Ezekiel 33

1 And the word of Yahweh came unto me saying:

Yahweh gave me another message. He said,

2 Son of man Speak unto the sons of thy people and thou shalt say unto them, A land—when I bring upon it a sword, And the people of the land shall take one man out of their whole number, and appoint him for them, as 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 And he shall see the sword coming upon the land, —and shall blow with the horn and warn 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 as for him who really heard the sound of the horn and took not warning, The sword indeed hath come and taken him away, — His blood, upon his own head shall remain: —

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 The sound of the horn, he heard, but took not warning, His blood, upon himself shall remain, — Whereas had he taken warning, his own soul, he should have delivered.

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 as for the watchman-When he seeth the sword coming. And hath not blown with the horn. And the people, have not been warned, And the sword, hath come and taken away from among them any person he, for his iniquity, hath been taken away, But his blood at the hand of the watchman will I require.

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 Thou therefore Son of man, A watchman, have I appointed thee, to the house of Israel, So then thou shalt hear at my mouth a message, and shalt warn them 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 lawless man O lawless man thou shalt surely die, And thou have not spoken to warn the lawless man from his way He the lawless man for his iniquity shall die, But his blood- at thy hand- will I demand.

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 But as for thyself When thou hast warned a lawless man from his way, to turn therefrom, And he hath not turned from his way He, for his own iniquity shall die, But thou hast delivered thine own life,

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 Thou, therefore, Son of man, Say unto the house of Israel, Thus, have ye spoken saying: When our transgressions and our sins are upon us, —and for them, we are melting away 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 unto them, As I live, Declareth My Lord Yahweh, Surely, I can take no pleasure in the death of the lawless man, But that the lawless man turn from his way, and live, - Turn ye, turn ye, from your wicked ways, For wherefore should 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 Thou, therefore, Son of man Say unto 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 lawlessness of the lawless man, He shall not stumble thereby, in the day of his return from his lawlessness, - Nor shall the righteous man be able to live thereby, in the day of his sin.

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 of the righteous man He shall surely live but he hath trusted in his righteousness and committed perversity None of his righteous deeds shall be mentioned, But by his perversity which he hath committed—thereby, shall he 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 And when I say to the lawless man Thou shalt surely die, but he shall turn from his sin, and do justice and righteousness:

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 The debt-pledge, the lawless man shall restore Plunder, shall pay back, In the statutes of life, hath walked, so as not to commit perversity. 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 which he hath committed shall be called to mind against him, — Justice and righteousness, hath he done He shall surely live.

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

17 And can the sons of thy people say, The way of The Lord will not be equal? Nay! but as for them, their way will not be equal!

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

18 When the righteous man shall turn from his righteousness and commit perversity Then shall he die for them;

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 But when the lawless man shall turn from his lawlessness, and do justice and righteousness Upon them, shall he live.

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 And can ye then say, The way of The Lord will not be equal? Every man—according to his own ways so will I judge you O house of Israel?

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, in the tenth month on the fifth of the month of our exile, that there came unto me one that had escaped out of Jerusalem saying. Smitten is the city!

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 Yahweh, had come unto me in the evening, before the coming of him who had escaped, and he had opened my mouth, by the time that he came to me in the morning, —so my mouth, was opened, and I was dumb no longer.

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 Then came the word of Yahweh unto me saying:

Then Yahweh gave a message to me. He said,

24 Son of man These inhabitants of waste places on the soil of Israel are saying thus, One, was Abraham. Yet he inherited the land, - But, we, are many, To us, is the land given as an 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 Wherefore say unto them Thus, saith My Lord. Yahweh. -With the blood, ye do eat. And your eyes, ye do lift up unto your manufactured gods. And blood, ye do shed; And the land, shall ye inherit?

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 men have taken your stand by your sword. Ye women have wrought abomination, And every man—with the wife of his neighbour, have ye defiled yourselves; And the land, shall ye inherit?

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 shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith My Lord Yahweh, As I live, surely, they who are in the waste places by the sword, shall fall, And him who is on the face of the field to the wild beast, have I given to be devoured, - And they who are in the mountain holds and in the pits: by pestilence, shall die;

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, So shall be made to cease the pride of her strength, - And the mountains of Israel shall be too desolate for any to 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 So shall they know that I, am Yahweh, — When I make 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 Thou therefore Son of man, the sons of thy people who are talking against thee Near the walls and in the entrances of the houses, are speaking one with another, every man with his brother saying. Come in we pray you and heat, what is the word that is coming forth from Yahweh;

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 That they may come unto thee as people do come And may sit before thee as my people, And they will hear thy words, But, the words themselves, will they not do, — though fond with their mouths, they seem to be, After their unjust gain, their heart is going.

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 art to them— As a bewitching song, Of one with a beautiful voice. And skilfully touching the strings, —So will they hear thy words, And yet be going to do none of 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 But when it cometh Lo! it is coming, Then shall they know that a prophet hath been in their midst.

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].”