Ezekiel 3:17 (DBY)

Passage

Son of man, I have appointed thee a watchman unto the house of Israel, and thou shalt hear the word from my mouth, and give them warning from me.

Nearby Context

Ezekiel 3:15 And I came to them of the captivity at Tel-abib, that dwelt by the river Chebar, and I sat where they sat; and I sat there astonied among them seven days.

Ezekiel 3:16 And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

Ezekiel 3:17 Son of man, I have appointed thee a watchman unto the house of Israel, and thou shalt hear the word from my mouth, and give them warning from me.

Ezekiel 3:18 When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt certainly die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, that he may live: the same wicked [man] shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thy hand.

Ezekiel 3:19 But if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "appointed", "thee", "watchman", "house", "israel", "thou", "shalt", and "hear". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "appointed" and "thee", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 16's "And it came to pass at the..." into verse 18's "When I say unto the wicked Thou...", so "appointed" and "thee" belong inside that flow. In Ezekiel context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "appointed" and "thee" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.