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The Message of the Watchman
Ezekiel 33:10–20 answers a desperate question from Israel: if sin is weighing them down, how can they live? In this passage, the Lord speaks about turning from evil, personal responsibility, and his fair judgement.
Understanding the passage
The setting of this message
This passage is a message the Lord tells Ezekiel to speak to the house of Israel. The people say their sins are on them and ask how they can live. The Lord answers by calling people to turn from evil and by explaining how he judges each person according to their ways.
Ezekiel 33:10–20Main takeaway
The Lord calls people to turn from evil and shows that his judgement is fair because he responds truthfully to the way each person is walking now.
Explore the message
01A cry for help and a call to turnThe passage begins with the people’s own words: their transgressions and sins are on them, and they are wasting away.
Explanation
The passage begins with the people’s own words: their transgressions and sins are on them, and they are wasting away. They ask, “How then can we live?” The Lord answers with a strong appeal. He says he takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but wants the wicked to turn and live. The repeated word “Turn” makes the invitation urgent.
02Past righteousness does not excuse present sinThe Lord explains that a righteous person cannot rely on earlier righteousness if he turns to disobedience.
Explanation
The Lord explains that a righteous person cannot rely on earlier righteousness if he turns to disobedience. The passage says righteousness will not deliver him on the day he sins. If he trusts in his righteousness and commits iniquity, his righteous deeds will not be remembered, and he will die in that iniquity.
03A wicked person can turn and liveThe message also goes the other way. If the wicked turns from sin and does what is lawful and right, there is a real change in outcome.
Explanation
The message also goes the other way. If the wicked turns from sin and does what is lawful and right, there is a real change in outcome. The examples are practical: restoring a pledge, returning what was taken by robbery, and walking in the statutes of life. Then the Lord says that person will surely live.
04The Lord’s way is fairSome of the people say, “The way of the Lord is not fair.” The Lord answers by showing that their complaint is wrong.
Explanation
Some of the people say, “The way of the Lord is not fair.” The Lord answers by showing that their complaint is wrong. If the righteous turns to iniquity, he dies in it. If the wicked turns from wickedness and does what is lawful and right, he lives. The closing line states that each person is judged after his ways.
Questions to explore
01What does the Lord say he wants for the wicked person?
Look closely at the contrast in the Lord’s words between death and turning to live.
02What examples show that turning from wickedness is more than words?
Find the practical actions listed when the wicked person turns and does what is lawful and right.
03How does the passage answer the complaint that the Lord’s way is not fair?
Compare what happens when a righteous person turns to iniquity and when a wicked person turns to what is right.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Ezekiel 33:10–20
10“You, son of man, tell the house of Israel: ‘You say this, “Our transgressions and our sins are on us, and we pine away in them. How then can we live?” ’
11Tell 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 will not deliver him in the day of his disobedience. And as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not 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.
13When I tell the righteous that he will surely live, if he trusts in his righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but he will die in his iniquity that he has committed.
14Again, when I say to the wicked, “You will surely die,” if he turns from his sin and does that which is lawful and right,
15if 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.
16None 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 fair;” but as for them, their way is not fair.
18When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he will even die therein.
19When the wicked turns from his wickedness and does that which is lawful and right, he will live by it.
20Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is not fair.” House of Israel, I will judge every one of you after his ways.’ ”