Ezekiel 33:1-17

1Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2“Son of man, speak to the 1sons of your people and say to them, ‘If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one man from among them and make him their watchman, 3and he sees the sword coming upon the land and 2blows the 3horn and warns the people, 4then 4someone who hears the sound of the horn but 5does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his 6blood will be on his own head. 5He heard the sound of the horn but did not take warning; his blood will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have 7saved his life. 6But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the horn and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is 8taken away for his wrongdoing; but I will 9require his 10blood from the watchman’s hand.’

7“Now as for you, son of man, I have 1112appointed you as a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a 13message from My mouth and give them a 14warning from Me. 8When I say to the wicked, ‘You wicked person, you will 15certainly die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked about his way, that wicked person shall die for his wrongdoing, but I will 16require his blood from your hand. 9But if you on your part warn a wicked person to turn from his way and he 17does not turn from his way, he will die for his wrongdoing, but you have 18saved your life.

10“Now as for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what you have 19said: “Surely our offenses and our sins are upon us, and we are 20rotting away in them; 21how then can we 22survive?”’ 11Say to them, ‘23As I live!’ declares the Lord 24God, ‘I take 25no pleasure at all in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked 26turn from his way and live. 27Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then should you die, house of Israel?’ 12And you, son of man, say to 28your fellow citizens, ‘The 29righteousness of a righteous one will not save him on the day of his offense, and as for the wickedness of a wicked one, he will 30not stumble because of it on the day when he turns from his wickedness; whereas a righteous one will not be able to live 31by his righteousness on the day when he commits sin.’ 13When I say to the righteous that he will certainly live, and he so trusts in his righteousness that he 32commits injustice, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but for that same injustice of his which he has committed he will die. 14But when I say to the wicked, ‘You will certainly die,’ and he 33turns from his sin and practices 34justice and righteousness, 15if a wicked person returns a pledge, 35pays back what he has taken by robbery, walks by the 36statutes 37which ensure life without committing injustice, he shall certainly live; he shall not die. 1638None of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him. He has practiced justice and righteousness; he shall certainly live.

17“Yet 39your fellow citizens say, ‘The way of the Lord is not right,’ when it is their own way that is not right.