Ezekiel 3:18

3:18 When I say to the wicked, “You will certainly die,” ¹  and you do not warn him – you do not speak out to warn the wicked to turn from his wicked deed and wicked lifestyle so that he may live – that wicked person will die for his iniquity, ²  but I will hold you accountable for his death. ³ 

Ezekiel 18:24

18:24 “But if a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and practices wrongdoing according to all the abominable practices the wicked carry out, will he live? All his righteous acts will not be remembered; because of the unfaithful acts he has done and the sin he has committed, he will die. ⁴ 

Ezekiel 20:39

20:39 “‘As for you, O house of Israel, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Each of you go and serve your idols, ⁵  if you will not listen to me. ⁶  But my holy name will not be profaned ⁷  again by your sacrifices ⁸  and your idols.

Ezekiel 33:8

33:8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you must certainly die,’ ⁹  and you do not warn ¹⁰  the wicked about his behavior, ¹¹  the wicked man will die for his iniquity, but I will hold you accountable for his death. ¹² 

Ezekiel 34:8

34:8 As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, my sheep have become prey and have become food for all the wild beasts. There was no shepherd, and my shepherds did not search for my flock, but fed themselves and did not feed my sheep,

Ezekiel 34:16

34:16 I will seek the lost and bring back the strays; I will bandage the injured and strengthen the sick, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them – with judgment!

Ezekiel 44:15

The Levitical Priests

44:15 “‘But the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok ¹³  who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me, will approach me to minister to me; they will stand before me to offer me the fat and the blood, declares the sovereign Lord.

¹ sn Even though the infinitive absolute is used to emphasize the warning, the warning is still implicitly conditional, as the following context makes clear.

² tn Or “in his punishment.” The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here and v. 19; 4:17; 7:13, 16; 18: 17, 18, 19, 20; 24:23; 33:6, 8, 9; 39:23. The Hebrew word for “iniquity” may also mean the “punishment for iniquity.”

³ tn Heb “his blood I will seek from your hand.” The expression “seek blood from the hand” is equivalent to requiring the death penalty (2 Sam 4:11-12).

⁴ tn Heb “because of them he will die.”

⁷ sn Compare the irony here to Amos 4:4 and Jer 44:25.

⁸ tn Heb “and after, if you will not listen to me.” The translation leaves out “and after” for smoothness. The text is difficult. M. Greenberg (Ezekiel [AB], 1:374) suggests that it may mean “but afterwards, if you will not listen to me…” with an unspoken threat.

⁹ sn A similar concept may be found in Lev 18:21; 20:3.

¹⁰ tn Or “gifts.”

¹⁰ tn The same expression occurs in Gen 2:17.

¹¹ tn Heb “and you do not speak to warn.”

¹² tn Heb “way.”

¹³ tn Heb “and his blood from your hand I will seek.”

¹³ sn Zadok was a descendant of Aaron through Eleazar (1 Chr 6:50-53), who served as a priest during David’s reign (2 Sam 8:17).