And why call you me, LORD and king, and do not the things which I say?
Luke 6
47 Whosoever comes to me, and hear my sayings, and does them, I will show you to whom he is like:
48 He is like a man which built a house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.
49 But he that hears, and does not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.
The LORD began today in Ezekiel 4, after reading today’s verse of the day at biblegateway.com, in which they quote Zechariah 14:9, saying, “And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.”
The point in beginning in Ezekiel 4, is in its final verse saying, “That they may want bread and water, and be astonished one with another, and consume away for their iniquity.” The words “consume away” are from the Hebrew word “maqaq (pronounced maw-kak’) a primitive root; to melt; figuratively, to flow, dwindle, vanish:–consume away, be corrupt, dissolve, pine away.”
As we’ve seen in previous posts, this word (maqaq), as seen here (Ezekiel 4), is the product of when the LORD has laid siege (made war) against those holding His people, separating them from Him. It tells us the means holding them is a lack of bread and water, a term we’ve discussed telling of a peace offering when meeting someone. It is speaking the word of God, which He gives freely at His appearing and kingdom, to free (save and rescue) those who receive Him.
Telling of the words men use to hold God’s people, in Ezekiel 4, the LORD tells Ezekiel to make bread and cook it over the fire of burning men’s dung. Of this, he says in verse 13, “Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them.”
In Zechariah 14:12, the word maqaq appears three times, all rendered “consume away” telling of when these defiled words and works of men end. As we see in the title verse, these men are those who call Him LORD and king, but speak their own words, which are the burden His people are forced to bear.
The LORD told us, through Isaiah, in Isaiah 58, the (old) paths to dwell in are restored when these men turn away “from doing your pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath [when I interrupt for correction – back onto the right path] a delight, the holy of the LORD, honorable; and shall honor him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words: 14 Then shall you delight yourself in the LORD; and I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.”
Jeremiah 6
10 To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the LORD is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.
Malachi 2
17 You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you say, Wherein have we wearied him? When you say, Every one that does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?
Isaiah 58
6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen [for you to not give your words]? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?
7 Is it not to deal thy bread [from the mouth of God, by which only does man live] to the hungry, and that you bring the poor that are cast out to your house? when you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you hide not yourself from your own flesh?
8 Then shall your light [understanding] break forth as the morning [as a new day], and your health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your reward.
9 Then shall you call, and the LORD shall answer; you shall cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity [your words which have no worth];
10 And if you draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light [understanding] rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day [your ignorance shall He turn to understanding]:
11 And the LORD shall guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
12 And they that shall be of you shall build the old waste places: thou shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shall be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
Ezekiel 33
30 Also, you son of man, the children of your people still are talking against you by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that comes forth from the LORD.
31 And they come unto you as the people comes, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their covetousness.
32 And, lo, you are unto them as a very lovely song of one that has a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear your words, but they do them not.
33 And when this comes to pass, (lo, it will [has] come,) then shall they know that a prophet has been among them.
Deuteronomy 10
12 And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
13 To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command you this day for your good?
14 Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD’s your God, the earth also, with all that therein is.
15 Only the LORD had a delight in your fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.
16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked.
17 For the LORD your God is God of gods, and LORD of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regards not persons, nor takes reward:
18 He does execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loves the stranger [who don’t know Him, yet], in giving him food and raiment.
1 John 3
16 Hereby perceive we the love [agape – charity] of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
17 But whoso has this world’s good [this bread and water freely given those in need], and sees his brother have need, and shuts up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwells the love [agape – charity, God’s saving grace given to save the world in need] of God in him?
18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
Proverbs 25
21 If your enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:
22 For you shall heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward you.
Isaiah 30
16 But you said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall you flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.
17 One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall you flee: till you be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign [nec – when the son of man if lifted, as Moses lifted the serpent in the wilderness, and all who look on Him will be saved from the venomous words of those among and destroying them] on a hill.
18 And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.
19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: you shall weep no more: he will be very gracious unto you at the voice of your cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer you.
20 And though the LORD give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not your teachers be removed into a corner any more, but your eyes shall see your teachers:
21 And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way, walk you in it, when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left.
Below, ending with Ezekiel 33, is the post from 8 February 2018
From the Time that it Goes Forth it Shall Take you: for Morning by Morning Shall it Pass Over, by Day and by Night: and it Shall be a Vexation Only to Understand the Report.
Continuing: the title is a quote from Isaiah 28:19, and is speaking of the scourge that is passing over God’s people. The context is the LORD speaking to those leading and teaching His people into what is defined there as a covenant with death and into agreement with hell (Sheol – the place the dead inhabit). The LORD in addressing these men tells them his corrective teaching: precept upon precept, line upon line, is the way into rest and the refreshing, and their response is to mock and reject Him and His teaching. (Friends, this needs to be understood as occurring right now – the LORD speaking to religious and political leaders – all the blind misleaders of our time, who’ve allowed the consummation of His flock; their only concern is to ensure they can feed alongside.)
Isaiah 28 then tells of the LORD’s response, which is to make the one they have rejected the foundation stone.
Isaiah 28
16 Therefore thus says the LORD God, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believes shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goes forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
20 For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.
21 For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.”
22 Now therefore be you not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the LORD God of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.
23 Give you ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.
As we’ve studied in previous posts, the reference to mount Perazim (meaning breaking forth) is Isaiah citing 2 Samuel 5:20, when David defeated the enemies at Baal-perazim. “20 And David came to Baal-perazim, and David smote them there, and said, ‘The LORD has broken forth upon mine enemies before me, as the breach [parats – breaking forth] of waters.’ Therefore he called the name of that place Baal-perazim. 21 And there they left their images [‘atsab – idols], and David and his men burned them.”
By this, we understand what is spoken of in 2 Peter 3 when Peter tells of the stoicheion (elements, rudiment, and principles) of the world melting away, and the works (of the false teachers) burnt up in the same fires. As we have seen, Peter first describes word of God as waters reserved for this day, in heaven, and in our day becoming as these fires. They are the ways to understanding; precept upon precept, line upon line.
2 Peter 3
… I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:
2 That you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the LORD and Savior:
3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
As we’ve also studied; when Isaiah refers to Gibeon, he is speaking of the events recorded in Joshua 10, when Joshua ascended from Gilgal (galgal – the wheel). He, as Jesus in type, and all the men of war, after the LORD told him to go, came upon Gibeon.
Joshua 10
7 So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he, and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor.
8 And the LORD said unto Joshua, “Fear them not: for I have delivered them into your hand; there shall not a man of them stand before you.”
9 Joshua therefore came unto them suddenly, and went up from Gilgal all night.
10 And the LORD discomfited them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goes up to Beth-horon, and smote them to Azekah, and unto Makkedah.
11 And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Beth-horon, that the LORD cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.
12 Then spoke Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, “Sun, stand you still upon Gibeon; and you, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.”
13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.
14 And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the LORD fought for Israel.
This passage is what is referred to by Zechariah 14:7 when he speaks of the day only know by the LORD, which he describes as a day when it shall be light at evening. The word there translated evening is the Hebrew word ‘ereb, and in context is speaking of when the sun should be going down, and instead, it remains light. Zechariah 14 goes on to tell this being the day when the living water go out (yatsa’) from Jerusalem, (as they came out, yatsa’, of the Rock – Exodus 17:6.)
The name Beth-horon, meaning house of emptiness, is from the Hebrew words, Beth, meaning house, and chowr, a word only used seven times, and meaning a hole or a cave. It is the word used in Zechariah 14:12 to tell of these men’s eyes “consuming away” in their eye “holes.”
Zechariah 14
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
10 All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba [same as Gibeon] to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin’s gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king’s winepresses.
11 And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem [as did Amalek fight against our peace and security]; Their [[works of the]] flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes [[the thing they say they understand]] shall consume away in their holes [[chowr]], and their tongue [[their defiled words with which they deceive and mislead the world]] shall consume away in their mouth.
The Hebrew word here translated “consume way” three times, is maqaq, and means to melt. The word is used seven other times, the first two being in Leviticus 26:39 where it is rendered “pine away.” There is it speaking the LORD correcting those walking contrary to Him and of the plagues that will, and now have, come upon us if we refuse to reform. It tells of these men eventually melting away as a result of their own doing.
Leviticus 26
38 And you shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.
39 And they that are left of you shall pine away [[maqaq]] in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away [[maqaq]] with them.
40 If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me;
41 And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity:
42 Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land.
43 The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her Sabbaths, while she lay desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes.
44 And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the LORD their God.
45 But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.
In Psalms 38:5, maqaq, translated “corrupt,” is defining the same consuming and pining away mentioned above. Precept by precept, line by line, it explains what is spoken by the LORD God. (Friends, again, we know these false prophets and false teachers, the antichrists in church and state, have taken these truths and twisted them into fictions. They tickle the ears of the hearers but do nothing to correct the corruption and confusion, and instead, they add to it. This is why they are destined to come under the wheel.)
Psalm 38
1 O LORD, rebuke me not in your wrath: neither chasten me in your hot displeasure.
2 For your arrows stick fast in me, and your hand presses me sore.
3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of your anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin.
4 For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
5 My wounds stink and are corrupt [[maqaq]] because of my foolishness.
6 I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long.
7 For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is no soundness in my flesh.
8 I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.
9 LORD, all my desire is before you; and my groaning is not hid from you.
10 My heart pants, my strength fails me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me.
11 My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore; and my kinsmen stand afar off.
12 They also that seek after my life lay snares for me: and they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and imagine deceits all the day long.
13 But I, as a deaf man, heard not; and I was as a dumb man that opens not his mouth.
14 Thus I was as a man that hears not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs.
15 For in you, O LORD, do I hope: you will hear, O LORD my God.
16 For I said, Hear me, lest otherwise they should rejoice over me: when my foot slips, they magnify themselves against me.
17 For I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me.
18 For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin.
19 But mine enemies are lively, and they are strong: and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied.
20 They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries; because I follow the thing that good is.
21 Forsake me not, O LORD: O my God, be not far from me.
22 Make haste to help me, O LORD my salvation.
Maqaq next appears in telling of this same condition as what brings the day of the LORD’s vengeance, and the repayment for the controversy of Zion (opposing His rule). It appears in Isaiah 34:4, rendered “dissolved,” and in doing further describes these men as the hosts of heaven, meaning the evil armies of (the nations) those not knowing the LORD. There they are also defined as Idumea, who we know is Esau, speaking of the one who sold his birthright for a mere morsel of corruption. As we know, this is also the chapter where the word “without form, and void,” (tohuw bohuw), are in verse 11 translated as “confusion” and “emptiness,” here speaking of the condition of the palaces of the earth.
Understanding tells us the day of the LORD is a day when the light returns to earth, as the LORD’s presence. Isaiah 34 also speaks of the sword of the LORD, speaking of the word of God coming to light through those he has sent. The chapter then ends by instructing the reader to seek it in the book of the LORD and, finding it, see that not one of these has failed.
Isaiah 34
1 Come near, you nations, to hear; and hearken, you people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it.
2 For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he has utterly destroyed them, he has delivered them to the slaughter.
3 Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcasses, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.
4 And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved [[maqaq]], and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falls off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.
5 For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea [[Esau – the enemies mixed among us destroying God’s people, destroying His culture of better ideas and ways, old paths to dwell in, which lead to rest]], and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.
6 The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.
7 And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.
8 For it is the day of the LORD’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.
9 And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.
10 It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up forever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it forever and ever.
11 But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion [[tohuw]], and the stones of emptiness [[bohuw]].
12 They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing.
13 And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be a habitation of dragons, and a court for owls.
14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest.
15 There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate.
16 Seek you out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it has commanded, and his spirit it has gathered them.
17 And he has cast the lot for them, and his hand has divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it forever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein.
The final three uses of the word maqaq are in Ezekiel, the first being in Ezekiel 4:17 where it rendered “consume.” The chapter speaks of bread cooked using dung and of God’s word becoming defiled by the men of Jerusalem. The LORD says these men will be astonished one with another, due to being without bread and water (his pure word), and shall consume away in their iniquity. The chapter is speaking of this siege, which the LORD has laid against Jerusalem.
Ezekiel 4
7 Therefore you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and your arm shall be uncovered, and you shall prophesy against it.
8 And, behold, I will lay bands upon you, and you shall not turn you from one side to another, till you have ended the days of your siege.
9 Take you also unto you wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make you bread thereof, according to the number of the days that you shall lie upon your side, three hundred and ninety days shall you eat thereof.
10 And your meat which you shall eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shall you eat it.
11 You shall drink also water by measure, the sixth part of a hin: from time to time shall you drink.
12 And you shall eat it as barley cakes, and you shall bake it with dung that comes out of man, in their sight.
13 And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them.
14 Then said I, Ah LORD God! behold, my soul has not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dies of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.
15 Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given you cow’s dung for man’s dung, and you shall prepare your bread therewith.
16 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:
17 That they may want bread and water, and be astonished one with another, and consume away [[maqaq]] for their iniquity.
The meaning is plainly defined in the next use of maqaq, in Ezekiel 24:23, where it is also rendered “pine away.”
Ezekiel 24
19 And the people said unto me, Will you not tell us what these things are to us, that you do so?
20 Then I answered them, The word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
21 Speak unto the house of Israel, Thus says the LORD God; Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the excellency of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pities; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left shall fall by the sword.
22 And you shall do as I have done: you shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.
23 And your tires shall be upon your heads, and your shoes upon your feet: you shall not mourn nor weep; but you shall pine away [[maqaq]] for your iniquities, and mourn one toward another.
24 Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign: according to all that he has done shall you do: and when this comes, you shall know that I am the LORD God.
25 Also, you son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their minds, their sons and their daughters,
26 That he that escapes in that day shall come unto you, to cause you to hear it with your ears?
27 In that day shall your mouth be opened to him which is escaped, and you shall speak, and be no more dumb: and you shall be a sign unto them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
The final use of maqaq is as “pine away” in Ezekiel 33:10, a chapter we know speaks of the sword warned of, and as the self-righteous have done with all these warnings, they reject and mock their grace. (How much sorer punishment, suppose you, shall he be thought worthy, who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and has done despite unto the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him that has said, Vengeance belongs unto me, I will recompense, says the LORD. And again, The LORD shall judge his people. 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.)
Ezekiel 33
1 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman:
3 If when he sees the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;
4 Then whosoever hears the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.
5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.
6 But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.
7 So you, O son of man, I have set you a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.
8 When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, you shall surely die; if you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at your hand.
9 Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.
10 Therefore, O you son of man, speak unto the house of Israel; Thus you speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away [maqaq] in them, how should we then live?
11 Say unto them, As I live, says the LORD God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn you, turn you from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?
12 Therefore, you son of man, say unto the children of your people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turns from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sins.
13 When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trusts to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousness shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he has committed, he shall die for it.
14 Again, when I say unto the wicked, You shall surely die; if he turns from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right;
15 If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die.
16 None of his sins that he has committed shall be mentioned unto him: he has done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.
17 Yet the children of your people say, The way of the LORD is not equal [takan – well thought out]: but as for them, their way is not equal [takan – well thought out].
18 When the righteous turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, he shall even die thereby.
19 But if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby.
20 Yet you say, The way of the LORD is not equal [takan – well thought out]. O you house of Israel, I will judge you every one after his ways.
21 And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, saying, The city is smitten.
22 Now the hand of the LORD was upon me in the evening, afore he that was escaped came; and had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no more dumb.
23 Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
24 Son of man, they that inhabit those wastes of the land of Israel speak, saying, Abraham was one, and he inherited the land: but we are many; the land is given us for inheritance.
25 Wherefore say unto them, Thus says the LORD God; You eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes toward your idols, and shed blood: and shall you possess the land?
26 You stand upon your sword, you work abomination, and you defile every one his neighbor’s wife: and shall you possess the land?
27 Say you thus unto them, Thus says the LORD God; As I live, surely they that are in the wastes shall fall by the sword, and him that is in the open field will I give to the beasts to be devoured, and they that be in the forts and in the caves shall die of the pestilence.
28 For I will lay the land most desolate, and the pomp of her strength shall cease; and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, that none shall pass through.
29 Then shall they know that I am the LORD, when I have laid the land most desolate because of all their abominations which they have committed.
30 Also, you son of man, the children of your people still are talking against you by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that comes forth from the LORD.
31 And they come unto you as the people comes, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their covetousness.
32 And, lo, you are unto them as a very lovely song of one that has a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear your words, but they do them not.
33 And when this comes to pass, (lo, it will [[has]] come,) then shall they know that a prophet has been among them.
Psalms 41 [added today]
1 Blessed is he that considers the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.
2 The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and you will not deliver him unto the will of his enemies.
3 The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: you will make all his bed in his sickness.
4 I said, LORD, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against you.
5 Mine enemies speak evil of me, When shall he die, and his name perish?
6 And if he come to see me, he speaks vanity: his heart gathers iniquity to itself; when he goes abroad, he tells it.
7 All that hate me whisper together against me: against me do they devise my hurt.
8 An evil disease, say they, cleaves fast unto him: and now that he lies he shall rise up no more.
9 Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.
10 But you, O LORD, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them.
11 By this I know that you favor me, because mine enemy does not triumph over me.
12 And as for me, you uphold me in mine integrity, and set me before your face [paniym – presence] forever.
13 Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen.
