Ezekiel the Watchman for Israel

1And the word of Jehovah will be to me, saying, 2Son of man, speak to the sons of thy people and say to them, A land, when I shall bring the sword upon her, and the people of the land took one man from their extremities, and they gave him to them for a watchman. 3And he saw the sword coming upon the land, and he struck upon the trumpet and warned the people; 4And he hearing, heard the voice of the trumpet, and he took not warning; and the sword will come and take him away; his blood shall be upon his head. 5He heard the voice of the trumpet, and he took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. He taking warning delivered his soul. 6And if the watchman shall see the sword coming, and he struck not upon the trumpet, and the people were not warned; and the sword shall come and take a soul from them, he was taken away in his iniquity, and his blood I will seek from the watchman's hand.

7And thou son of man, I gave thee a watchman to the house of Israel; and thou heardest the word from my mouth, and thou didst warn them from me. 8In my saying to the, unjust, O unjust one, dying, thou shalt die; and thou spakest not to warn the unjust from his way, that unjust one shall die in his iniquity, and I will seek his blood from thine hand. 9And thou, if thou warnedst the unjust from his way to turn back from it, and be turned not back from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; and thou didst deliver thy soul.

The Message of the Watchman

10And thou son of man, say to the house of Israel: Thus ye said, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pining away in them, and how shall we live? 11Say to them, I live, says the Lord Jehovah, if I shall delight in the death of the unjust; but in the turning back of the unjust one from his way, and he lived: turn back, turn back from your evil ways: and wherefore will ye die, O house of Israel? 12And thou, son of man, say to the sons of my people, The justice of the just shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: and the injustice of the unjust, he shall not stumble in it in the day of his turning back from his injustice; and the just shall not be able to live in the day of his sinning. 13In my saying to the just, living, he shall live; and he trusted upon his justice, and he did evil, all his justice shall not be remembered; and in his iniquity which he did he shall die in it. 14And in my saying to the unjust, Dying, thou shalt die; and he turned back from his sinning and he did judgment and justice; 15The unjust shall turn back the pledge he shall restore the spoil, going in the laws of the living not to do evil; living, he shall live, he shall not die. 16All his sins which he sinned shall not be remembered to him: he did judgment and justice; living, he shall live.

17And the sons of my people said, The way of Jehovah will not make even: and they their way shall not make even. 18In the turning back of the just from his justice and doing iniquity, he shall die in them. 19And in the turning back of the unjust from his injustice and doing judgment and justice upon them, he shall live. 20And ye said, The way of Jehovah will not make even. I will judge you each according to his ways, O house of Israel.

Word of Jerusalem’s Fall

21And it will be in the twelfth year, in the tenth, in the fifth to the month, to our captivity, he having escaped from Jerusalem came to me, saying, The city was struck. 22And the hand of Jehovah was to me in the evening, before he having escaped came; and he opened my mouth till he came to me in the morning; and he will open my mouth and I was no more dumb.

23And the word of Jehovah will be to me, saying, 24Son of man, they inhabiting these wastes upon the land of Israel say, saying, Abraham was one, and he will inherit the land: and we are many; the land was given to us for a possession. 25For this, say to them, Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Ye will eat with the bloods, and ye will lift up your eyes to your blocks, and ye will pour out blood: and shall ye possess the land? 26Ye stood upon your sword, ye did abomination, and ye defiled each his neighbor's wife: and shall ye possess the land? 27Thus shalt thou say to them: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: I live if not they who are in the wastes shall fall by the sword, and he who is upon the face of the field I gave him to the beast to eat him, and they who are in the fastnesses and in caves shall die by death. 28And I gave the land a desolation and an amazement, and I caused the pride of her strength to cease; and the mountains of Israel were desolate from none passing through. 29And they shall know that I am Jehovah in my giving the land a desolation and an astonishment for all their abominations which they did.

30And thou son of man, the sons of my people are speaking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speaking one to another, a man to his brother, saying, Come now and hear what the word coming forth from Jehovah. 31And they will come to thee, according to the coming of the people, and they will sit before thee my people, and they heard thy words, and they did them not: for they making loves with their mouth, their heart went after their plunder. 32And behold thee to them as song of loves of a fair voice, playing well an instrument: and they heard thy words and did them not. 33And in its coming (behold, it came) and they shall know that a prophet was in the midst of them.