Ezekiel 33:1-20

The Watchman's Duty

1 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

2 "Son of man, speak to the ¹sons of your people and say to them, 'If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one man from among them and make him their watchman,

3 and he sees the sword coming upon the land and ²blows on the trumpet and warns the people,

4 then he who hears the sound of the trumpet and ³does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his ⁴blood will be on his own head.

5 'He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning; his blood will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have ⁵delivered his life.

6 'But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is ⁶taken away in his iniquity; but his ⁷blood I will require from the watchman's hand.'

7 "Now as for you, son of man, I have ⁸appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth and give them ⁹warning from Me.

8 "When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you will ¹⁰surely die,' and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand.

9 "But if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he ¹¹does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have ¹²delivered your life.

10 "Now as for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, 'Thus you have spoken, saying, "Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we are ¹³rotting away in them; ¹⁴how then can we survive?"'

11 "Say to them, '¹⁵As I live!' declares the Lord GOD, 'I take ¹⁶no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather * that the wicked ¹⁷turn from his way and live. ¹⁸Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?'

12 "And you, son of man, say to your fellow citizens, 'The ¹⁹righteousness of a righteous man will not deliver him in the day of his transgression, and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will ²⁰not stumble because of it in the day when he turns from his wickedness; whereas a righteous man will not be able to live by his righteousness on the day when he commits sin.'

13 "When I say to the righteous he will surely live, and he so trusts in his righteousness that he ²¹commits iniquity, none * of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but in that same iniquity of his which he has committed he will die.

14 "But when I say to the wicked, 'You will surely die,' and he ²²turns from his sin and practices ²³justice and righteousness,

15 if a wicked man restores a pledge, ²⁴pays back what he has taken by robbery, walks by the ²⁵statutes which ensure life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die.

16 "²⁶None * of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him. He has practiced justice and righteousness; he shall surely live.

17 "Yet your fellow citizens say, 'The way of the Lord is not right,' when it is their own way that is not right.

18 "When the righteous turns from his righteousness and ²⁷commits iniquity, then he shall die in it.

19 "But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and practices justice and righteousness, he will live by them.

20 "Yet you say, '²⁸The way of the Lord is not right.' O house of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his ways."

Ezekiel 33:1-20 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 33

This chapter treats of the prophet's duty, and the people's sins; contains a vindication of the justice of God; a threatening of destruction to those who remained in the land after the taking of the city; and a detection of the hypocrisy of the prophet's hearers. The duty of a watchman in general is declared, Eze 33:1-6, an application of this to the prophet, Eze 33:7: the sum of whose business is to warn the wicked man of his wickedness; and the consequence of doing, or not doing it, is expressed, Eze 33:8,9, an objection of the people, and the prophet's answer to it, Eze 33:10,11, who is bid to acquaint them, that a righteous man trusting to his righteousness, and sinning, should not live; and that a sinner repenting of his sins should not die, Eze 33:12-16, the people's charge of inequality in the ways of God is retorted upon them, and removed from the Lord, and proved against them, Eze 33:17-20, then follows a prophecy, delivered out after the news was brought of the taking of the city, threatening with ruin those that remained in the land, confident of safety, and that for their sins, which are particularly enumerated, Eze 33:21-29, and the chapter is closed with a discovery of the hypocrisy of those that attended the prophet's ministry, Eze 33:30-33.

Cross References

• 1. Ezekiel 3:11; Ezekiel 33:12, 17, 30; Ezekiel 37:18
• 2. Nehemiah 4:18-20; Isaiah 58:1; Ezekiel 33:9; Hosea 8:1; Joel 2:1
• 3. 2 Chronicles 25:16; Jeremiah 6:17; Zechariah 1:4
• 4. Ezekiel 18:13; Ezekiel 33:5, 9; Acts 18:6
• 5. Exodus 9:19-21; Hebrews 11:7
• 6. Ezekiel 18:20, 24; Ezekiel 33:8, 9
• 7. Ezekiel 3:18, 20
• 8. Isaiah 62:6; Ezekiel 3:17-21
• 9. Jeremiah 1:17; Jeremiah 26:2; Ezekiel 2:7, 8; Acts 5:20
• 10. Isaiah 3:11; Ezek 18:4, 13, 18, 20; Ezekiel 33:14
• 11. Acts 13:40, 41, 46
• 12. Ezekiel 3:19, 21; Acts 20:26
• 13. Leviticus 26:39; Ezekiel 4:17; Ezekiel 24:23
• 14. Isaiah 49:14; Ezekiel 37:11
• 15. Isaiah 49:18; Ezekiel 5:11
• 16. Ezekiel 18:23, 32; Hosea 11:8
• 17. Jeremiah 31:20; 1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9
• 18. Isaiah 55:6, 7; Jeremiah 3:22; Ezekiel 18:30, 31; Hosea 14:1; Acts 3:19
• 19. Ezekiel 3:18; Ezekiel 18:24; Ezekiel 33:20
• 20. 2 Chronicles 7:14; Ezekiel 18:21; Ezekiel 33:19
• 21. Ezekiel 18:26; Hebrews 10:38; 2 Peter 2:20, 21
• 22. Isaiah 55:7; Jeremiah 18:7, 8; Ezekiel 18:27; Ezekiel 33:8, 19; Hosea 14:1, 4
• 23. Micah 6:8
• 24. Exodus 22:1-4; Leviticus 6:4, 5; Luke 19:8
• 25. Psalms 119:59; Psalms 143:8; Ezekiel 20:11
• 26. Isaiah 1:18; Isaiah 43:25; Ezekiel 18:22
• 27. Ezekiel 3:20; Ezekiel 18:24; Ezekiel 33:12, 13
• 28. Ezekiel 18:25

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "for," and so throughout the ch
• [b]. Or "given"
• [c]. Lit "word"
• [d]. Lit "live"
• [e]. Heb "YHWH," usually rendered LORD, and so throughout the ch
• [f]. Lit "the sons of your people"
• [g]. Lit "by it"
• [h]. Lit "of life"
• [i]. Lit "the sons of your people"
• [j]. Lit "them"