17 ^hIn the twelfth year, in the twelfth month,¹ on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 18 ⁱ“Son of man, ^jwail over ^gthe multitude of Egypt, and ^ksend them down, her and the daughters of majestic nations, ^lto the world below, to those who have gone down to the pit:

20 They shall fall amid those ^owho are slain by the sword. Egypt² is delivered to the sword; drag her away, and ^pall her multitudes. 21 The mighty chiefs ^qshall speak of them, ^rwith their helpers, out of the midst of Sheol: ‘They have come down, they lie still, ^sthe uncircumcised, ^oslain by the sword.’

22 ^t“Assyria is there, and all her company, ^uits graves all around it, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, 23 whose graves are set in ^vthe uttermost parts of the pit; and her company is all around her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, ^wwho spread terror ^xin the land of the living.

24 ^y“Elam is ^zthere, and all her multitude around her grave; all of them ^aslain, fallen by the sword, who went down uncircumcised into ^bthe world below, who spread their terror in the land of the living; and ^cthey bear their shame ^bwith those who go down to the pit. 25 ^dThey have made her a bed among the slain with all her multitude, ^eher graves all around it, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for terror of them was spread in the land of the living, and they bear their shame with those who go down to the pit; they are placed among the slain.

26 ^f“Meshech-Tubal is ^ethere, and all her multitude, ^eher graves all around it, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for they spread their terror in the land of the living. 27 And ^gthey do not lie with the mighty, the fallen from among the uncircumcised, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, whose swords were laid under their heads, and whose iniquities are upon their bones; for the terror of the mighty men was in the land of the living. 28 But as for you, you shall be broken ^hand lie among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword.

29 ⁱ“Edom is ^jthere, her kings and all her princes, who for all their might are laid with those who are killed by the sword; they lie with the uncircumcised, with those who go down to the pit.

30 “The princes ^kof the north are there, all of them, and all the ^lSidonians, who have gone down in shame with the slain, ^mfor all the terror that they caused by their might; they lie uncircumcised with those who are slain by the sword, and ⁿbear their shame with those who go down to the pit.

31 “When Pharaoh sees them, he ^owill be comforted for ^pall his multitude, Pharaoh and all his army, slain by the sword, declares the Lord God. 32 ^qFor I spread terror ^rin the land of the living; and he shall be laid to rest among ^sthe uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword, Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord God.”

Ezekiel Is Israel’s Watchman

1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 ^t“Son of man, speak to ^uyour people and say to them, If ^vI bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and make him their ^wwatchman, 3 and if he sees the sword coming upon the land and ^xblows the trumpet and warns the people, 4 then if anyone who hears the sound of the trumpet does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, ^yhis blood shall be upon his own head. 5 ^zHe 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. 6 ^aBut 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, ^athat person is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.

7 ^b“So you, ^tson of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. ^bWhenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. 8 ^cIf I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, ^cand you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, ^cthat wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. 9 ^dBut if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, ^dthat person shall die in his iniquity, ^ebut you will have delivered your soul.

Why Will You Die, Israel?

10 “And you, ^fson of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus have you said: ‘Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and ^gwe rot away because of them. ^hHow then can we live?’ 11 Say to them, ⁱAs I live, declares the Lord God, ^jI have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; ^kturn back, turn back from your evil ways, ^kfor why will you die, O house of Israel?

12 ^t“And you, son of man, say to ^lyour people, ^mThe righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him when he transgresses, ⁿand as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall by it when he turns from his wickedness, ^mand the righteous shall not be able to live by his righteousness³ when he sins. 13 Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet ^mif 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. 14 Again, ^othough I say to the wicked, ^p‘You shall surely die,’ yet ^qif he turns from his sin and does what is just and right, 15 if the wicked ^rrestores the pledge, ^sgives back what he has taken by robbery, and walks ^tin the statutes of life, not doing injustice, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 16 ^uNone 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 ^lyour people say, ^v‘The way of the Lord is not just,’ when it is their own way that is not just. 18 ^wWhen the righteous turns from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it. 19 And ^xwhen the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he shall live by this. 20 Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, ^yI will judge each of you according to his ways.”

28 This is the number of the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: ^ain the seventh year, 3,023 Judeans; 29 ^bin the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem 832 persons; 30 in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Judeans 745 persons; all the persons were 4,600.

How Shall We Sing the Lord’s Song?

Descendants of Simeon

24 ⁿThe sons of Simeon: Nemuel, Jamin, Jarib, Zerah, Shaul; 25 Shallum was his son, Mibsam his son, Mishma his son. 26 The sons of Mishma: Hammuel his son, Zaccur his son, Shimei his son. 27 Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters; but his brothers did not have many children, ^onor did all their clan multiply ^plike the men of Judah. 28 ^qThey lived in Beersheba, Moladah, Hazar-shual, 29 ^rBilhah, Ezem, ^sTolad, 30 ^sBethuel, Hormah, Ziklag, 31 Beth-marcaboth, ^tHazar-susim, ^tBeth-biri, and ^tShaaraim. These were their cities until David reigned. 32 And their villages were Etam, Ain, Rimmon, Tochen, and Ashan, five cities, 33 along with all their villages that were around these cities as far as ^uBaal. These were their settlements, and they kept a genealogical record.

34 Meshobab, Jamlech, Joshah the son of Amaziah, 35 Joel, Jehu the son of Joshibiah, son of Seraiah, son of Asiel, 36 Elioenai, Jaakobah, Jeshohaiah, Asaiah, Adiel, Jesimiel, Benaiah, 37 Ziza the son of Shiphi, son of Allon, son of Jedaiah, son of Shimri, son of Shemaiah— 38 these mentioned by name were princes in their clans, ^vand their fathers’ houses increased greatly. 39 They journeyed to the entrance of ^wGedor, to the east side of the valley, to seek pasture for their flocks, 40 where they found rich, good pasture, and the land was very broad, ^xquiet, and peaceful, for the former inhabitants there belonged to Ham. 41 ^yThese, registered by name, came in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, and destroyed their tents and the Meunites who were found there, and marked them for destruction to this day, ^zand settled in their place, because there was pasture there for their flocks. 42 And some of them, five hundred men of the Simeonites, went to ^aMount Seir, having as their leaders Pelatiah, Neariah, Rephaiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi. 43 And they defeated ^bthe remnant of the Amalekites who had escaped, and they have lived there to this day.

Descendants of Reuben

1 The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (^cfor he was the firstborn, but because ^dhe defiled his father’s couch, ^ehis birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel, so that he could not be enrolled as the oldest son; 2 ^fthough Judah became strong among his brothers and a ^gchief came from him, yet the birthright belonged to Joseph), 3 the ^hsons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. 4 The sons of Joel: Shemaiah his son, Gog his son, Shimei his son, 5 Micah his son, Reaiah his son, Baal his son, 6 Beerah his son, whom ⁱTiglath-pileser¹ king of Assyria carried away into exile; he was a chief of the Reubenites. 7 And his kinsmen by their clans, ^jwhen the genealogy of their generations was recorded: the chief, Jeiel, and Zechariah, 8 and Bela the son of Azaz, son of ^kShema, son of Joel, who lived in ^lAroer, as far as ^mNebo and ⁿBaal-meon. 9 He also lived to the east as far as the entrance of the desert this side of the Euphrates, because their livestock had multiplied ^oin the land of Gilead. 10 And in the days of Saul they waged war against the ^pHagrites, who fell into their hand. And they lived in their tents throughout all the region east of Gilead.

Descendants of Gad

11 The sons of Gad lived over against them in the land of Bashan as far as ^qSalecah: 12 Joel the chief, Shapham the second, Janai, and Shaphat in Bashan. 13 And their kinsmen according to their fathers’ houses: Michael, Meshullam, Sheba, Jorai, Jacan, Zia and Eber, seven. 14 These were the sons of Abihail the son of Huri, son of Jaroah, son of Gilead, son of Michael, son of Jeshishai, son of Jahdo, son of Buz. 15 Ahi the son of Abdiel, son of Guni, was chief in their fathers’ houses, 16 and they lived in Gilead, in Bashan and in its towns, and in all the pasturelands of ^rSharon to their limits. 17 All of these were recorded in genealogies in the days of ^sJotham king of Judah, and in the days of ^tJeroboam king of Israel.