1The word of the Lord came to me: 2“Son of man, speak to your people and say to them, If I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and make him their watchman, 3and if he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people, 4then if anyone who hears the sound of the trumpet does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. 5He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But if he had taken warning, he would have saved his life. 6But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them, that person 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 made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. 8If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. 9But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.
10“And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus have you said: ‘Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we rot away because of them. How then can we live?’ 11Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?
12 “And you, son of man, say to your people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him when he transgresses, and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall by it when he turns from his wickedness, and the righteous shall not be able to live by his righteousness when he sins. 13Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered, but in his injustice that he has done he shall die. 14Again, though I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ yet if he turns from his sin and does what is just and right, 15if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has taken by robbery, and walks in the statutes of life, not doing injustice, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 16None of the sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him. He has done what is just and right; he shall surely live.
17“Yet your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just,’ when it is their own way that is not just. 18When the righteous turns from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it. 19And when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he shall live by this. 20Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his ways.”
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Something else must also be said: Ezekiel's ministry as a watchman was one, before the fall of Jerusalem and after it alike; yet there were two different emphases within that one ministry: before, his word was full of foreboding, judgment and doom, but after, it took a completely different and positive turn. There is no inconsistency in this, of course. Nor is it a mark of inconsistency that any man's ministry should change, it is simply a question of the ongoing, unfolding purpose of God, in a changing situation, that at one time it should be necessary for a particular word to be given, and at another time another, which might be quite in contrast to the first. In 10ff we see something of the nature of the new note that was to come in the prophet's ministry. It is the proclamation of pardon and forgiveness. The AV rendering of 10 is somewhat misleading, and the 'if' is better taken, as in the RV margin, 'truly'. It is in answer to this despairing utterance by the people that God speaks the word of assurance in 11, and it is this that figures so largely in the chapters that follow. In 12ff we have an echo of the teaching in 18:21-29 about individual responsibility. The significance of this re-emphasis seems to be to admonish the people that, even though now they were in the depths of despair they must still beware of the temptation to excuse themselves and put responsibility for their sins elsewhere. God has proclaimed the word of pardon (11), but they must not forget that He had also said 'Turn ye, turn ye, from your evil ways; for why will ye die?' Ezekiel is saying, in effect, 'God's grace is there, but your responsibility is inescapable: it is now over to you. He requires truth in the inward parts, and is looking for an attitude of repentance in His people.' This indeed is the note that rings throughout the new phase of the prophet's ministry.