Yechezkel 33:10

10 Therefore, O thou Ben Adam, speak unto Bais Yisroel: Thus ye have spoken, saying, If peysha’einu (our transgressions, rebellions) and chattoteinu (our sins) be upon us, and because of them we are rotting away, how should we then live?

Yechezkel 33:10 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 33:10

Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel,
&c.] Such of them as were with him in the captivity: thus ye speak, saying; reasoning and arguing within and among themselves; which the Lord heard, and made known to the prophet, who is bid to repeat it to them in order to give an answer: if our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in
them;
as the prophet said they should, ( Ezekiel 24:23 ) , with which he had concluded his prophecies to them; and now they take it up, and argue against themselves, and against him; if our sins and transgressions are laid upon us, and we must answer for them; if the guilt of them is charged on us, and they are unexpiated and unatoned for; and the punishment of them is, or will be, inflicted on us, and we do, and must pine away, and be consumed in them, and by them: how should we then live?
as thou promisest us upon repentance; it is all over with us; there is no hope for us; what signify our repentance, or thy promises of life unto us? these things can never hang together, that we should live, and yet pine away in our sins; so that these are the words of persons both despairing, and making the prophet to say things opposite and contradictory, and which would not admit of a reconciliation; see ( Ezekiel 37:11 ) .

Yechezkel 33:10 In-Context

8 When I say unto the rashah (wicked man), O rashah, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the rashah from his derech, that rashah shall die in his avon (iniquity); but for his dahm will I require [an accounting] at thine yad.

9 Nevertheless, if thou warn the rashah of his derech to turn from it; if he does not turn from his derech, he shall die in his avon (iniquity); but thou hast saved thy nefesh.

10 Therefore, O thou Ben Adam, speak unto Bais Yisroel: Thus ye have spoken, saying, If peysha’einu (our transgressions, rebellions) and chattoteinu (our sins) be upon us, and because of them we are rotting away, how should we then live?

11 Say unto them, As I live, saith Adonoi Hashem, I have no pleasure in the mot of the rashah; but that the rashah make teshuvah from his derech and live; shuvu (turn ye), shuvu (turn ye) from your drakhim hara’im; for why will ye die, O Bais Yisroel?

12 Therefore, thou Ben Adam, say unto the Bnei Amecha, The tzidkat hatzaddik (righteousness of a righteous man) shall not save him in his Yom Peysha (Day of Rebellion, Day of his Transgession); as for the rishat harashah, he shall not fall thereby in his Yom Shuv (Day of Turning, Repentance) from his resha; neither shall the tzaddik be able to live his tzedakah in his Yom Chattot (day when he commits sin).