1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and thou shalt say to them, On whatsoever land I shall bring a sword, and the people of the land take one man of them, and set him for their watchman: 3 and he shall see the sword coming upon the land, and blow the trumpet, and sound an alarm to the people; 4 and he that hears the sound of the trumpet shall hear [indeed], and [yet] not take heed, and the sword shall come upon him, and overtake him, his blood shall be upon his [own] head. 5 Because he heard the sound of the trumpet, and took no heed, his blood shall be upon him: but the other, because he took heed, has delivered his soul. 6 But if the watchman see the sword coming, and do not sound the trumpet, and the people do not watch; and the sword come, and take a soul from among them, that [soul] is taken because of its iniquity; but the blood [thereof] will I require at the watchman’s hand. 7 And thou, son of man, I have set thee [as] a watchman to the house of Israel, and thou shalt hear a word from my mouth. 8 When I say to the sinner, Thou shalt surely die; [if] thou speak not to warn the wicked from his way, the wicked himself shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thy hand. 9 But if thou forewarn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and he turn not from his way, he shall die in his ungodliness; but thou hast delivered thine own soul. 10 And thou, son of man, say to the house of Israel; Thus have ye spoken, saying, Our errors, and our iniquities weigh upon us, and we pine away in them, and how then shall we live? 11 Say to them, Thus saith the Lord; [As] I live, I desire not the death of the ungodly, as that the ungodly should turn from his way and live: turn ye heartily from your way; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? 12 Say to the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him, in the day wherein he errs: and the iniquity of the ungodly shall not harm him, in the day wherein he turns from his iniquity, but the righteous [erring] shall not be able to deliver himself. 13 When I say to the righteous, [Thou shalt live; and] he trusts in his righteousness, and shall commit iniquity, none of his righteousnesses shall be remembered; in his unrighteousness which he has wrought, in it shall he die. 14 And when I say to the ungodly, Thou shalt surely die; and he shall turn from his sin, and do judgment and justice, 15 and return the pledge, and repay that which he has robbed, [and] walk in the ordinances of life, so as to do no wrong; he shall surely live, and shall not die. 16 None of his sins which he has committed shall be remembered: because he has wrought judgment and righteousness; by them shall he live. 17 Yet the children of thy people will say, The way of the Lord is not straight: whereas this their way is not straight. 18 When the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and shall commit iniquities, then shall he die in them. 19 And when the sinner turns from his iniquity, and shall do judgment and righteousness, he shall live by them. 20 And this is that which ye said, The way of the Lord is [not] straight. I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one for his ways. 21 And it came to pass in the tenth year of our captivity, in the twelfth month, on the fifth [day] of the month, [that] one that had escaped from Jerusalem came to me, saying, The city is taken. 22 Now the hand of the Lord had come upon me in the evening, before he came; and he opened my mouth, when he came to me in the morning: and my mouth was open, it was no longer kept closed. 23 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 24 Son of man, they that inhabit the desolate [places] on the land of Israel say, Abraham was one, and he possessed the land: and we are more numerous; to us the land is given for a possession. 25 Therefore say to them, Thus saith the Lord God, 27 [As] I live, surely they that are in the desolate places shall fall by swords, and they that are in the open plain shall be given for food to the wild beasts of the field, and them that are in the fortified [cities] and them that are in the caves I will slay with pestilence. 28 And I will make the land desert, and the pride of her strength shall perish; and the mountains of Israel shall be made desolate by reason of no man passing through. 29 And they shall know that I am the Lord; and I will make their land desert, and it shall be made desolate because of all their abominations which they have wrought. 30 And [as for] thee, son of man, the children of thy people are they that speak concerning thee by the walls, and in the porches of the houses, and they talk one to another, saying, Let us come together, and let us hear the [words] that proceed from the Lord. 31 They approach thee as a people comes together, and sit before thee, and hear thy words, but they will not do them: for [there is] falsehood in their mouth, and their heart [goes] after their pollutions. 32 And thou art to them as the sound of a sweet, well-tuned psaltery, and they will hear thy words, but they will not do them. 33 But whenever it shall come [to pass], they will say, Behold, it is come: and they shall know that there was a prophet in the midst of them.
Ezekiel · Updated Brenton English Septuagint
Ezekiel 33 Updated Brenton English Septuagint
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
- Same Septuagint text as Brenton, with modernised spelling.
There is no verse 26 in this translation; the verses after it keep their usual numbers.
Cross references (30)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 2 Ezekiel 33:30; Ezekiel 33:17; Ezekiel 14:17; Ezekiel 3:11; Ezekiel 3:27
- 3 Hosea 8:1; Nehemiah 4:20; Isaiah 58:1; Jeremiah 4:5; Joel 2:1
- 4 Ezekiel 18:13; Acts 18:6; Ezekiel 33:9; Jeremiah 6:17; 2 Chronicles 25:16
- 5 Hebrews 11:7; Exodus 9:19–21; John 8:39; Hebrews 2:1–3; 2 Kings 6:10
- 6 Ezekiel 3:18–20; Genesis 42:22; 2 Samuel 4:11; Ezekiel 33:8–9; Ezekiel 18:20
- 7 Jeremiah 26:2; Ezekiel 3:17–21; Ezekiel 2:7–8; Hebrews 13:17; Acts 5:20
- 8 Acts 20:26–27; Ezekiel 33:6; Ezekiel 33:14; Ezekiel 18:4; Genesis 3:4
- 9 Ezekiel 3:19; Acts 20:26; Proverbs 15:10; Ezekiel 3:21; Acts 28:23–28
- 10 Ezekiel 37:11; Isaiah 49:14; Ezekiel 24:23; Leviticus 26:39; Ezekiel 4:17
- 11 1 Timothy 2:4; Ezekiel 18:23; 2 Peter 3:9; Isaiah 55:6–7; Acts 3:19
- 12 Ezekiel 33:18–19; 2 Chronicles 7:14; Romans 3:25; Ezekiel 33:2; 1 Kings 8:48–50
- 13 Ezekiel 18:24; Hebrews 10:38; Ezekiel 18:4; Luke 18:9–14; Ezekiel 3:20
- 14 Ezekiel 18:27; Jeremiah 18:7–8; Ezekiel 33:8; Hosea 14:1; Isaiah 55:7
- 15 Ezekiel 20:11; Luke 19:8; Exodus 22:1–4; Leviticus 6:2–5; Ezekiel 18:7
- 16 Ezekiel 18:22; Isaiah 43:25; Micah 7:18–19; Romans 5:16; Isaiah 1:18
- 17 Ezekiel 18:25; Ezekiel 18:29; Matthew 25:24–26; Job 35:2; Job 40:8
- 18 Ezekiel 33:12–13; Hebrews 10:38; 2 Peter 2:20–22; Ezekiel 18:26–27; Ezekiel 3:20
- 19 Ezekiel 18:27–28; Ezekiel 33:14
- 20 Matthew 16:27; Ezekiel 18:25; Psalm 62:12; Revelation 20:12–15; Proverbs 19:3
- 21 Ezekiel 1:2; 2 Kings 24:4–7; Jeremiah 39:1–8; Ezekiel 24:26–27; Ezekiel 32:1
- 22 Ezekiel 1:3; Ezekiel 3:26–27; Ezekiel 24:26–27; Ezekiel 37:1; Luke 1:64
- 24 Isaiah 51:2; Ezekiel 33:27; Acts 7:5; Jeremiah 40:7; Ezekiel 36:4
- 25 Jeremiah 7:9–10; Deuteronomy 12:16; Genesis 9:4; Ezekiel 22:6; Leviticus 3:17
- 27 1 Samuel 13:6; Jeremiah 42:22; Ezekiel 39:4; Jeremiah 41:9; Jeremiah 15:2–4
- 28 Ezekiel 7:24; Jeremiah 44:22; Ezekiel 24:21; Micah 7:13; Jeremiah 44:6
- 29 Ezekiel 6:7; 2 Chronicles 36:14–17; Exodus 14:18; Ezekiel 7:27; Ezekiel 23:49
- 30 Isaiah 58:2; Matthew 15:8; Isaiah 29:13; Matthew 22:16–17; Jeremiah 23:35
- 31 Psalm 78:36–37; Matthew 13:22; James 1:22–24; Luke 11:28; Isaiah 29:13
- 32 Mark 6:20; John 5:35; Mark 4:16–17
- 33 Jeremiah 28:9; 1 Samuel 3:19–20; Ezekiel 2:5; 2 Kings 5:8; Luke 10:11
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… of the grace of God have, by the Holy Spirit, spoken of repentance; and the Lord of all things has himself declared with an oath regarding it, "As I live, saith the Lord, I desire not the death of the sinner, but rather his repentance;" adding, moreover, this gracious declaration, "Repent, O house of Israel, of your iniquity.
These selfish persons have more cause to fear than those to whom it was said through the prophet, "He is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand." For watchmen or overseers of the people are appointed in churches, that they may unsparingly rebuke sin.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
… might speak to us in Him), yet shall he be forgiven when in repentance he shall have recourse to the goodness of God, who forasmuch as He "willeth not the death of the wicked, but rather that he should turn from his way and live," hath given the Holy Spirit to His Church, that whosoever forgiveth sins in the Spirit, …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 6 (1888)
… love, wherein thou mayest do all good works; and beyond this, He will give thee also life everlasting, and fellowship with the angels: all of His mercy....Hear the Scripture: "I will not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn, and live." By these words of God, he is brought back to hope; but there is another …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)