1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 2 Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say to them: When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man, one of their meanest, and make him a watchman over them: 3 And he see the sword coming upon the land, and sound the trumpet, and tell the people: 4 Then he that heareth the sound of the trumpet, whosoever he be, and doth not look to himself, if the sword come, and cut him off: his blood shall be upon his own head. 5 He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not look to himself, his blood shall be upon him: but if he look to himself, he shall save his life. 6 And if the watchman see the sword coming, and sound not the trumpet: and the people look not to themselves, and the sword come, and cut off a soul from among them: he indeed is taken away in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at the hand of the watchman. 7 So thou, O son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel: therefore thou shalt hear the word from my mouth, and shalt tell it them from me. 8 When I say to the wicked: O wicked man, thou shalt surely die: if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked man from his way: that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy hand. 9 But if thou tell the wicked man, that he may be converted from his ways, and he be not converted from his way: he shall die in his iniquity: but thou hast delivered thy soul. 10 Thou therefore, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: Thus you have spoken, saying: Our iniquities, and our sins are upon us, and we pine away in them: how then can we live? 11 Say to them: As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die, O house of Israel? 12 Thou therefore, O son of man, say to the children of thy people: The justice of the just shall not deliver him, in what day soever he shall sin: and the wickedness of the wicked shall not hurt him, in what day soever he shall turn from his wickedness: and the just shall not be able to live in his justice, in what day soever he shall sin. 13 Yea, if I shall say to the just that he shall surely live, and he, trusting in his justice, commit iniquity: all his justices shall be forgotten, and in his iniquity, which he hath committed, in the same shall he die. 14 And if I shall say to the wicked: Thou shalt surely die: and he do penance for his sin, and do judgment and justice, 15 And if that wicked man restore the pledge, and render what he had robbed, and walk in the commandments of life, and do no unjust thing: he shall surely live, and shall not die. 16 None of his sins, which he hath committed, shall be imputed to him: he hath done judgment and justice, he shall surely live. 17 And the children of thy people have said: The way of the Lord is not equitable: whereas their own way is unjust. 18 For when the just shall depart from his justice, and commit iniquities, he shall die in them. 19 And when the wicked shall depart from his wickedness, and shall do judgments, and justice: be shall live in them. 20 And you say: The way of the Lord is not right, I will judge every one of you according to his ways, O house of Israel. 21 And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that there came to me one that was fled from Jerusalem, saying: The city is laid waste. 22 And the hand of the Lord had been upon me in the evening, before he that was fled came: and he opened my mouth till he came to me in the morning, and my mouth being opened, I was silent no more. 23 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 24 Son of man, they that dwell in these ruinous places in the land of Israel, speak, saying: Abraham was one, and he inherited the land, but we are many, the land is given us in possession. 25 Therefore say to them: Thus saith the Lord God, You that eat with the blood and lift up your eyes to your uncleannesses, and that shed blood: shall you possess the land by inheritance? 26 You stood on your swords, you have committed abominations, and every one hath defiled his neighbour’s wife; and shall you possess the land by inheritance? 27 Say thou thus to them: Thus saith the Lord God: As I live, they that dwell in the ruinous places, shall fall by the sword: and he that is in the field, shall be given to the beasts to be devoured: and they that are in holds, and caves, shall die of the pestilence. 28 And I will make the land a wilderness, and a desert, and the proud strength thereof shall fail, and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, because there is none to pass by them. 29 And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have made their land waste and desolate, for all their abominations which they have committed. 30 And thou son of man: the children of thy people, that talk of thee by the walls, and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another each men to his neighbour, saying: Come, and let us hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord. 31 And they come to thee, as if a people were coming in, and my people sit before thee: and hear thy words, and do them not: for they turn them into a song of their mouth, and their heart goeth after their covetousness. 32 And thou art to them as a musical song which is sung with a sweet and agreeable voice: and they hear thy words, and do them not. 33 And when that which was foretold shall come to pass, (for behold it is coming,) then shall they know that a prophet bath been among them.
Ezekiel · Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Ezekiel 33 Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Cross references (31)
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
- 26 Micah 2:1–2; Genesis 27:40; Zephaniah 3:3; Ezekiel 18:11–12; 1 Peter 4:3
- 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)