Ezekiel 33

NEW JERUSALEM	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 The word of Yahweh was addressed to me as follows,	1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
2 'Son of man, speak to the people of your country. Say to them, "When I send the sword against thepeople of that country, take one of their number and post him as a 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 if he sees the sword coming against the country, he must sound his horn to warn the people.	3 And he see the sword coming upon the land, and sound the trumpet, and tell the people:
4 If someone hears the sound of the horn but pays no attention and the sword overtakes him anddestroys him, he wil have been 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 has heard the sound of the horn and paid no attention; his death wil be his own responsibility. But the life of someone who pays attention will be secure.	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 "If, however, the watchman has seen the sword coming but has not blown his horn, and so the peopleare not alerted and the sword overtakes them and destroys a single one of them, that person wil indeed die forhis guilt, but I shal hold the watchman responsible for his death."	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 'Son of man I have appointed you as watchman for the House of Israel. When you hear a word frommy mouth, warn them from 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 say to someone wicked, "Evil- doer, you are to die," and you do not speak to warn the wickedperson to renounce such ways, the wicked person wil die for this guilt, but I shal hold you responsible for thedeath.	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 If, however, you do warn someone wicked to renounce such ways and repent, and that person doesnot repent, then the culprit wil die for this guilt, but you yourself wil have saved your life.	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 'Son of man, say to the House of Israel, "You are continual y saying: Our crimes and sins weighheavily on us; we are wasting away because of them. How are we to go on living?"	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 Say to them, "As I live -- declares the Lord Yahweh -- I do not take pleasure in the death of thewicked but in the conversion of the wicked who changes his ways and saves his life. Repent, turn back from yourevil ways. Why die, 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 'Son of man, say to the members of your nation, "The uprightness of an upright person wil not savehim once he takes to wrong-doing; the wickedness of a wicked person wil not ruin him once he renounces hiswickedness. No one upright wil be able to live on the strength of uprightness, having once taken to sinning.	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 If I say to someone upright: You are to live, and then, trusting in this uprightness, he does wrong,none of the uprightness wil be remembered; because of the wrong-doing, he will 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 If, however, I say to someone wicked: You are to die, and he turns back from sin and does what islawful and upright,	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 if he returns pledges, restores what he has stolen, keeps the laws that give life and no longer doeswrong, he wil live and wil 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 his previous sins wil be remembered against him; having done what is lawful and upright, hewil 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 "But the members of your nation say: What the Lord does is unjust. But it is what you do that isunjust.	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 an upright person gives up being upright and does wrong, he dies for it.	18 For when the just shall depart from his justice, and commit iniquities, he shall die in them.
19 And when a wicked person gives up being wicked and does what is lawful and upright, because ofthis he lives.	19 And when the wicked shall depart from his wickedness, and shall do judgments, and justice: be shall live in them.
20 But you say: What the Lord does is unjust! I shal judge each of you by what you do, 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 In the twelfth year of our captivity, on the fifth day of the tenth month, a fugitive arrived fromJerusalem and said to me, 'The city has been 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 Now the hand of the Lord had been on me the evening before the fugitive arrived; he had opened mymouth before the fugitive came to me the next morning; my mouth had been 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 The word of Yahweh was then addressed to me as follows,	23 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
24 'Son of man, the people living in those ruins on the soil of Israel say this, "Abraham was alone whenhe was given possession of this country. But we are many; the country has been given us as our heritage."	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 'Very wel , tell them, "The Lord Yahweh says this: You eat blood, you raise your eyes to your foulidols, you shed blood; are you to own the country?	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 swords, you engage in loathsome practices, each of you defiles his neighbour'swife; are you to own the country?"	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 Tel them this, "The Lord Yahweh says this: As I live, I swear it, those in the ruins wil fal to thesword, those in the countryside I shal give to the wild animals for them to eat, and those among the crags and incaves wil die of 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 shal make the country a desolate waste, and the pride of its strength will be at an end. Themountains of Israel wil be deserted and no one will pass that way again.	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 Then they wil know that I am Yahweh, when I make the country a desolate waste because of all thefilthy 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 'Son of man, the members of your nation are talking about you on the ramparts and in doorways.They keep saying to one another, "Come and hear the word that has come from Yahweh."	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 They throng towards you; my people sit down in front of you and listen to your words, but they do notact on them. What they act on is the lie in their mouths, and their hearts are set 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 As far as they are concerned, you are like a love song pleasantly sung to a good musicalaccompaniment. They listen to your words, but no one acts on 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 When the thing takes place -- and it is beginning now -- they wil know that there has been 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.