Read Ezekiel 33 at Bible Gateway.
Hebrew paragraph divisions
Eze 33:1-6 {p} If the watchman warns the land, he does not bear bloodguilt, but if does not warn, he bears it
Eze 33:7-9 {p} Ezekiel made a watchman for the house of Israel, to warn, and deliver his soul of bloodguilt
Eze 33:10-11 {p} YHVH has no pleasure in the death of the wicked: turn from evil ways and live
Eze 33:12-20 {p} Every man judged according to his ways: the righteous shall live, the wicked shall perish
Eze 33:21-22 {p} Survivor from the fall of Jerusalem told it to Ezekiel/ he was no longer mute
Eze 33:23-24 {s} The remnant in Israel is saying the land has been given to them as a possession
Eze 33:25-26 {s} Thus says YHVH: you walk in evil ways + practice abominations, shall you possess the land?
Eze 33:27-29 {p} The remnant devoured, the land desolate: then you shall know that I am YHVH
Eze 33:30-33 {p} The people come to Ezekiel to hear the word of YHVH, but they do not do it
Eze 33:1-33 chiastic structure
This chapter is very unnerving and unsettling, because we too live in a land where abominations are being committed. And will judgment be coming on the land as it came on Israel and Judah? And isn’t it interesting that it was Ezekiel who received this prophecy, who was not living in the Holy Land, but with the captives in Babylon, as we are not living in the land, but, it might be said, in Babylon? For the kingdoms of this world are patterned after Babylon, the head of gold of the kingdoms of this world.
All I can say is the word of YHVH, for He said,
‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.’ Eze 33:11
On this side of heaven, the one who does wickedly will die when the sword of judgment comes, and the one who does what is lawful and right will live when the sword of judgment comes. If we are doing what is lawful and right, then the sword is not coming for us. It’s purpose is the cleanse the land of abominations and those who do them.
Take heart, beloved of YHVH! And let your witness shine a light and a warning to all around about you far and wide!
Related: The roadmap to national restoration
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