Ezekiel:33

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* Again the word of the LORD came to me , saying , * "Son of man , speak to the children of your people , and say to them : "When I bring the sword upon a land , and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their watchman , * when he sees the sword coming upon the land , if he blows the trumpet and warns the people , * then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning , if the sword comes and takes him away , his blood shall be on his own head . * He heard the sound of the trumpet , but did not take warning ; his blood shall be upon himself . But he who takes warning will save his life . * But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet , and the people are not warned , and the sword comes and takes any person from among them , he is taken away in his iniquity ; but his blood I will require at the watchman 's hand .' * "So you , son of man : I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel ; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me . * When I say to the wicked , "O wicked man , you shall surely 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 at your hand . * Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way , and he does not turn from his way , he shall die in his iniquity ; but you have delivered your soul . * "Therefore you , O son of man , say to the house of Israel : "Thus you say , "If our transgressions and our sins lie upon us , and we pine away in them , how can we then live ?"' * Say to them : "As I live ,' says the Lord GOD , "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked , but that the wicked turn from his way and live . Turn , turn from your evil ways ! For why should you die , O house of Israel ?' * "Therefore you , O son of man , say to the children of your people : "The righteousness of the righteous man shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression ; as for the wickedness of the wicked , he shall not fall because of it in the day that he turns from his wickedness ; nor shall the righteous be able to live because of his righteousness in the day that he sins .' * When I say to the righteous that he shall surely live , but he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity , none of his righteous works shall be remembered ; but because of the iniquity that he has committed , he shall die . * Again , when I say to the wicked , "You shall surely die ,' if he turns from his sin and does what is lawful and right , * if the wicked restores the pledge , gives back what he has stolen , and walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity , he shall surely live ; he shall not die . * None of his sins which he has committed shall be remembered against him ; he has done what is lawful and right ; he shall surely live . * "Yet the children of your people say , "The way of the LORD is not fair .' But it is their way which is not fair ! * When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity , he shall die because of it . * But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right , he shall live because of it . * Yet you say , "The way of the LORD is not fair .' O house of Israel , I will judge every one of you according to his own ways ." * And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity , in the tenth month , on the fifth day of the month , that one who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me and said , "The city has been captured !" * Now the hand of the LORD had been upon me the evening before the man came who had escaped . And He had opened my mouth ; so when he came to me in the morning , my mouth was opened , and I was no longer mute . * Then the word of the LORD came to me , saying : * "Son of man , they who inhabit those ruins in the land of Israel are saying , "Abraham was only one , and he inherited the land . But we are many ; the land has been given to us as a possession .' * "Therefore say to them , "Thus says the Lord GOD : "You eat meat with blood , you lift up your eyes toward your idols , and shed blood . Should you then possess the land ? * You rely on your sword , you commit abominations , and you defile one another 's wives . Should you then possess the land ?"' * "Say thus to them , "Thus says the Lord GOD : "As I live , surely those who are in the ruins shall fall by the sword , and the one who is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured , and those who are in the strongholds and caves shall die of the pestilence . * For I will make the land most desolate , her arrogant strength shall cease , and the mountains of Israel shall be so desolate that no one will pass through . * Then they shall know that I am the LORD , when I have made the land most desolate because of all their abominations which they have committed ."' * "As for you , son of man , the children of your people are talking about you beside the walls and in the doors of the houses ; and they speak to one another , everyone saying to his brother , "Please come and hear what the word is that comes from the LORD .' * So they come to you as people do , they sit before you as My people , and they hear your words , but they do not do them ; for with their mouth they show much love , but their hearts pursue their own gain . * Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument ; for they hear your words , but they do not do them . * And when this comes to pass--surely it will come--then they will know that a prophet has been among them ."

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