Ezekiel 33:1-33

YAHWEH spoke to me, saying, “Son of man, give your people this message: ‘If I bring war to your nation, you must select a man and post him as a watchman. When he sees the enemy coming to attack, he must sound his shofar to warn the people. If people hear the warning but pay no attention and the sword overtakes them and kills them, they will bear the responsibility for their own deaths. Because they heard the sound of the shofar and paid no attention to the warning, their deaths are their own faults. But if they had listened to the warning, they could have saved their lives. “ ‘If, however, the watchman sees the enemy approaching but has not blown his shofar to warn the people and the sword overtakes them and kills a single one of them, even though that person was a sinner, I will still hold the watchman responsible for that person’s death.’ “Son of man, I have appointed you as watchman for the people of Israel. When you hear me speak a warning, give them my warning. If I say to the wicked, ‘Evildoers, you are about to die,’ and you fail to warn them to renounce their evil ways, they will die for their guilt, but I will hold you responsible for their deaths. But if you warn the wicked to change their evil behavior and they refuse to change, the wicked will die for their sins, but you will have saved your own life.” “Son of man, say to the people of Israel, ‘You continually say: Our rebellious acts and our sins have caught up with us, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?’ “Say to them, ‘As surely as I, Lord YAHWEH, exist—I take no delight in the death of the wicked, but I delight in seeing them turn from their ways so they can live. So, repent and turn from your evil ways. People of Israel, why would you want to die? Turn and come back to me!’ “Son of man, say to your people, ‘All the good things a good person has done will not be any help if that one decides to turn to sin. And all the sins of an evil person will not destroy him if the evildoer decides to repent and turn from sin. If the righteous turns to sin, the righteous person will not be able to live because of past righteous deeds.’ Suppose I say to a righteous person: ‘You will certainly live,’ but then he becomes confident in his righteousness and turns away and willfully sins; none of the good things he has done in the past will be remembered. He will die in his sins. If, however, I say to a wicked person: ‘You will certainly die,’ but then the wicked turns away from sin and does what is just and right by returning what has been stolen and returning the borrower’s pledge and by following the laws that give life and no longer doing wrong, that person will live and will not die. None of his previous sins will be counted against him, for he has done what is just and right—therefore, he will certainly live. “Yet your people say: ‘The ways of the Lord are not right.’ But it is their ways that are not right! When an upright person turns away from what is right and does what is evil, that person will die for it. And when a wicked person turns from being wicked and does what is just and right, that person will live. Yet you say: ‘The ways of the Lord are not right.’ Listen, people of Israel, I will judge each of you according to your ways.” In the eleventh year of our captivity, on the fifth day of the tenth month, one who escaped from Jerusalem arrived and informed me: “The city has been taken.” Now the evening before the survivor arrived, the mighty hand of YAHWEH had rested on me, and my speech was fully restored before he came to me in the morning—I could speak again. Then YAHWEH said to me, “Son of man, the people who are living in the ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one man when he took possession of the land, but we are many. Certainly, we can possess this land and rebuild.’ “Now give the people this message, ‘Lord YAHWEH says to you: Do you really think you can take ownership of the land? You are evildoers! You murder others, you eat meat with blood, and you worship your foul idols. You rely on your swords, you engage in despicable pagan practices, and you are all adulterers. Do you really think I will give the ownership of the land to you?’ “Tell them that I, Lord YAHWEH, solemnly warn them: As surely as I exist, those living in the ruined towns will fall by the sword, those in the countryside I will give to the wild animals for them to eat, and those among the crags and in caves will die from disease. I will turn the land into a total wasteland, and I will put an end to their arrogant power. Israel’s mountains will be so deserted that no one will pass that way again. Then they will know that I am YAHWEH, when I turn the land into a barren desert because of all the filthy things they have done.” “As for you, son of man, your fellow citizens are talking about you beside the walls and in the doorways of their homes. They keep saying to one another, ‘Let’s go hear what YAHWEH has to say.’ They all flock to you to sit at your feet as my people. They listen to your words, but they will not act on them. Instead, they express genuine devotion to YAHWEH, but their hearts are set on cheating others. As far as they are concerned, you are like an entertainer who sings a love song with a beautiful voice to a good musical accompaniment. They hear what you say, but no one will do it. When all your prophecies come true —and they are beginning to be fulfilled now—they will know that there has been a true prophet among them.”