Ezekiel 33 is the thirty-third chapter of the

Book of Ezekiel The Book of Ezekiel is the third of the Latter Prophets in the Tanakh and one of the major prophetic books, following Isaiah and Jeremiah. According to the book itself, it records six visions of the prophet Ezekiel, exiled in Babylon, during ...

in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Old Testament of the Christian

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

Ezekiel, and is one of the

Books of the Prophets Nevi'im (; he, נְבִיאִים ''Nəvīʾīm'', Tiberian: ''Năḇīʾīm,'' "Prophets", literally "spokespersons") is the second major division of the Hebrew Bible (the ''Tanakh''), lying between the Torah (instruction) and Ketuvim (wri ...

. This chapter opens the third and final section of the book, in which God's future blessings on

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

are proclaimed. A "complex interweaving of themes imported from the first twenty-four chapters of the book" is concerned with the concept of responsibility, including Ezekiel's own responsibility as a "watchman" (verse 7), and "the people's responsibility for their own moral and religious choices" (see also chapter 18).Galambush, S., ''Ezekiel'' in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001)
The Oxford Bible Commentary
, p. 555

Text

The original text was written in the

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. This chapter is divided into 33 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

are of the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets (916), Aleppo Codex (10th century),

Codex Leningradensis The Leningrad Codex ( la, Codex Leningradensis [Leningrad Book]; he, כתב יד לנינגרד) is the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible in Hebrew, using the Masoretic Text and Tiberian vocalization. According to its colopho ...

(1008). There is also a translation into

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

known as the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...

, made in the last few centuries BC. Extant ancient manuscripts of the

version include

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

(B;

\mathfrak

^B; 4th century),

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII), designated by the siglum A or 02 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 4 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a manu ...

(A;

\mathfrak

^A; 5th century) and

Codex Marchalianus Codex Marchalianus designated by siglum Q is a 6th-century Greek manuscript copy of the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh or Old Testament) known as the Septuagint. The text was written on vellum in uncial letters. Palaeographically it ...

(Q;

\mathfrak

^Q; 6th century).

Verse 7

: ''"So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel;'' : ''therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me."'' (

NKJV The New King James Version (NKJV) is an English translation of the Bible. The complete NKJV Bible was published in 1982 by Thomas Nelson, now HarperCollins. The NKJV is described by Thomas Nelson as being "scrupulously faithful to the origin ...

) * "Son of man" (Hebrew: בן־אדם ''-''): this phrase is used 93 times to address Ezekiel, six times in this chapter. * "Watchman" (Hebrew: צָפָה ) or "sentinel": the noun is derived from the Hebrew verb meaning to "look out or about, spy, keep watch"; properly "to lean forward", i.e. "to peer into the distance"; by implication, "to observe, await:—behold, espy, look up (well), wait for, (keep the) watch(-man)". Ezekiel was first commissioned as a "watchman" in and so biblical commentator Susan Galambush refers to this as "a new commission"; "ironically", she notes, "Ezekiel scommissioned to watch over a city that has already been destroyed".

Verse 21

: ''And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month,'' : ''that one who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me and said,'' :: ''"The city has been captured!"'' (

) * "The city has been captured" from the Hebrew sentence הכתה העיר ''huk-kə-ṯāh hā-'îr''. The first word is derived from the verb נָכָה , meaning "to smite", "to strike" mostly "in the sense of hurting." The second word means "the city" (עיר means "city, town, abode of men") The date corresponds to January 8, 585 BCE, based on an analysis by German theologian Bernhard Lang.

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

commentator

Joseph Benson Joseph Benson (26 January 1749 – 16 February 1821) was an early English Methodist minister, one of the leaders of the movement during the time of Methodism's founder John Wesley. Life The son of John Benson and Isabella Robinson, his wife, he ...

notes that according to this reading, the news of the fall of Jerusalem reached Ezekiel, in Babylon, "one year, five months, and twenty-six days after the calamity happened", whereas the alternative reading in some ancient manuscripts, "in the ''eleventh'' year ..." is preferable, leaving only about six months as an interval.

Verse 24

: ''"Son of man, they who inhabit those ruins in the land of Israel are saying, 'Abraham was only one, and he inherited the land. But we are many; the land has been given to us as a possession.'"'' (

) Cross reference: Isaiah 51:2; Matthew 3:9;

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * *

External links

Jewish

Ezekiel 33 Hebrew with Parallel EnglishEzekiel 33 Hebrew with Rashi's Commentary

Christian

Ezekiel 33 English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate
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