Ezekiel 33

The Watchman

¹The word of the Lord came to me.

²Son of man, speak to your countrymen and say this to them.

¹⁰So you, son of man, say the following to the house of Israel.

¹²So you, son of man, also say this to your countrymen.

The Fall of Jerusalem

²¹In the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, a refugee from Jerusalem came to me and said, “The city has fallen.”[#33:21 In the winter of 586/585 BC]

²²Now the hand of the Lord had been upon me the evening before the survivor came, and the Lord had opened my mouth, so by the time the refugee came to me in the morning, my mouth was opened, and I was no longer unable to speak.

²³The word of the Lord came to me.

³⁰What about you, son of man? Your countrymen, who are talking with each other about you beside the walls and in the doorways of the houses, say to one another, each one to a neighbor, “Come now and hear what the word is that is coming from the Lord .”

³¹They come to you as a group on behalf of the people, and they sit in front of you as if they were my people. They listen to your words but refuse to act on them, because they prefer to use their mouths for obscene talk, and their hearts pursue their wrongful gain.[#33:31 Literally like the coming of a people]

³²You see, to them you are like someone who sings erotic songs with a beautiful voice, who is an excellent musician. So they listen to your words, but they are not obeying them.

³³But when this comes—and come it will—they will know that a prophet has been among them.