Ezekiel 33:10-20

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, ¹  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 behavior ²  and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil deeds! ³  Why should you die, O house of Israel?’

33:12 “And you, son of man, say to your people, ⁴  ‘The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him if he rebels. ⁵  As for the wicked, his wickedness will not make him stumble if he turns from it. ⁶  The righteous will not be able to live by his righteousness ⁷  if he sins.’ ⁸  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 He ⁹  returns what was taken in pledge, pays back what he has stolen, and follows the statutes that give life, ¹⁰  committing no iniquity. He will certainly live – he will not die. 33:16 None of the sins he has committed will be counted ¹¹  against him. He has done what is just and right; he will certainly live.

33:17 “Yet your people ¹²  say, ‘The behavior ¹³  of the Lord is not right,’ ¹⁴  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.” ¹⁵ 

[33:10]  ¹ tn Heb “(are) upon us.”

[33:11]  ² tn Heb “turn from his way.”

[33:11]  ³ tn Heb “ways.” This same word is translated “behavior” earlier in the verse.

[33:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “the sons of your people.”

[33:12]  ⁵ tn 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “and the wickedness of the wicked, he will not stumble in it in the day of his turning from his wickedness.”

[33:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “by it.”

[33:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “in the day of his sin.”

[33:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “the wicked one.”

[33:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and in the statutes of life he walks.”

[33:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “remembered.”

[33:17]  ¹² tn Heb “the sons of your people.”

[33:17]  ¹³ tn Heb “way.”

[33:17]  ¹⁴ tn 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]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “ways.”