Ezekiel — a responsive creed

This is a selection of verses from Ezekiel chapters 3, 5, 7, 16, 33, 34, 36, based on the NLT and ESV, arranged as a responsive confession of faith.

God says: If I warn the wicked, saying, ‘You are under the penalty of death,’ but you fail to deliver the warning:
They will die in their sins, and I will hold you responsible for their deaths.

If righteous people turn away from their righteous behavior and ignore the obstacles I put in their way, they will die.
None of their righteous acts will be remembered.

I placed her at the center of the nations.
But she has rebelled against my regulations and decrees and has been even more wicked than the surrounding nations.

They will throw their money in the streets, tossing it out like worthless trash.
Their silver and gold won’t save them on that day of Yahweh’s anger. It will neither satisfy nor feed them, for their greed can only trip them up.

You took your sons and daughters and sacrificed them to your gods.
Was your prostitution not enough? Must you also slaughter my children by sacrificing them to idols?

You are saying: “Our sins are heavy upon us. How can we survive?’
I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people. I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live.

If wicked people turn from their sins and do what is just and right, then they will surely live and not die.
None of their past sins will be brought up again, for they have done what is just and right, and they will surely live.

I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down.
I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak.

I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit.
I will remove the heart of stone and give you a tender, responsive heart. I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees

People will say: ‘This former wasteland is now like the Garden of Eden!’
Then the surrounding nations shall know that I am Yahweh.