Ezekiel 33

1And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

2Son 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:

3And he see the sword coming upon the land, and sound the trumpet, and tell the people:

4Then 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.

5He 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.

6And 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.

7So 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.

8When 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.

9But 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.

10Thou 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?

11Say 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?

12Thou 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.

13Yea, 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.

14And if I shall say to the wicked: Thou shalt surely die: and he do penance for his sin, and do judgment and justice,

15And 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.

16None of his sins, which he hath committed, shall be imputed to him: he hath done judgment and justice, he shall surely live.

17And the children of thy people have said: The way of the Lord is not equitable: whereas their own way is unjust.

18For when the just shall depart from his justice, and commit iniquities, he shall die in them.

19And when the wicked shall depart from his wickedness, and shall do judgments, and justice: be shall live in them.

20And 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.

21And 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.

22And 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.

23And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

24Son 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.

25Therefore 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?

26You 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?

27Say 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.

28And 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.

29And 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.

30And 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.

31And 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.

32And 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.

33And 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.

1Et factum est verbum Domini ad me, dicens:

2Fili hominis, loquere ad filios populi tui, et dices ad eos: Terra, cum induxero super eam gladium, et tulerit populus terræ virum unum de novissimis suis, et constituerit eum super se speculatorem:

3et ille viderit gladium venientem super terram, et cecinerit buccina, et annuntiaverit populo:

4audiens autem quisquis ille est sonitum buccinæ, et non se observaverit, veneritque gladius, et tulerit eum: sanguis ipsius super caput ejus erit.

5Sonum buccinæ audivit, et non se observavit: sanguis ejus in ipso erit. Si autem se custodierit, animam suam salvabit.

6Quod si speculator viderit gladium venientem, et non insonuerit buccina, et populus se non custodierit, veneritque gladius, et tulerit de eis animam: ille quidem in iniquitate sua captus est; sanguinem autem ejus de manu speculatoris requiram.

7Et tu, fili hominis, speculatorem dedi te domui Israël: audiens ergo ex ore meo sermonem, annuntiabis eis ex me.

8Si me dicente ad impium: Impie, morte morieris: non fueris locutus ut se custodiat impius a via sua, ipse impius in iniquitate sua morietur; sanguinem autem ejus de manu tua requiram.

9Si autem annuntiante te ad impium ut a viis suis convertatur, non fuerit conversus a via sua, ipse in iniquitate sua morietur, porro tu animam tuam liberasti.

10Tu ergo, fili hominis, dic ad domum Israël: Sic locuti estis, dicentes: Iniquitates nostræ et peccata nostra super nos sunt, et in ipsis nos tabescimus: quomodo ergo vivere poterimus?

11Dic ad eos: Vivo ego, dicit Dominus Deus, nolo mortem impii, sed ut convertatur impius a via sua, et vivat. Convertimini, convertimini a viis vestris pessimis, et quare moriemini, domus Israël?

12Tu itaque, fili hominis, dic ad filios populi tui: Justitia justi non liberabit eum, in quacumque die peccaverit, et impietas impii non nocebit ei, in quacumque die conversus fuerit ab impietate sua: et justus non poterit vivere in justitia sua, in quacumque die peccaverit.

13Etiamsi dixero justo quod vita vivat, et confisus in justitia sua fecerit iniquitatem, omnes justitiæ ejus oblivioni tradentur, et in iniquitate sua quam operatus est, in ipsa morietur.

14Si autem dixero impio: Morte morieris: et egerit pœnitentiam a peccato suo, feceritque judicium et justitiam,

15et pignus restituerit ille impius, rapinamque reddiderit, in mandatis vitæ ambulaverit, nec fecerit quidquam injustum: vita vivet, et non morietur.

16Omnia peccata ejus quæ peccavit, non imputabuntur ei: judicium et justitiam fecit: vita vivet.

17Et dixerunt filii populi tui: Non est æqui ponderis via Domini: et ipsorum via injusta est.

18Cum enim recesserit justus a justitia sua, feceritque iniquitates, morietur in eis.

19Et cum recesserit impius ab impietate sua, feceritque judicium et justitiam, vivet in eis.

20Et dicitis: Non est recta via Domini. Unumquemque juxta vias suas judicabo de vobis, domus Israël.

21Et factum est in duodecimo anno, in decimo mense, in quinta mensis transmigrationis nostræ, venit ad me qui fugerat de Jerusalem, dicens: Vastata est civitas.

22Manus autem Domini facta fuerat ad me vespere, antequam veniret qui fugerat: aperuitque os meum donec veniret ad me mane: et aperto ore meo, non silui amplius.

23Et factum est verbum Domini ad me, dicens:

24Fili hominis, qui habitant in ruinosis his super humum Israël, loquentes aiunt: Unus erat Abraham, et hæreditate possedit terram: nos autem multi sumus: nobis data est terra in possessionem.

25Idcirco dices ad eos: Hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Qui in sanguine comeditis, et oculos vestros levatis ad immunditias vestras, et sanguinem funditis, numquid terram hæreditate possidebitis?

26stetistis in gladiis vestris, fecistis abominationes, et unusquisque uxorem proximi sui polluit: et terram hæreditate possidebitis?

27Hæc dices ad eos: Sic dicit Dominus Deus: Vivo ego, quia qui in ruinosis habitant, gladio cadent: et qui in agro est, bestiis tradetur ad devorandum: qui autem in præsidiis et speluncis sunt, peste morientur.

28Et dabo terram in solitudinem et in desertum, et deficiet superba fortitudo ejus: et desolabuntur montes Israël, eo quod nullus sit qui per eos transeat:

29et scient quia ego Dominus, cum dedero terram eorum desolatam et desertam, propter universas abominationes suas quas operati sunt.

30Et tu, fili hominis, filii populi tui, qui loquuntur de te juxta muros et in ostiis domorum, et dicunt unus ad alterum, vir ad proximum suum, loquentes: Venite, et audiamus quis sit sermo egrediens a Domino.

31Et veniunt ad te, quasi si ingrediatur populus, et sedent coram te populus meus: et audiunt sermones tuos, et non faciunt eos: quia in canticum oris sui vertunt illos, et avaritiam suam sequitur cor eorum.

32Et es eis quasi carmen musicum, quod suavi dulcique sono canitur: et audiunt verba tua, et non faciunt ea.

33Et cum venerit quod prædictum est (ecce enim venit), tunc scient quod prophetes fuerit inter eos.

1And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

2“Son of man, speak to the sons of your people, and you shall say to them: Concerning the land, when I will have led the sword over it: if the people of the land take a man, one of their least, and appoint him over themselves as a watchman,

3and if he sees the sword approaching over the land, and he sounds the trumpet, and he announces to the people,

4then, having heard the sound of the trumpet, whoever he is, if he also does not take care of himself, and the sword arrives and takes him: his blood will be upon his own head.

5He heard the sound of the trumpet, and he did not take care of himself, so his blood will be upon him. But if he guards himself, he will save his own life.

6And if the watchman sees the sword approaching, and he does not sound the trumpet, and so the people do not guard themselves, and the sword arrives and takes some of their lives, certainly these have been taken due to their own iniquity. But I will attribute their blood to the hand of the watchman.

7And as for you, son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore, having heard the word from my mouth, you shall announce it to them from me.

8When I say to the impious, ‘O impious man, you will die a death,’ if you have not spoken so that the impious man will keep himself from his way, then that impious man will die in his iniquity. But I will attribute his blood to your hand.

9But if you have announced to the impious man, so that he may be converted from his ways, and he has not converted from his way, then he will die in his iniquity. Yet you will have freed your own soul.

10You, therefore, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: You have spoken in this way, saying: ‘Our iniquities and our sins are upon us, and we waste away in them. So then, how would we be able to live?’

11Say to them: As I live, says the Lord God, I do not desire the death of the impious, but that the impious should convert from his way and live. Be converted, be converted from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?

12And as for you then, son of man, say to the sons of your people: The justice of the just man will not deliver him, on whatever day he will have sinned. And the impiety of the impious man will not harm him, on whatever day he will have been converted from his impiety. And the just man will not be able to live by his justice, on whatever day he will have sinned.

13Even now, if I say to the just man that he shall certainly live, and so, with confidence in his justice, he commits iniquity, all his justices will be delivered into oblivion, and by his iniquity, which he has done, by this he shall die.

14And if I say to the impious man, ‘You shall certainly die,’ and yet he repents from his sin, and he does judgment and justice,

15and if that impious man returns the collateral, and repays what he has taken by force, and if he walks in the commandments of life, and does not do anything unjust, then he shall certainly live, and he shall not die.

16None of his sins, which he has committed, will be imputed to him. He has done judgment and justice, so he shall certainly live.

17And the sons of your people have said, ‘The way of the Lord is not a fair balance,’ even while their own way is unjust.

18For when the just man will have withdrawn from his justice, and committed iniquities, he shall die by these.

19And when the impious man will have withdrawn from his impiety, and have done judgment and justice, he shall live by these.

20And yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not right.’ But I shall judge each one of you according to his own ways, O house of Israel.”

21And it happened that, in the twelfth year of our transmigration, in the tenth month, on the fifth of the month, one who had fled from Jerusalem arrived saying, “The city has been laid waste.”

22But the hand of the Lord had been upon me in the evening, before the one who had fled arrived. And he opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning. And since my mouth had been opened, I was no longer silent.

23And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

24“Son of man, as for those who live in these ruinous ways on the soil of Israel, when speaking, they say: ‘Abraham was one man, and he possessed the land as an inheritance. But we are many; the land has been given to us as a possession.’

25Therefore, you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord God: You who eat even the blood, and who lift up your eyes to your uncleannesses, and who shed blood: will you possess the land as an inheritance?

26You stood by your swords, you committed abominations, and each one has defiled his neighbor’s wife. And will you possess the land as an inheritance?

27You shall say these things to them: So says the Lord God: As I live, those who live in ruinous ways will fall by the sword. And whoever is in the field will be delivered over to wild beasts to be devoured. But those who are in fortresses and in caves will die of the pestilence.

28And I will make the land into a wilderness and a desert. And its arrogant strength will fail. And the mountains of Israel will be desolate; for there will be no one who crosses through them.

29And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I will have made their land desolate and deserted, because of all their abominations, which they have worked.

30And as for you, O son of man: the sons of your people speak about you beside the walls and in the doorways of houses. And they speak to one another, each man to his neighbor, saying: ‘Come, and let us hear what may be the word going forth from the Lord.’

31And they come to you, as if the people were entering, and my people sit before you. And they listen to your words, but they do not do them. For they turn them into a song for their mouth, but their heart pursues their own avarice.

32And you are to them like a verse set to music, which is sung with a sweet and pleasing voice. And they hear your words, but they do not do them.

33And when what has been predicted occurs, for behold it is approaching, then they shall know that a prophet was among them.”