33 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, ² Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and set him for their watchman; ³ if, when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; ⁴ then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning, if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. ⁵ He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him; whereas if he had taken warning, he would have delivered his soul. ⁶ But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned, and the sword come, and take any person from among them; he is taken away ^[a]in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.

⁷ So thou, son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. ⁸ When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die, and thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way; that wicked man shall die ^[b]in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thy hand. ⁹ Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and he turn not from his way; he shall die ^[c]in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul.

¹⁰ And thou, son of man, say unto the house of Israel: Thus ye speak, saying, ^[d]Our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we pine away ^[e]in them; how then can we live? ¹¹ Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? ¹² And thou, son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression; and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness; neither shall he that is righteous be able to live thereby in the day that he sinneth. ¹³ When I say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his righteousness, and commit iniquity, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered; but ^[f]in his iniquity that he hath committed, ^[g]therein shall he die. ¹⁴ Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right; ¹⁵ if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that which he had taken by robbery, walk in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. ¹⁶ None of his sins that he hath committed shall be remembered against him: he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.

¹⁷ Yet the children of thy people say, The way of the Lord is not equal: but as for them, their way is not equal. ¹⁸ When the righteous turneth from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, he shall even die ^[h]therein. ¹⁹ And when the wicked turneth from his wickedness, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby. ²⁰ Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, I will judge you every one after his ways.

²¹ And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, saying, The city is smitten. ²² Now the hand of Jehovah had been upon me in the evening, before he that was escaped came; and he had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no more dumb.

²³ And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, ²⁴ Son of man, they that inhabit those waste places in the land of Israel speak, saying, Abraham was one, and he inherited the land: but we are many; the land is given us for inheritance. ²⁵ Wherefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Ye eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes unto your idols, and shed blood: and shall ye possess the land? ²⁶ Ye stand upon your sword, ye work abomination, and ye defile every one his neighbor’s wife: and shall ye possess the land? ²⁷ Thus shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: As I live, surely they that are in the waste places shall fall by the sword; and him that is in the open field will I give to the beasts to be devoured; and they that are in the strongholds and in the caves shall die of the pestilence. ²⁸ And I will make the land a desolation and an astonishment; and the pride of her power shall cease; and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, so that none shall pass through. ²⁹ Then shall they know that I am Jehovah, when I have made the land a desolation and an astonishment, because of all their abominations which they have committed.

³⁰ And as for thee, son of man, the children of thy people talk of thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from Jehovah. ³¹ And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but do them not; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after their gain. ³² And, lo, thou art unto them as ^[i]a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument; for they hear thy words, but they do them not. ³³ And when this cometh to pass (behold, it cometh), then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them.

34 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, ² Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, even to the shepherds, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Woe unto the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the sheep? ³ Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill the fatlings; but ye feed not the sheep. ⁴ The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought back that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with rigor have ye ruled over them. ⁵ And they were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and they became food to all the beasts of the field, and were scattered. ⁶ My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my sheep were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and there was none that did search or seek after them.

⁷ Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of Jehovah: ⁸ As I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, surely forasmuch as my sheep became a prey, and my sheep became food to all the beasts of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my sheep, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my sheep; ⁹ therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of Jehovah: ¹⁰ Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my sheep at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the sheep; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; and I will deliver my sheep from their mouth, that they may not be food for them.

¹¹ For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I myself, even I, will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. ¹² As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep; and I will deliver them out of all places whither they have been scattered in ^[j]the cloudy and dark day. ¹³ And I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them upon the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited places of the country. ¹⁴ I will feed them with good pasture; and upon the mountains of the height of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie down in a good fold; and on fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord Jehovah. ¹⁶ I will seek that which was lost, and will bring back that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but the fat and the strong I will destroy; I will feed them in justice.

¹⁷ And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, the rams and the he-goats. ¹⁸ Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have fed upon the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture? and to have drunk of the clear waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet? ¹⁹ And as for my sheep, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet, and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet.

²⁰ Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah unto them: Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. ²¹ Because ye thrust with side and with shoulder, and push all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad; ²² therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. ²³ And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. ²⁴ And I, Jehovah, will be their God, and my servant David prince among them; I, Jehovah, have spoken it.

²⁵ And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause evil beasts to cease out of the land; and they shall dwell securely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. ²⁶ And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in its season; there shall be showers of blessing. ²⁷ And the tree of the field shall yield its fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land; and they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have broken the bars of their yoke, and have delivered them out of the hand of those that made bondmen of them. ²⁸ And they shall no more be a prey to the nations, neither shall the beasts of the earth devour them; but they shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid. ²⁹ And I will raise up unto them a ^[k]plantation for renown, and they shall be no more ^[l]consumed with famine in the land, neither bear the shame of the nations any more. ³⁰ And they shall know that I, Jehovah, their God am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord Jehovah. ³¹ And ye my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord Jehovah.