have gone down to the Pit. 25They made a bed for her among the slain, with all her masses; their graves are round about her. They are all uncircumcised, slain by the sword. Though their terror was once spread over the land of the living, they bear their shame with those who have gone into the Pit; they are placed among the slain. 26Meshech and Tubal and all their masses are there; their graves are round about. They are all uncircumcised, pierced through by the sword—they who once struck terror in the land of the living. 27And they do not lie with the fallen uncircumcised warriors, who went down to Sheol with their battle gear, who put their swords beneath their heads and their iniquitiesg upon their bones—for the terror of the warriors was upon the land of the living. 28And you too shall be shattered amid the uncircumcised, and lie among those slain by the sword. 29Edom is there, her kings and all her chieftains, who, for all their might, are laid among those who are slain by the sword; they too lie with the uncircumcised and with those who have gone down to the Pit. 30All the princes of the north and all the Sidonians are there, who went down in disgrace with the slain, in spite of the terror that their might inspired; and they lie, uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword, and bear their shame with those who have gone down to the Pit.

31These Pharaoh shall see, and he shall be consoled for all his masses, those of Pharaoh’s men slain by the sword and all his army—declares the Lord GOD. 32h-I strike terror into the land of the living; Pharaoh-h and all his masses are laid among the uncircumcised, along with those who were slain by the sword—said the Lord GOD.

33 The word of the LORD came to me: 2O mortal, speak to your fellow countrymen and say to them: When I bring the sword against a country, the citizens of that country take one of their number and appoint him their watchman. 3Suppose he sees the sword advancing against the country, and he blows the horn and warns the people. 4If anybody hears the sound of the horn but ignores the warning, and the sword comes and dispatches him, his blood shall be on his own head. 5Since he heard the sound of the horn but ignored the warning, his bloodguilt shall be upon himself; had he taken the warning, he would have saved his life. 6But if the watchman sees the sword advancing and does not blow the horn, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and destroys one of them, that person was destroyed for his own sins; however, I will demand a reckoning for his blood from the watchman.

7Now, O mortal, I have appointed you a watchman for the House of Israel; and whenever you hear a message from My mouth, you must transmit My warning to them. 8When I say to the wicked, “Wicked man, you shall die,” but you have not spoken to warn the wicked man against his way, he, that wicked man, shall die for his sins, but I will demand a reckoning for his blood from you. 9But if you have warned the wicked man to turn back from his way, and he has not turned from his way, he shall die for his own sins, but you will have saved your life.
10Now, O mortal, say to the House of Israel: This is what you have been saying: “Our transgressions and our sins weigh heavily upon us; we are sick at heart about them. How can we survive?” 11Say to them: As I live—declares the Lord GOD—it is not My desire that the wicked shall die, but that the wicked turn from his [evil] ways and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways, that you may not die, O House of Israel!

12Now, O mortal, say to your fellow countrymen: The righteousness of the righteous shall not save him when he transgresses, nor shall the wickedness of the wicked cause him to stumble when he turns back from his wickedness. The righteous shall not survive through a-his righteousness-a when he sins. 13When I say of the righteous “He shall surely live,” and, relying on his righteousness, he commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered; but for the iniquity that he has committed he shall die. 14So, too, when I say to the wicked, “You shall die,” and he turns back from his sinfulness and does what is just and right—15if the wicked man restores a pledge, makes good what he has taken by robbery, follows the laws of life,b and does not commit iniquity—he shall live, he shall not die. 16None of the sins that he committed shall be remembered against him; since he does what is just and right, he shall live.
17Your fellow countrymen say, “The way of the Lord is unfair.” But it is their way that is unfair! 18When a righteous man turns away from his righteous deeds and commits iniquity, he shall die c-for it.-c 19And when a wicked man turns back from his wickedness and does what is just and right, it is he who shall live by virtue of these things. 20And will you say, “The way of the Lord is unfair”? I will judge each one of you according to his ways, O House of Israel!

21In the twelfth year of our exile, on the fifth day of the tenth month, a fugitive came to me from Jerusalem and reported, “The city has fallen.” 22Now the hand of the LORD had come upon me the evening before the fugitive arrived, and He opened my mouth before he came to me in the morning; thus my mouth was opened and I was no longer speechless.

23The word of the LORD came to me: 24O mortal, those who live in these ruins in the land of Israel argue, “Abraham was but one man, yet he was granted possession of the land. We are many; surely, the land has been given as a possession to us.” 25Therefore say to them: Thus said the Lord GOD: You eat with the blood, you raise your eyes to your fetishes, and you shed blood—yet you expect to possess the land! 26You have relied on your sword, you have committed abominations, you have all defiled other men’s wives—yet you expect to possess the land!

27Thus shall you speak to them: Thus said the Lord GOD: As I live, those who are in the ruins shall fall by the sword, and those who are in the open I have allotted as food to the beasts, and those who are in the strongholds and caves shall die by pestilence. 28I will make the land a desolate waste, and her proud glory shall cease; and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, with none passing through. 29And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I make the land a desolate waste on account of all the abominations which they have committed.

30Note well, O mortal: your fellow countrymen who converse about you by the walls and in the doorways of their houses and say to each other and propose to one another, “Come and hear what word has issued from the LORD.” 31They will come to you d-in crowds and sit before you in throngs-d and will hear your words, but they will not obey them. For e-they produce nothing but lust with their mouths;-e and their hearts pursue nothing but gain. 32To them you are just a singer of bawdy songs, who has a sweet voice and plays skillfully; they hear your words, but will not obey them. 33But when itf comes—and come it will—they shall know that a prophet has been among them.

34 The word of the LORD came to me: 2O mortal, prophesy against the shepherdsa of Israel. Prophesy, and say to them:
To the shepherds: Thus said the Lord GOD: Ah, you shepherds of Israel, who have been tending yourselves! Is it not the flock that the shepherds ought to tend? 3You partake of the fat,b you clothe yourselves with the wool, and you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not tend the flock. 4You have not sustained the weak, healed the sick, or bandaged the injured; you have not brought back the strayed, or looked for the lost; but you have driven them with harsh rigor, 5and they have been scattered for want of anyone to tend them; scattered, they have become prey for every wild beast. 6My sheep stray through all the mountains and over every lofty hill; My flock is scattered all over the face of the earth, with none to take thought of them and none to seek them. 7Hear then, O shepherds, the word of the LORD! 8As I live—declares the Lord GOD: Because My flock has been a spoil—My flock has been a prey for all the wild beasts, for want of anyone to tend them since My shepherds have not taken thought of My flock, for the shepherds tended themselves instead of tending the flock—9hear indeed, O shepherds, the word of the LORD: 10Thus said the Lord GOD: I am going to deal with the shepherds! I will demand a reckoning of them for My flock, and I will dismiss them from tending the flock. The shepherds shall not tend themselves any more; for I will rescue My flock from their mouths, and it shall not be their prey. 11For