Ezekiel 17-18

Ezekiel 17

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²Son of man, give out a dark saying, and make a comparison for the children of Israel,

³And say, This is what the Lord has said: A great eagle with great wings, full of long feathers of different colours, came to Lebanon, and took the top of the cedar:

⁴Biting off the highest of its young branches, he took it to the land of Canaan, and put it in a town of traders.

⁵And he took some of the seed of the land, planting it in fertile earth, placing it by great waters; he put it in like a willow-tree.

⁶And its growth went on and it became a vine, low and widely stretching, whose branches were turned to him and its roots were under him: so it became a vine, putting out branches and young leaves.

⁷And there was another eagle with great wings and thick feathers: and now this vine, pushing out its roots to him, sent out its branches in his direction from the bed where it was planted, so that he might give it water.

⁸He had it planted in a good field by great waters so that it might put out branches and have fruit and be a strong vine.

⁹Say, This is what the Lord has said: Will it do well? will he not have its roots pulled up and its branches cut off, so that all its young leaves may become dry and it may be pulled up by its roots?

¹⁰And if it is planted will it do well? will it not become quite dry at the touch of the east wind, drying up in the bed where it was planted?

¹¹Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

¹²Say now to this uncontrolled people, Are these things not clear to you? Say to them, See, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and took its king and its rulers away with him to Babylon;

¹³And he took one of the sons of the king and made an agreement with him; and he put him under an oath, and took away the great men of the land:

¹⁴So that the kingdom might be made low with no power of lifting itself up, but might keep his agreement to be his servants.

¹⁵But he went against his authority in sending representatives to Egypt to get from them horses and a great army. Will he do well? will he be safe who does such things? if the agreement is broken will he be safe?

¹⁶By my life, says the Lord, truly in the place of the king who made him king, whose oath he put on one side and let his agreement with him be broken, even in Babylon he will come to his death.

¹⁷And Pharaoh with his strong army and great forces will be no help to him in the war, when they put up earthworks and make strong walls for the cutting off of lives:

¹⁸For he put his oath on one side in letting the agreement be broken; and though he had given his hand to it, he did all these things; he will not get away safe.

¹⁹And so the Lord has said, By my life, truly, for my oath which he put on one side, and my agreement which has been broken, I will send punishment on his head.

²⁰My net will be stretched out over him, and he will be taken in my cords, and I will send him to Babylon, and there I will be his judge for the wrong which he has done against me.

²¹All his best fighting-men will be put to the sword, and the rest will be sent away to every wind: and you will be certain that I the Lord have said it.

²²This is what the Lord has said: Further, I will take the highest top of the cedar and put it in the earth; cutting off from the highest of his young branches a soft one, I will have it planted on a high and great mountain;

²³It will be planted on the high mountain of Israel: it will put out branches and have fruit and be a fair cedar: under it all birds of every sort will make their living-place, resting in the shade of its branches.

²⁴And it will be clear to all the trees of the field that I the Lord have made low the high tree and made high the low tree, drying up the green tree and making the dry tree full of growth; I the Lord have said it and have done it.

Ezekiel 18

¹The word of the Lord came to me again, saying,

²Why do you make use of this saying about the land of Israel, The fathers have been tasting bitter grapes and the children's teeth are on edge?

³By my life, says the Lord, you will no longer have this saying in Israel.

⁴See, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so the soul of the son is mine: death will be the fate of the sinner's soul.

⁵But if a man is upright, living rightly and doing righteousness,

⁶And has not taken flesh with the blood for food, or given worship to the images of the children of Israel; if he has not had connection with his neighbour's wife, or come near to a woman at the time when she is unclean;

⁷And has done no wrong to any, but has given back to the debtor what is his, and has taken no one's goods by force, and has given food to him who was in need of it, and clothing to him who was without it;

⁸And has not given his money out at interest or taken great profits, and, turning his hand from evil-doing, has kept faith between man and man,

⁹And has been guided by my rules and has kept my laws and done them: he is upright, life will certainly be his, says the Lord.

¹⁰If he has a son who is a thief, a taker of life, who does any of these things,

¹¹Who has taken flesh with the blood as food, and has had connection with his neighbour's wife,

¹²Has done wrong to the poor and to him who is in need, and taken property by force, and has not given back to one in his debt what is his, and has given worship to images and has done disgusting things,

¹³And has given out his money at interest and taken great profits: he will certainly not go on living: he has done all these disgusting things: death will certainly be his fate; his blood will be on him.

¹⁴Now if he has a son who sees all his father's sins which he has done, and in fear does not do the same:

¹⁵Who has not taken the flesh with the blood for food, or given worship to the images of the children of Israel, and has not had connection with his neighbour's wife,

¹⁶Or done wrong to any, or taken anything from one in his debt, or taken goods by force, but has given food to him who was in need of it, and clothing to him who was without it;

¹⁷Who has kept his hand from evil-doing and has not taken interest or great profits, who has done my orders and been guided by my rules: he will certainly not be put to death for the evil-doing of his father; life will certainly be his.

¹⁸As for his father, because he was cruel, took goods by force, and did what is not good among his people, truly, death will overtake him in his evil-doing.

¹⁹But you say, Why does not the son undergo punishment for the evil-doing of the father? When the son has done what is ordered and right, and has kept my rules and done them, life will certainly be his.

²⁰The soul which does sin will be put to death: the son will not be made responsible for the evil-doing of the father, or the father for the evil-doing of the son; the righteousness of the upright will be on himself, and the evil-doing of the evil-doer on himself.

²¹But if the evil-doer, turning away from all the sins which he has done, keeps my rules and does what is ordered and right, life will certainly be his; death will not be his fate.

²²Not one of the sins which he has done will be kept in memory against him: in the righteousness which he has done he will have life.

²³Have I any pleasure in the death of the evil-doer? says the Lord: am I not pleased if he is turned from his way so that he may have life?

²⁴But when the upright man, turning away from his righteousness, does evil, like all the disgusting things which the evil man does, will he have life? Not one of his upright acts will be kept in memory: in the wrong which he has done and in his sin death will overtake him.

²⁵But you say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Give ear, now, O children of Israel; is my way not equal? are not your ways unequal?

²⁶When the upright man, turning away from his righteousness, does evil, death will overtake him; in the evil which he has done death will overtake him.

²⁷Again, when the evil-doer, turning away from the evil he has done, does what is ordered and right, he will have life for his soul.

²⁸Because he had fear and was turned away from all the wrong which he had done, life will certainly be his, death will not be his fate.

²⁹But still the children of Israel say, The way of the Lord is not equal. O children of Israel, are my ways not equal? are not your ways unequal?

³⁰For this cause I will be your judge, O children of Israel, judging every man by his ways, says the Lord. Come back and be turned from all your sins; so that they may not be the cause of your falling into evil.

³¹Put away all your evil-doing in which you have done sin; and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit: why are you desiring death, O children of Israel?

³²For I have no pleasure in the death of him on whom death comes, says the Lord: be turned back then, and have life.