘You will live because you are righteous,”’ then he must not think that he has done enough good things and that it will save him. If he stops being good and turns_to_sin, I will forget the good things that he did and he will not be saved, because of the bad things that he has done. ₁₄If I say to a bad and sinful person: “‘You will surely die,”’ and he then stops sinning and starts to live in the right way, then he will not die ₁₅if he starts doing good, like giving back the things that he took because someone could not pay him. If he lives in the right way and does what I want, he will live. ₁₆I will not think about the sins that he did, and I will not punish him. He is doing good things and he is living in the right way now, so he will be saved. He will not die, this is sure.”

₁₇Your people say: “What the Lord does is not right.” But it is they who are not doing what is right. ₁₈If anyone who lived in the right way stops doing good things and starts to do what is wrong, then he will die because he has done wrong. ₁₉And if anyone who has always done wrong stops doing bad things, and starts doing good and living in the right way, then he will live because of the good things he does. ₂₀Israelites, you say what I do is not right, but I will judge every one of you on what you have done.’

₂₁It was the 12th year after we had become prisoners in Babylon, in the 10th month, on the 5th day of the month. Someone who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me and told me that the enemies had defeated Jerusalem. ₂₂The night before the person came, the Lord put his hand on me and for a while I could not talk. But when the person came to me the next morning, the Lord made me talk again.

₂₃The Lord talked to me and He said: ₂₄‘Son of man, the people who are living among the heaps of stones in the land_of_Israel, say: “Abraham was only one man and the Lord gave the land to him. We are a lot of people, so we are sure that the Lord will give this land to us.”

₂₅I am the Lord God. You must tell them that I said: “You eat meat that still has blood in it, you worship_idols, and you kill people. Do you think I must give the land to you? No. ₂₆You think your swords or wars will help you, you do things that I hate, you have sex with each others' wives and make them impure, but you want Me to give you the land. Do you think this is right? No, it is not.”

₂₇You must tell them: “The Lord God says: The people who are still_alive and who are living among the heaps of stones will die in war. I am giving the people who live outside in the field to the wild animals to eat. And the people who are hiding on the mountains or in caves will die of disease. This is sure, as sure as I live. ₂₈I will destroy the land, and no one will be able to live there. There will be nothing left over of everything that they were proud of and the things that protected them. The mountains_of_Israel will become empty, and no person will go there. ₂₉They have done things that I hate. That is why I will destroy the land so that no one will be able to live there. Then they will know that I am the Lord.” ’

₃₀‘And you, Son of man, your people are talking about you all along the walls and at the doors of the houses. They say to themselves: “Let's go to the prophet and ask him what the Lord says to us, and what his message is to us.”

₃₁Then all of them come to you and they sit in front of you, and pretend to be my people. They listen to what you say but they don't do what you tell them. They use words that mean nothing and say that they love Me, but in their hearts they don't. They do only things that are good for themselves. ₃₂To them, you are like someone who sings beautiful songs about love and someone who plays the lyre. They hear what you say but they don't do what you tell them to do. ₃₃But the things you say will happen, this is sure. And then they will remember that there was a prophet among them.’