The Fall of the Proud and the Watchman’s Warning
Ezekiel 31
1 In the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
2 “Son of man, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his multitude: ‘Whom are you like in your greatness?
3 Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with beautiful branches, and with a forest-like shade, and of high stature; and its top was among the thick boughs.
4 The waters nourished it. The deep made it to grow. Its rivers ran around its plantation. It sent out its channels to all the trees of the field.
5 Therefore its stature was exalted above all the trees of the field; and its boughs were multiplied, and its branches became long by reason of many waters, when it shot them out.
6 All the birds of the sky made their nests in its boughs. Under its branches all the animals of the field gave birth to their young. All great nations lived under its shadow.
7 Thus it was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches; for its root was by many waters.
8 The cedars in the garden of God could not hide it. The fir trees were not like its boughs, and the plane trees were not as its branches; nor was any tree in the garden of God like it in its beauty.
9 I made it beautiful by the multitude of its branches, so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied it.
10 Therefore thus said the Lord Yahweh: ‘Because it is exalted in stature, and it has set its top among the thick boughs, and its heart is lifted up in its height,
11 I will even deliver it into the hand of the mighty one of the nations. He will surely deal with it. I have driven it out for its wickedness.
12 Foreigners, the tyrants of the nations, have cut it off and have left it. Its branches have fallen on the mountains and in all the valleys. Its boughs are broken by all the watercourses of the land. All the peoples of the earth have gone down from its shadow and have left it.
13 All the birds of the sky will dwell on its ruin, and all the animals of the field will be on its branches,
14 to the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves in their stature, neither set their top among the thick boughs, nor that their mighty ones stand up in their height, even all who drink water; for they are all delivered to death, to the lower parts of the earth, in the middle of the children of men, with those who go down to the pit.’
15 “Thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘In the day when it went down to Sheol I caused a mourning. I covered the deep for it, and I restrained its rivers. The great waters were stopped. I caused Lebanon to mourn for it, and all the trees of the field fainted for it.
16 I made the nations shake at the sound of its fall, when I cast it down to Sheol with those who descend into the pit. All the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the lower parts of the earth.
17 They also went down into Sheol with it to those who are slain by the sword; yes, those who were its arm, who lived under its shadow among the nations.
18 To whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? Yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the lower parts of the earth. You will lie among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword.
“‘This is Pharaoh and all his multitude,’ says the Lord Yahweh.”
Ezekiel 32
1 In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
2 “Son of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt, and tell him, ‘You were likened to a young lion of the nations; yet you are as a monster in the seas. You burst out with your rivers, and troubled the waters with your feet, and fouled their rivers.’”
3 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “I will spread out my net over you with a company of many peoples. They will bring you up in my net.
4 I will leave you on the land. I will cast you out on the open field, and will cause all the birds of the sky to settle on you. I will satisfy the animals of the whole earth with you.
5 I will lay your flesh on the mountains and fill the valleys with your height.
6 I will also water the land with your blood, even to the mountains; and the watercourses will be full of you.
7 When I extinguish you, I will cover the sky and make its stars dark. I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon won’t give its light.
8 I will make all the bright lights of the sky dark over you, and set darkness on your land,” says the Lord Yahweh.
9 “I will also trouble the hearts of many peoples, when I bring your destruction among the nations, into the countries which you have not known.
10 Yes, I will make many peoples amazed at you, and their kings will be horribly afraid for you, when I brandish my sword before them. They will tremble every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of your fall.”
11 For the Lord Yahweh says: “The sword of the king of Babylon will come on you.
12 I will cause your multitude to fall by the swords of the mighty. They are all the tyrants of the nations. They will destroy the pride of Egypt, and all its multitude will be destroyed.
13 I will also destroy all its animals from beside many waters. The foot of man won’t trouble them any more, nor will the hoofs of animals trouble them.
14 Then I will make their waters clear, and cause their rivers to run like oil,” says the Lord Yahweh.
15 “When I make the land of Egypt desolate and waste, a land destitute of that of which it was full, when I strike all those who dwell therein, then they will know that I am Yahweh.
16 This is the lamentation with which they will lament. The daughters of the nations will lament with it. They will lament with it over Egypt and over all its multitude,” says the Lord Yahweh.
17 Also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
18 “Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her and the daughters of the famous nations, to the lower parts of the earth, with those who go down into the pit.
19 ‘Whom do you surpass in beauty? Go down, and be laid with the uncircumcised.’
20 They will fall among those who are slain by the sword. She is delivered to the sword. Draw her away with all her multitudes.
21 The strong among the mighty will speak to him out of the middle of Sheol with those who help him. They have gone down. They lie still, even the uncircumcised, slain by the sword.
22 Assyria is there with all her company. Her graves are around her. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword,
23 whose graves are set in the sides of the pit, and her company is around her grave. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword, who caused terror in the land of the living.
24 There is Elam and all her multitude around her grave. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword, who have gone down uncircumcised into the lower parts of the earth, who caused their terror in the land of the living, and have borne their shame with those who go down to the pit.
25 They have set her a bed in the middle of the slain with all her multitude. Her graves are around her. All of them are uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for their terror was caused in the land of the living, and they have borne their shame with those who go down to the pit. They are placed among those who are slain.
26 There is Meshech, Tubal, and all their multitude. Their graves are around them. All of them are uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for they caused their terror in the land of the living.
27 They will not lie with the mighty who are fallen of the uncircumcised, who have gone down to Sheol with their weapons of war, and have laid their swords under their heads, and their iniquities are on their bones; for they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.
28 But you will be broken among the uncircumcised, and will lie with those who are slain by the sword.
29 There is Edom, her kings and all her princes, who in their might are laid with those who are slain by the sword. They will lie with the uncircumcised, and with those who go down to the pit.
30 There are the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Sidonians, who have gone down with the slain; in spite of the terror caused by their might, they are ashamed. They lie uncircumcised with those who are slain by the sword, and bear their shame with those who go down to the pit.
31 Pharaoh will see them, and will be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army, slain by the sword,” says the Lord Yahweh.
32 “For I have caused his terror in the land of the living. He will be laid in the middle of the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude,” says the Lord Yahweh.
Ezekiel 33
1 Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
2 “Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and tell them, ‘When I bring the sword on a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and set him for their watchman;
3 if, when he sees the sword come on the land, he blows the trumpet, and warns the people;
4 then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet, and doesn’t take warning, if the sword comes, and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head.
5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, and didn’t take warning. His blood will be on himself; whereas if he had taken warning, he would have delivered his soul.
6 But if the watchman sees the sword come, and doesn’t blow the trumpet, and the people aren’t warned, and the sword comes, and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’
7 “So you, son of man, I have set you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.
8 When I tell the wicked, ‘Wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you don’t speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man will die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at your hand.
9 Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and he doesn’t turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.
10 “Therefore, you son of man, tell the house of Israel: ‘You say this, saying, “Our transgressions and our sins are on us, and we pine away in them. How then can we live?”
11 Tell them, “As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why will you die, house of Israel?”
12 “You, son of man, tell the children of your people, ‘The righteousness of the righteous won’t deliver him in the day of his disobedience; and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he won’t fall by it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; neither will he who is righteous be able to live by it in the day that he sins.
13 When I tell the righteous that he will surely live, if he trusts to his righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but in his iniquity that he has committed, he will die.
14 Again, when I say to the wicked, “You will surely die,” if he turns from his sin, and does 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 will surely live. He will not die.
16 None of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him. He has done that which is lawful and right. He will surely live.
17 “‘Yet the children of your people say, “The way of the Lord is not equal”; but as for them, their way is not equal.
18 When the righteous turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, he will even die in it.
19 When the wicked turns from his wickedness, and does that which is lawful and right, he will live by it.
20 Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is not equal.” House of Israel, I will judge every one of you after his ways.’”
21 In the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, one who had escaped out of Jerusalem came to me, saying, “The city has been struck.”
22 Now Yahweh’s hand had been on me in the evening, before he who had escaped out of Jerusalem came; and he had opened my mouth by the time he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no longer mute.
23 Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
24 “Son of man, they who 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 to us for inheritance.’
25 Therefore tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “You eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes to your idols, and shed blood. Shall you then possess the land?
26 You stand on your sword. You work abomination. Every one of you defiles his neighbor’s wife. Shall you then possess the land?”’
27 “You shall tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “As I live, surely those who are in the waste places will fall by the sword; and he who is in the open field I will give to the animals to be devoured; and those who are in the strongholds and in the caves will die of the pestilence.
28 I will make the land a desolation and an astonishment, and the pride of her power will cease. The mountains of Israel will be desolate, so that no one will pass through.
29 Then they will know that I am Yahweh, when I have made the land a desolation and an astonishment because of all their abominations which they have committed.”’
30 “As for you, son of man, the children of your people talk about you by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, everyone to his brother, saying, ‘Come, please, and hear what the word is that comes out from Yahweh.’
31 They come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but they don’t do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain.
32 Behold, you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they don’t do them.
33 When this comes to pass—behold, it comes—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”
Scripture: World English Bible Classic (WEB), a public-domain translation. Available for free copying and sharing at eBible.org.
