Ezekiel 33:1-23

Context

Ezekiel Israel’s Watchman

33:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 33:2 “Son of man, speak to your people,¹ and say to them, ‘Suppose I bring a sword against the land, and the people of the land take one man from their borders and make him their watchman. 33:3 He sees the sword coming against the land, blows the trumpet,² and warns the people,³ 33:4 but there is one who hears the sound of the trumpet yet does not heed the warning. Then the sword comes and sweeps him away. He will be responsible for his own death.⁴ 33:5 He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not heed the warning, so he is responsible for himself.⁵ If he had heeded the warning, he would have saved his life. 33:6 But suppose the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people. Then the sword comes and takes one of their lives. He is swept away for his iniquity,⁶ but I will hold the watchman accountable for that person’s death.’⁷

33:7 “As for you, son of man, I have made you a watchman⁸ for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must warn them on my behalf. 33:8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you must certainly die,’⁹ and you do not warn¹⁰ the wicked about his behavior,¹¹ the wicked man will die for his iniquity, but I will hold you accountable for his death.¹² 33:9 But if you warn the wicked man to change his behavior,¹³ and he refuses to change,¹⁴ he will die for his iniquity, but you have saved your own life.

33:10 “And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what you have said: “Our rebellious acts and our sins have caught up with us,¹⁵ and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?”’ 33:11 Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but prefer that the wicked change his behavior¹⁶ and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil deeds!¹⁷ Why should you die, O house of Israel?’

33:12 “And you, son of man, say to your people,¹⁸ ‘The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him if he rebels.¹⁹ As for the wicked, his wickedness will not make him stumble if he turns from it.²⁰ The righteous will not be able to live by his righteousness²¹ if he sins.’²² 33:13 Suppose I tell the righteous that he will certainly live, but he becomes confident in his righteousness and commits iniquity. None of his righteous deeds will be remembered; because of the iniquity he has committed he will die. 33:14 Suppose I say to the wicked, ‘You must certainly die,’ but he turns from his sin and does what is just and right. 33:15 He²³ returns what was taken in pledge, pays back what he has stolen, and follows the statutes that give life,²⁴ committing no iniquity. He will certainly live – he will not die. 33:16 None of the sins he has committed will be counted²⁵ against him. He has done what is just and right; he will certainly live.

33:17 “Yet your people²⁶ say, ‘The behavior²⁷ of the Lord is not right,’²⁸ when it is their behavior that is not right. 33:18 When a righteous man turns from his godliness and commits iniquity, he will die for it. 33:19 When the wicked turns from his sin and does what is just and right, he will live because of it. 33:20 Yet you say, ‘The behavior of the Lord is not right.’ House of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his behavior.”²⁹

The Fall of Jerusalem

33:21 In the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth of the month,³⁰ a refugee came to me from Jerusalem³¹ saying, “The city has been defeated!”³² 33:22 Now the hand of the Lord had been on me³³ the evening before the refugee reached me, but the Lord³⁴ opened my mouth by the time the refugee arrived³⁵ in the morning; he opened my mouth and I was no longer unable to speak.³⁶ 33:23 The word of the Lord came to me:

[33:2] ¹tn Heb “sons of your people.”

[33:3] ²tn Heb “shofar,” a ram’s horn rather than a brass instrument (so throughout the chapter).

[33:3] ³tn Sounding the trumpet was a warning of imminent danger (Neh 4:18-20; Jer 4:19; Amos 3:6).

[33:4] ⁴tn Heb “his blood will be on his own head.”

[33:5] ⁵tn Heb “his blood will be on him.”

[33:6] ⁶tn Or “in his punishment.” The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity/punishment” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here and in vv. 8 and 9; 3:18, 19; 4:17; 7:13, 16; 18: 17, 18, 19, 20; 24:23; 39:23. The Hebrew word for “iniquity” may also mean the “punishment” for iniquity or “guilt” of iniquity.

[33:6] ⁷tn Heb “his blood from the hand of the watchman I will seek.”

[33:7] ⁸sn Jeremiah (Jer 6:17) and Habakkuk (Hab 2:1) also served in the role of a watchman.

[33:8] ⁹tn The same expression occurs in Gen 2:17.

[33:8] ¹⁰tn Heb “and you do not speak to warn.”

[33:8] ¹¹tn Heb “way.”

[33:8] ¹²tn Heb “and his blood from your hand I will seek.”

[33:9] ¹³tn Heb “from his way to turn from it.”

[33:9] ¹⁴tn Heb “and he does not turn from his way.”

[33:10] ¹⁵tn Heb “(are) upon us.”

[33:11] ¹⁶tn Heb “turn from his way.”

[33:11] ¹⁷tn Heb “ways.” This same word is translated “behavior” earlier in the verse.

[33:12] ¹⁸tn Heb “the sons of your people.”

[33:12] ¹⁹tn Heb “in the day of his rebellion.” The statement envisions a godly person rejecting what is good and becoming sinful. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:247-48.

[33:12] ²⁰tn Heb “and the wickedness of the wicked, he will not stumble in it in the day of his turning from his wickedness.”

[33:12] ²¹tn Heb “by it.”

[33:12] ²²tn Heb “in the day of his sin.”

[33:15] ²³tn Heb “the wicked one.”

[33:15] ²⁴tn Heb “and in the statutes of life he walks.”

[33:16] ²⁵tn Heb “remembered.”

[33:17] ²⁶tn Heb “the sons of your people.”

[33:17] ²⁷tn Heb “way.”

[33:17] ²⁸tn The Hebrew verb translated “is (not) right” has the basic meaning of “to measure.” For a similar concept, see Ezek 18:25, 29.

[33:20] ²⁹tn Heb “ways.”

[33:21] ³⁰tn January 19, 585 b.c.

[33:21] ³¹map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[33:21] ³²tn Heb “smitten.”

[33:22] ³³tn The other occurrences of the phrase “the hand of the Lord” in Ezekiel are in the context of prophetic visions.

[33:22] ³⁴tn Heb “he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:22] ³⁵tn Heb “by the time of the arrival to me.” For clarity the translation specifies the refugee as the one who arrived.

[33:22] ³⁶sn Ezekiel’s God-imposed muteness was lifted (see 3:26).