Ezekiel 33

1 And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,

Yahweh gave me another message. He said,

2 Son of man, speak to the sons of thy people, and say to them, When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and set him for their watchman,

“You human, speak to your fellow Israelis and say this to them: ‘When I bring an enemy army [MTY] to attack a country, and the people of that country choose one of their men and appoint him to be a watchman,

3 if, when he sees the sword come upon the land, he blows the trumpet, and warns the people,

if he sees the enemy army [MTY] coming to attack his country, and he blows a trumpet to warn the people,

4 then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet, and takes no warning, if the sword comes, and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.

if anyone hears the trumpet and does not heed the warning, and as a result he is killed by the sword [of one of his enemies], he will be responsible for his own death [MTY].

5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took no warning; his blood shall be upon him. Whereas if he had taken warning, he would have delivered his soul.

If he had heeded the warning, he would have (have saved his life/still be alive). But because he heard the sound of the trumpet and did not heed that warning, his death will be his own fault.

6 But if the watchman sees the sword come, and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes, and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at the watchman's hand.

But if the watchman sees the enemy army [MTY] coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people, and one of his people is killed by an enemy sword, that person will die because of his sin, but I will consider that the watchman is responsible for that man’s death.’

7 So thou, son of man, I have set thee a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.

So, you human, I have appointed you to be a watchman for the Israeli people [MTY]. So always listen to what I say and warn the people for me.

8 When I say to the wicked man, O wicked man, thou shall surely die, and thou do not speak to warn the wicked man from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy hand.

When I say to some wicked person, ‘You wicked person, you will surely die [because of your sins,’ you must tell him that]. If you do not speak to that person to warn him that he should turn away from his sins, that wicked person will die because of his sins, but I will say that you are responsible for his death [MTY].

9 Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked man of his way to turn from it, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou have delivered thy soul.

But if you warn that wicked person that he should turn away from his sins, and he does not do that, he will die because of his sins, but you will have saved your life.

10 And thou, son of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus ye speak, saying, Our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we pine away in them. How then can we live?

You human, say to the Israeli people, ‘This is what you all are saying: “[The guilt that we have for] disobeying God’s laws and sinning is like a heavy weight on us, and it is hurting us, and we are slowly dying. So what can we do to continue to remain alive?”’

11 Say to them, As I live, says the lord Jehovah, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, but that the wicked man turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

Say to them, ‘Yahweh the Lord says, “As surely as I am alive, I am not happy when wicked people die; I would prefer that they turn away from their wicked behavior and continue to live. So repent! Turn away from your evil behavior! You Israeli people, do you really want to die [RHQ]?”’

12 And thou, son of man, say to the sons of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous man shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression. And as for the wickedness of the wicked man, he shall not fall by it in the day that he turns from his wickedness, nor shall he who is righteous be able to live by it in the day that he sins.

Therefore, you human, say to your fellow Israelis, ‘If righteous people start to disobey me, their being righteous previously will not save them [from being punished]. And if wicked people turn away from their wicked behavior, they will not die because of the sins that they committed [previously]. And if righteous people start to sin, they will not be allowed to remain alive because of their formerly being righteous.’

13 When I say to the righteous man, that he shall surely live, if he trusts his righteousness, and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered, but in his iniquity that he has committed, in it he shall die.

If I tell righteous people that they will surely remain alive, but then they trust/think that because they have been righteous previously, they can start to do evil [and not be punished], I will not think about the righteous things that they did previously; they will die because of the evil things that they are doing.

14 Again, when I say to the wicked man, Thou shall surely die, if he turns from his sin, and does that which is lawful and right,

And if I say to some wicked person, ‘You will surely die [because of your sins],’ that person may turn away from his sinful behavior and do what is just and right [DOU].

15 if the wicked man restores the pledge, gives again that which he had taken by robbery, walks in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die.

For example, he may return what he took from another person to guarantee [that that person would pay back what he owes], or he may return things that he has stolen, and he may obey the laws that will enable [those who obey them] to remain alive, and he will not continue to do evil things. If that happens, he will surely remain alive; he will not die [because of the sins that he committed previously].

16 None of his sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him. He has done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.

I will not think about the sins that he has committed; he will surely remain alive.

17 Yet the sons of thy people say, The way of the Lord is not equitable. But as for them, their way is not equitable.

Your fellow Israelis say, ‘What Yahweh does is not fair.’ But it is your behavior that is not fair.

18 When the righteous man turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, he shall even die in it.

If a righteous person turns away from doing what is righteous and starts to do what is evil, [it is fair that] he die because of his sins.

19 And when the wicked man turns from his wickedness, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby.

And if a wicked person turns away from his wicked behavior and does what is right and fair [DOU], [it is fair] for him to remain alive because of doing that.

20 Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equitable. O house of Israel, I will judge you everyone according to his ways.

But you Israeli people still say, ‘What Yahweh does is not fair.’ But I will judge each of you for what you do.”

21 And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that a man who had escaped out of Jerusalem came to me, saying, The city is smitten.

Almost twelve years [after we had been taken to Babylonia], on the fifth day of the tenth month [of that year], a man who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me [in Babylon] and said, “Jerusalem has been captured!”

22 Now the hand of Jehovah had been upon me in the evening, before he who escaped came. And he had opened my mouth until he came to me in the morning. And my mouth was opened, and I was no more mute.

The evening before that man arrived, Yahweh took control [MTY] of me, and when that man arrived, Yahweh enabled me to speak again; I was no longer forced to be silent.

23 And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,

Then Yahweh gave a message to me. He said,

24 Son of man, those who inhabit those waste places in the land of Israel speak, saying, Abraham was one, and he inherited the land, but we are many; the land is given us for inheritance.

“You human, the people who are living in the ruins in Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one person, but Yahweh [promised him that he and his descendants] would possess this land. But we are many; so surely this land has been given to us [by Yahweh] to continue to possess.’

25 Therefore say to them, Thus says the lord Jehovah: Ye eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes to your idols, and shed blood. And shall ye possess the land?

So send a message to them. Say, ‘This is what Yahweh the Lord says: You eat meat that still has the animal’s blood in it. You still worship idols. And you still murder others [MTY]. So, (should this land belong to you?/this land should certainly not belong to you!) [RHQ]

26 Ye stand upon your sword, ye work abomination, and ye defile every man his neighbor's wife. And shall ye possess the land?

You rely on using your swords [to obtain things that you want]. You do many detestable things. Each of you has sex with other men’s wives. So (why should you continue to possess the land of Israel?/you should not continue to possess this land!) [RHQ]’

27 Thus shall thou say to them. Thus says the lord Jehovah: As I live, surely those who are in the waste places shall fall by the sword, and he who is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and those who are in the strongholds and in the caves shall die of the pestilence.

Send this message to them: ‘This is what Yahweh the Lord says: As surely as I am alive, those who are left in the ruins [in Jerusalem] will also be killed by [their enemies’] swords, and those who are living in the countryside will be killed by wild animals, and those who are living in forts and caves will die from a plague.

28 And I will make the land a desolation and an astonishment. And the pride of her power shall cease. And the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, so that none shall pass through.

I will cause your country to become a desolate wasteland. You will no longer be proud of being a strong country. The mountains of Israel will become very desolate, with the result that no one will walk across them.

29 Then they shall know that I am Jehovah when I have made the land a desolation and an astonishment, because of all their abominations which they have committed.

Then, when I have caused your country to become a desolate wasteland because of all the detestable things that you have done, you will know that I, Yahweh, [have the power to do what I say that I will do].’

30 And as for thee, son of man, the sons of thy people talk of thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, each one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that comes forth from Jehovah.

As for you, you human, your fellow Israelis [here in Babylon] are talking about you along the city walls and at the doors of their houses. They are saying to each other, ‘Come and listen to the message that has come from Yahweh!’

31 And they come to thee as the people come, and they sit before thee as my people. And they hear thy words, but do not do them. For with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain.

My people come to you as they often have done, and they sit in front of you to listen to what you say. But they do not do what you tell them that they must do. With their mouths they say that they love me, but in their inner beings they are eager to acquire things by doing what is unjust.

32 And, lo, thou are to them as a very lovely song of he who has a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument. For they hear thy words, but they do not do them.

To them, you are only a man who sings love songs with a beautiful voice, and you play a musical instrument well. They hear what you say, but they do not do what you tell them to do.

33 And when this comes to pass, (behold, it comes), then they shall know that a prophet has been among them.

The terrible things that I have said will happen to them will surely happen. And then they will know that a prophet has been among them, [and that you are that prophet].”