Dual Panel1AND THE word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2Son of man, speak to your people [the Israelite captives in Babylon] and say to them, When I bring the sword upon a land and the people of the land take a man from among them and make him their watchman,
3If when he sees the sword coming upon the land, he blows the trumpet and warns the people,
4Then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.
5He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning shall save his life.
6But 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 one of them, he is taken away in {and} for his perversity {and} iniquity, but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.
7So you, son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at My mouth and give them warning from Me.
8When 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 perversity {and} iniquity, but his blood will I require at your hand.
9But if you warn the wicked to turn from his evil way and he does not turn from his evil way, he shall die in his iniquity, but you will have saved your life.
10And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus you have said: Truly our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we waste away because of them; how then can we live?
11Say to them, As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?
12And you, son of man, say to your people, The uprightness {and} justice of the [uncompromisingly] righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression; and as for the wicked lawlessness of the wicked lawless, he shall not fall because of it in the day that he turns from his wickedness, neither shall the rigidly upright {and} just be able to live because of his past righteousness in the day that he sins {and} misses the mark [in keeping in harmony and right standing with God].
13When I shall say to the [uncompromisingly] righteous that he shall surely live, and he trusts to his own righteousness [to save him] and commits iniquity (heinous sin), all his righteous deeds shall not be [seriously] remembered; but for his perversity {and} iniquity that he has committed he shall die.
14Again, when I have said to the wicked, You shall surely die, if he turns from his sin and does that which is lawful and right--
15If the wicked restores [what he took in] pledge, gives back what he had taken in robbery, walks in the statutes of life [right relationship with God], without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die.
16None of his sins that he has committed shall be [seriously] remembered against him; he has done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.
17Yet your people say, The way of the Lord is not perfect {or} even just; but as for them, it is their own way that is not perfect {or} even just.
18When the righteous turns back from his [uncompromising] righteousness and commits perverseness {and} iniquity, he shall even die in {and} because of it.
19But if the wicked turns back from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right, he shall live because of it.
20Yet you say, The way of the Lord is not perfect {or} [even] just. O you house of Israel, I will judge you, every one according to his own ways!
21In the twelfth year of our captivity [in Babylon], in the tenth [month], on the fifth [day] of the month, a man who had escaped out of Jerusalem came to me [Ezekiel], saying, The city [Jerusalem] is taken.
22Now the hand of the Lord had been upon me in the evening before this one who had escaped came, and He had opened my mouth [in readiness for the fugitives] coming to me in the morning, and my mouth was opened and I was no longer dumb.
23Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
24Son of man, those [back in Palestine] who inhabit those wastes of the ground of Israel are saying, Abraham was only one man and he inherited the land, but we are many; the land is surely given to us to possess as our inheritance.
25Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord God: You eat meat with the blood [as an idolatrous rite] and lift up your eyes to your [filthy] idols and shed blood; shall you then possess the land?
26You stand upon your sword [as your dependence]; you commit abominations and each of you defiles your neighbor's wife; shall you then possess the land?
27Say this to them, Thus says the Lord God: As I live, surely those who 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 those who are in strongholds and in caves shall die by pestilence.
28And I will make the land [of Israel] a desolation and a waste, and her proud might shall cease, and the mountains of Israel shall be so desolate that no one will pass through them.
29Then shall they know, understand, {and} realize that I am the Lord, when I have made the land a desolation and a waste because of all their abominations which they have committed.
30As for you, son of man, your people who talk of you by the walls and in the doors of the houses say one to another, every one to his brother, Come and hear what the word is that comes forth from the Lord.
31And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as My people, and they hear the words you say, but they will not do them; for with their mouths they show much love, but their hearts go after {and} are set on their [idolatrous greed for] gain.
32Behold, you are to them as a very lovely [love] song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument, for they hear your words but do not do them.
33When this comes to pass--for behold, it will come!--then shall they know, understand, {and} realize that a prophet has been among them.