Ezekiel 33

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 Thus the word of the LORD came to me:	1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
2 Son of man, speak thus to your countrymen: When I bring the sword against a country, and the people of this country select one of their number to be their watchman,	2 Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say to them: When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man, one of their meanest, and make him a watchman over them:
3 and the watchman, seeing the sword coming against the country, blows the trumpet to warn the people,	3 And he see the sword coming upon the land, and sound the trumpet, and tell the people:
4 anyone hearing but not heeding the warning of the trumpet and therefore slain by the sword that comes against him, shall be responsible for his own death.	4 Then he that heareth the sound of the trumpet, whosoever he be, and doth not look to himself, if the sword come, and cut him off: his blood shall be upon his own head.
5 He heard the trumpet blast yet refused to take warning; he is responsible for his own death, for had he taken warning he would have escaped with his life.	5 He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not look to himself, his blood shall be upon him: but if he look to himself, he shall save his life.
6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and fails to blow the warning trumpet, so that the sword comes and takes anyone, I will hold the watchman responsible for that person's death, even though that person is taken because of his own sin.	6 And if the watchman see the sword coming, and sound not the trumpet: and the people look not to themselves, and the sword come, and cut off a soul from among them: he indeed is taken away in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at the hand of the watchman.
7 You, son of man, I have appointed watchman for the house of Israel; when you hear me say anything, you shall warn them for me.	7 So thou, O son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel: therefore thou shalt hear the word from my mouth, and shalt tell it them from me.
8 If I tell the wicked man that he shall surely die, and you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked man from his way, he (the wicked man) shall die for his guilt, but I will hold you responsible for his death.	8 When I say to the wicked: O wicked man, thou shalt surely die: if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked man from his way: that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy hand.
9 But if you warn the wicked man, trying to turn him from his way, and he refuses to turn from his way, he shall die for his guilt, but you shall save yourself.	9 But if thou tell the wicked man, that he may be converted from his ways, and he be not converted from his way: he shall die in his iniquity: but thou hast delivered thy soul.
10 As for you, son of man, speak to the house of Israel: You people say, "Our crimes and our sins weigh us down; we are rotting away because of them. How can we survive?"	10 Thou therefore, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: Thus you have spoken, saying: Our iniquities, and our sins are upon us, and we pine away in them: how then can we live?
11 Answer them: As I live, says the Lord GOD, I swear I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, but rather in the wicked man's conversion, that he may live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! Why should you die, O house of Israel?	11 Say to them: As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die, O house of Israel?
12 As for you, son of man, tell your countrymen: The virtue which a man has practiced will not save him on the day that he sins; neither will the wickedness that a man has done bring about his downfall on the day that he turns from his wickedness (nor can the virtuous man, when he sins, remain alive).	12 Thou therefore, O son of man, say to the children of thy people: The justice of the just shall not deliver him, in what day soever he shall sin: and the wickedness of the wicked shall not hurt him, in what day soever he shall turn from his wickedness: and the just shall not be able to live in his justice, in what day soever he shall sin.
13 Though I say to the virtuous man that he shall surely live, if he then presumes on his virtue and does wrong, none of his virtuous deeds shall be remembered; because of the wrong he has done, he shall die.	13 Yea, if I shall say to the just that he shall surely live, and he, trusting in his justice, commit iniquity: all his justices shall be forgotten, and in his iniquity, which he hath committed, in the same shall he die.
14 And though I say to the wicked man that he shall surely die, if he turns away from his sin and does what is right and just,	14 And if I shall say to the wicked: Thou shalt surely die: and he do penance for his sin, and do judgment and justice,
15 giving back pledges, restoring stolen goods, living by the statutes that bring life, and doing no wrong, he shall surely live, he shall not die.	15 And if that wicked man restore the pledge, and render what he had robbed, and walk in the commandments of life, and do no unjust thing: he shall surely live, and shall not die.
16 None of the sins he committed shall be held against him; he has done what is right and just, he shall surely live.	16 None of his sins, which he hath committed, shall be imputed to him: he hath done judgment and justice, he shall surely live.
17 Yet your countrymen say, "The way of the LORD is not fair!"; but it is their way that is not fair.	17 And the children of thy people have said: The way of the Lord is not equitable: whereas their own way is unjust.
18 When a virtuous man turns away from what is right and does wrong, he shall die for it.	18 For when the just shall depart from his justice, and commit iniquities, he shall die in them.
19 But when a wicked man turns away from wickedness and does what is right and just, because of this he shall live.	19 And when the wicked shall depart from his wickedness, and shall do judgments, and justice: be shall live in them.
20 And still you say, "The way of the LORD is not fair!"? I will judge every one of you according to his ways, O house of Israel.	20 And you say: The way of the Lord is not right, I will judge every one of you according to his ways, O house of Israel.
21 On the fifth day of the tenth month, in the twelfth year of our exile, the fugitive came to me from Jerusalem and said, "The city is taken!"	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 there came to me one that was fled from Jerusalem, saying: The city is laid waste.
22 The hand of the LORD had come upon me the evening before the fugitive arrived, and he opened my mouth when the fugitive reached me in the morning. My mouth was opened, and I was dumb no longer.	22 And the hand of the Lord had been upon me in the evening, before he that was fled came: and he opened my mouth till he came to me in the morning, and my mouth being opened, I was silent no more.
23 Thus the word of the LORD came to me:	23 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
24 Son of man, they who live in the ruins on the land of Israel reason thus: "Abraham, though but a single individual, received possession of the land; we, therefore, being many, have as permanent possession the land that has been given to us."	24 Son of man, they that dwell in these ruinous 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 in possession.
25 Give them this answer: Thus says the Lord GOD: You eat on the mountains, you raise your eyes to your idols, you shed blood--yet you would keep possession of the land?	25 Therefore say to them: Thus saith the Lord God, You that eat with the blood and lift up your eyes to your uncleannesses, and that shed blood: shall you possess the land by inheritance?
26 You rely on your sword, you do abominable things, each one of you defiles his neighbor's wife--yet you would keep possession of the land?	26 You stood on your swords, you have committed abominations, and every one hath defiled his neighbour's wife; and shall you possess the land by inheritance?
27 Tell them this: Thus says the Lord GOD: As I live, those who are in the ruins I swear shall fall by the sword; those who are in the open field I have given to the wild beasts for food; and those who are in fastnesses and in caves shall die by the plague.	27 Say thou thus to them: Thus saith the Lord God: As I live, they that dwell in the ruinous places, shall fall by the sword: and he that is in the field, shall be given to the beasts to be devoured: and they that are in holds, and caves, shall die of the pestilence.
28 I will make the land a desolate waste, so that its proud strength will come to an end, and the mountains of Israel shall be so desolate that no one will cross them.	28 And I will make the land a wilderness, and a desert, and the proud strength thereof shall fail, and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, because there is none to pass by them.
29 Thus they shall know that I am the LORD, when I make the land a desolate waste because of all the abominable things they have done.	29 And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have made their land waste and desolate, for all their abominations which they have committed.
30 As for you, son of man, your countrymen are talking about you along the walls and in the doorways of houses. They say to one another, "Come and hear the latest word that comes from the LORD."	30 And thou son of man: the children of thy people, that talk of thee by the walls, and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another each men to his neighbour, saying: Come, and let us hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord.
31 My people come to you as people always do; they sit down before you and hear your words, but they will not obey them, for lies are on their lips and their desires are fixed on dishonest gain.	31 And they come to thee, as if a people were coming in, and my people sit before thee: and hear thy words, and do them not: for they turn them into a song of their mouth, and their heart goeth after their covetousness.
32 For them you are only a ballad singer, with a pleasant voice and a clever touch. They listen to your words, but they will not obey them.	32 And thou art to them as a musical song which is sung with a sweet and agreeable voice: and they hear thy words, and do them not.
33 But when it comes--and it is surely coming!-they shall know that there was a prophet among them.	33 And when that which was foretold shall come to pass, (for behold it is coming,) then shall they know that a prophet bath been among them.