1Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2“Son of man, speak to your people and tell them: ‘Suppose I bring the sword against a land, and the people of that land choose a man from among them, appointing him as their watchman,[ † ]Ezekiel 3:11Ezekiel 14:172 Samuel 18:24-252 Kings 9:17Hosea 9:8 3and he sees the sword coming against that land and blows the ram’s horn to warn the people.
4Then if anyone hears the sound of the horn but fails to heed the warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head.[ † ]2 Chronicles 25:16Jeremiah 6:17Zechariah 1:4Ezekiel 18:13Ezekiel 35:9Acts 18:6 5Since he heard the sound of the horn but failed to heed the warning, his blood will be on his own head. If he had heeded the warning, he would have saved his life.
6But if the watchman sees the sword coming and fails to blow the horn to warn the people, and the sword comes and takes away a life, then that one will be taken away in his iniquity, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.’[ † ]Ezekiel 33:8
7As for you, O son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word from My mouth and give them the warning from Me.[ † ]Isaiah 62:6Ezekiel 3:17-21 8If I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ but you do not speak out to dissuade him from his way, then that wicked man will die in his iniquity, yet I will hold you accountable for his blood. 9But if you warn the wicked man to turn from his way, and he does not turn from it, he will die in his iniquity, but you will have saved your life.
10Now as for you, son of man, tell the house of Israel that this is what they have said: ‘Our transgressions and our sins are heavy upon us, and we are wasting away because of them! How can we live?’[ † ]Leviticus 26:39Ezekiel 24:23Isaiah 49:14Ezekiel 37:11
11Say to them: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord God, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’[ † ]2 Samuel 14:14Lamentations 3:33Ezekiel 18:23-32Hosea 11:82 Peter 3:9Ezekiel 18:21-30Hosea 14:1-4Acts 3:19Isaiah 55:6-7Jeremiah 3:22Ezekiel 18:30-31Hosea 14:1
12Therefore, son of man, say to your people: ‘The righteousness of the righteous man will not deliver him in the day of his transgression; neither will the wickedness of the wicked man cause him to stumble on the day he turns from his wickedness. Nor will the righteous man be able to survive by his righteousness on the day he sins.’[ † ]Ezekiel 3:20Ezekiel 18:24-262 Chronicles 7:14Ezekiel 8:21Ezekiel 33:19
13If I tell the righteous man that he will surely live, but he then trusts in his righteousness and commits iniquity, then none of his righteous works will be remembered; he will die because of the iniquity he has committed.[ † ]Ezekiel 3:20Ezekiel 18:24
14But if I tell the wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ and he turns from his sin and does what is just and right—[ † ]Isaiah 55:7Jeremiah 18:7-8Ezekiel 3:18-19Ezekiel 18:27Hosea 14:1-4 15if he restores a pledge, makes restitution for what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life without practicing iniquity—then he will surely live; he will not die.[ † ]Ezekiel 18:7Exodus 22:1-4Leviticus 6:2-4, 5Numbers 5:6-7Luke 19:8Leviticus 18:5Psalms 119:59Psalms 143:8Ezekiel 20:11-13, 21 16None of the sins he has committed will be held against him. He has done what is just and right; he will surely live.[ † ]Isaiah 1:18Isaiah 43:25Ezekiel 18:22
17Yet your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ But it is their way that is not just.[ † ]Ezekiel 18:25-29 18If a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he will die for it.[ † ]Ezekiel 18:26 19But if a wicked man turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he will live because of this.
20Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ But I will judge each of you according to his ways, O house of Israel.”[ † ]Ezekiel 18:25-29
21In the twelfth year of our exile, on the fifth day of the tenth month, a fugitive from Jerusalem came to me and reported, “The city has been taken!”[ † ]Ezekiel 1:2Ezekiel 24:262 Kings 25:4
22Now the evening before the fugitive arrived, the hand of the Lord was upon me, and He opened my mouth before the man came to me in the morning. So my mouth was opened and I was no longer mute.[ † ]Ezekiel 1:3Ezekiel 8:1Ezekiel 37:1Ezekiel 24:27
23Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 24“Son of man, those living in the ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he possessed the land. But we are many; surely the land has been given to us as a possession.’[ † ]Ezekiel 34:2Ezekiel 36:4Isaiah 51:2Acts 7:5Romans 4:12Micah 3:11Matthew 3:9John 8:39Ezekiel 11:15
25Therefore tell them that this is what the Lord God says: ‘You eat meat with the blood in it, lift up your eyes to your idols, and shed blood. Should you then possess the land?[ † ]Genesis 9:4Leviticus 3:17Leviticus 7:26Leviticus 17:10-14Leviticus 19:26Deuteronomy 12:16-23Deuteronomy 15:23Ezekiel 18:6Ezekiel 22:6-9Deuteronomy 29:28 26You have relied on your swords, you have committed detestable acts, and each of you has defiled his neighbor’s wife. Should you then possess the land?’[ † ]Ezekiel 18:6Ezekiel 22:11
27Tell them that this is what the Lord God says: ‘As surely as I live, those in the ruins will fall by the sword, those in the open field I will give to be devoured by wild animals, and those in the strongholds and caves will die by plague.[ † ]Ezekiel 33:24Ezekiel 39:4Judges 6:21 Samuel 13:6Isaiah 2:19 28I will make the land a desolate waste, and the pride of her strength will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will become desolate, so that no one will pass through.[ † ]Jeremiah 44:2-6, 22Ezekiel 36:34-35Ezekiel 7:24Ezekiel 24:21Ezekiel 6:2-3, 6 29Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I have made the land a desolate waste because of all the abominations they have committed.’
30As for you, son of man, your people are talking about you near the city walls and in the doorways of their houses. One speaks to another, each saying to his brother, ‘Come and hear the message that has come from the Lord!’[ † ]Isaiah 29:13Ezekiel 14:3Ezekiel 20:3-31
31So My people come to you as usual, sit before you, and hear your words; but they do not put them into practice. Although they express love with their mouths, their hearts pursue dishonest gain.[ † ]Ezekiel 14:1Ezekiel 8:1Isaiah 58:2Psalms 78:36-37Isaiah 29:13Jeremiah 12:21 John 3:18Matthew 13:22 32Indeed, you are to them like a singer of love songs with a beautiful voice, who skillfully plays an instrument. They hear your words but do not put them into practice.[ † ]Matthew 7:21-28James 1:22-25 33So when it comes to pass—and surely it will come—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”[ † ]1 Samuel 3:20Ezekiel 2:5