Yehezkiel 3:16-21

3:16 At the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me: ¹  3:17 “Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman ²  for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must give them a warning from me. 3:18 When I say to the wicked, “You will certainly die,” ³  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, ⁴  but I will hold you accountable for his death. ⁵  3:19 But as for you, if you warn the wicked and he does not turn from his wicked deed and from his wicked lifestyle, he will die for his iniquity but you will have saved your own life. ⁶ 

3:20 “When a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I set an obstacle ⁷  before him, he will die. If you have not warned him, he will die for his sin. The righteous deeds he performed will not be considered, but I will hold you accountable for his death. 3:21 However, if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he ⁸  does not sin, he will certainly live because he was warned, and you will have saved your own life.”

Yehezkiel 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, ⁹  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 ¹⁰  and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil deeds! ¹¹  Why should you die, O house of Israel?’

33:12 “And you, son of man, say to your people, ¹²  ‘The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him if he rebels. ¹³  As for the wicked, his wickedness will not make him stumble if he turns from it. ¹⁴  The righteous will not be able to live by his righteousness ¹⁵  if he sins.’ ¹⁶  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 ¹⁷  returns what was taken in pledge, pays back what he has stolen, and follows the statutes that give life, ¹⁸  committing no iniquity. He will certainly live – he will not die. 33:16 None of the sins he has committed will be counted ¹⁹  against him. He has done what is just and right; he will certainly live.

33:17 “Yet your people ²⁰  say, ‘The behavior ²¹  of the Lord is not right,’ ²²  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.” ²³ 

[3:16]  ¹ sn This phrase occurs about fifty times in the book of Ezekiel.

[3:17]  ² tn The literal role of a watchman is described in 2 Sam 18:24; 2 Kgs 9:17.

[3:18]  ³ sn Even though the infinitive absolute is used to emphasize the warning, the warning is still implicitly conditional, as the following context makes clear.

[3:18]  ⁴ 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.”

[3:18]  ⁵ 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).

[3:19]  ⁶ tn Verses 17-19 are repeated in Ezek 33:7-9.

[3:20]  ⁷ tn Or “stumbling block.” The Hebrew term refers to an obstacle in the road in Lev 19:14.

[3:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “the righteous man.”

[33:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “(are) upon us.”

[33:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “turn from his way.”

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

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

[33:12]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “by it.”

[33:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “in the day of his sin.”

[33:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the wicked one.”

[33:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and in the statutes of life he walks.”

[33:16]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “remembered.”

[33:17]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the sons of your people.”

[33:17]  ²¹ tn Heb “way.”

[33:17]  ²² 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]  ²³ tn Heb “ways.”